the last dietician i saw almost made me laugh/cry. i go in, i weighed 250 lbs. i tell her i need to lose weight. she pulls out a copy of the food pyramid, you know the one with 6-10 servings of carbs at the base, 8 servings of fruit/veggies, 3- 4 dairy and so on. i look at this thing and know from experience that if i eat half of what is recommended i am going to hit 300 lbs pretty fast. she brilliantly suggests more exericise. now i am not averse to exercise (i walk, i cycle, because i don't drive), but there is no way in hell that amount of exercise i can fit into my typical day (30-90 minutes) is going to 'burn off' a suffiencient number of calories to help me lose weight. exercise makes me feel better, healthier and so on, but it is not going to put me into the calorie deficit situation needed to lose weight on a low calorie diet.

on the obesity epidemic, i remember when pop cans got bigger. then they started selling 1 litter bottles of pop for individual consumption. coffee cups are bigger. muffins are bigger. restaurants serve meals with unlimited bread. individual meals come on serving platters big enough to accomodate a christmas turkey(lots of cheap, refined carbohydrate). movie theatres started giving free refills on the popcorn and pop but ONLY IF YOU BUY A LARGE. is it any wonder the population is getting fatter.