obese people cost the health care system less than smaller people.  they have this habit of dying a lot younger.

I don't think you can blame corn syrup being that canada is similarily fat (slightly less fat but close enough) without corn syrup in everything (manufacturers usually make a seperate product for canada made with sugar or honey instead).

I think that society has been far too protective of fat people, really.

There are major, known negative consequences for smoking, drinking, doing drugs, ect. However, when someone is fat, God forbid you deride them. Humiliation seems to be some sort of no-no in todays society. Maybe, just maybe, it could be a motivator if used properly?

I hate to be mean, but you Europeans seem to be far too thin-skinned when it comes to stuff like this. Fat people are fat 90% of the time, they simply eat too much and work out too little. It is a choice. A wrong choice. I am obese because I chose the lifestyle that I have. I should get the benefits from it (the joys of eating tasty fattening food) as well as the complications (health, public humiliation, lack of desirability from women, ect).

Life isn't about making bad choices, and having some thin-skinned shrink defend you. That's why were freaking obese in the first place. No one gets in kids faces and say 'your fat. Loose weight' like they ought to. Who cares if a few kids kill themselves knowingly via sucicide? I'd argue that far more die from congestive heart failure due to obesity than if there was actual shame involved in the obesity process.

Is unhealthy food cheap in America? Yeah. But guess what? Its cheap because its quick to make, and very tasty. If you cook your own food, which is a lost art in America, you can be very cheap, and very healthy. Blame the processed food families that have caused it.

I don't know how people get uber-fat. I have never looked at someone that is 350 pounds and felt pity for them. Its a total, flagrant lack of self-control. Sometimes, you just wish someone was in their life to force them to put the fork down, and pick up weights.

Trust me, losing weight is and can be very easy if you put your mind to it. I lost 20lbs in a matter of 2 weeks due to a crazy health issue that forced me to essentially stop eating for most of that time. I quit drinking HFCS-laden soda (and have since then, greatly reduced my intake), and starte caring about what I ate. If I go back to my old habits, its my own fault. Not Europe, not America, not Obama, not the FDA. Its MY fault. My responsibility. Dangit, you shouldn't rely on the government or someone else to make you put down the fork, or sue a company for making you fat. Last I checked, stores were chock full of incredibly healthy foods that are ripe for consumming. Its just a matter of taking 20-30 minutes out of your day, and make a REAL meal, rather than drive through a fast food joint, or popping a meal in the microwave.

I'm going to start learning to make sushi soon. I'd imagine that, for the most part, its healthier than a big mac or other such nastiness. Do you know what sushi costs to make in America? A person on minimum wage could eat all the sushi they wanted if they just knew how to make it. Food is very cheap in America. Even the healthy stuff. The honest-to-God truth is that people just don't want to get off their couch and make it.

/End rant

Its called high fructose corn syrup. Look it up. It's in virtually every American soda. Nasty stuff.

we lump hfcs in the generic label glucose/fructose (can be other things than hfcs such as fruit syrup) in canada. The pop sitting beside me on my desk (made by pepsi bottling company) is sweetened with sugar.(*pop here is about 50-50 as to wether its sugar or glucose fructose depends on who/where made it). The only thing with glucose/fructose (hfcs) on the label in my house is a box of granola bars made in the states. We are one of the fatest countries (slightly less than the us).

The real cause of obesity is laziness (except in cases of disability that prevents you from being active) combined with excessive intake of food.

oh wow, people think society treats fat people well, fml, I would not want to see what you think treating them badly is, jeez

There are four reasons for the obesity epidemic:

1) High Fructose Corn Syrup.  They put it in everything, and it makes you fat.  Countries that give a fuck try to limit the amount of it they produce or import.  America goes "oh no you can't stop people from selling obesity causing cancerous poison, that would be un-American!  Let anybody sell any poison to anybody, and let them lie about it!  FREEDOM!"  Right now the Coca-Cola company is getting sued because they falsely advertise Vitamin Water as a healthy alternative to Coke, but it has the exact same amount of calories and high fructose corn syrup.  It's basically water-flavored Coke poison bullshit.  But they can get away with it, due to point #2.

2) People are lazy and willfully ignorant of what they put into their bodies.  If you try to tell them it's bad for them they say "get out of my way I'm addicted to genetically modified cancerous fructose-injected meat and bread and cheese and soda RAGHAHGAG!!!"  I have met people who eat meat with every single meal, and refuse to eat salads because... "salads are for girls and fags."

3) Bovine Growth Hormone.  Monsanto and other companies put this shit into cows to make them bigger and fatter so they can produce more milk.  Then they make more milk faster, so they can make more money, which is the American way.  However, then the milk has a fucking GROWTH HORMONE in it.  So when kids drink it they grow fatter and faster.  That's why we have girls getting huge and fat, having giant tits by the age of 10, and some menstruating at the age of 7 or 8.  They're not mature enough to understand any of this, but their PARENTS DON'T GIVE A FUCK.  People just go "that's weird, I didn't get my first period until I was 12 or 13, but all my kids get their first period at 8 or 9, and I have no idea why.  Huh, whatever, what's on TV?"

4) The film Krush Groove came out in 1985, featuring this music video:

If you want to learn more about food, you can watch The Future of Food for free at hulu.com: http://www.hulu.com/watch/67878/the-future-of-food

Or Super-Size Me: http://www.hulu.com/watch/63283/super-size-me?c=News-and-Information/Documentary-and-Biography

Food Inc. is really good too, but it's not on Hulu.  I think it might be on Google Video though, I can't remember.

While I don't agree with its use I disagree with your stated effect. Bovine growth hormone is banned in my country and the people are almost as fat. The early puberty issue exists also despite a ban.  The ban was instituted not because of human health affects but because of concerns over the welfare of cows.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/dhp-mps/vet/issues-enjeux/rbst-stbr/rep_rcpsc-rap_crmcc-eng.php

Side note: most of the studies I have read suggest obesity and chemicals with estrogenic effects as the cause of early puberty. (the chemicals with estrogenic effects can turn male fish into sterile hermaphrodites  :(

Whoa.  Interesting.  Well then I take back my Bovine Growth Hormone point from my list.  It's basically all HFCS and GMOs and people not caring about what they eat because they don't have to see it, know what it is, or even cook it half the time.  All farmers, who actually work with their food and see it and know what it is, whether they're independent or corporate, say they will NEVER eat high fructose corn syrup.  Or hot dogs, for that matter.

Side note: Bovine Growth Hormone is still absolutely disgusting though, for another reason.  The cows that are injected with it get HUUUGE fat udders.  They get so big and fat and infected and diseased, that pus comes out.  While they're getting milked.  And the pus gets in the milk.  So any time you drink milk from cows injected with Bovine Growth Hormone, you're not only drinking disgusting genetically modified poison, you're drinking diseased cow pus.