This is an animated gif that shows the change i the prevalence of obesity in the US over 18 20 years.
Amazing, and kinda off-putting.

Prevalence of Obesity in the USA | Incredimazing

What are the underlying reasons for this? Probably many, from video game playing/television babysat kids, to the fact that we, as a nation are getting older (baby-boomers anyone?), to the fact that good food is getting more expensive (why fix a nice healthy meal with expensive veggies, when that box of mac and cheese only costs $.50?)
(There’s a chart I saw somewhere with food prices/obesity rate transposed, I’ll see if I can find it and post it later.)
Here it is:

WTF?
There are several reasons for this, not the least of which is farm subsidies, which pay farmers to not grow food. Imagine that.
Check this out: Food Without Thought(pdf) (It’s a pdf–you’ll need a pdf reader like Adobe Acrobat Reader, or Evince, on Linux.)
Looks like 2008 is going to be even worse on food prices. Time to plant a garden, and grow you own damn chickens, I guess.