united states

When I was in high school, I thought the vending machines were so cool. They made me feel like an adult. I could grab some food whenever I wanted. No more waiting for lunch period. Awesome!

But today, 17% of school kids are obese, triple the rate it was in 1980. So giving teenagers open access to junk food all day is a dumb idea. That's why the USDA is gunning to regulate all food sold in schools, including vending machines.

Analysis of two large-scale studies has shown that Americans today are following less healthy lifestyles than two decades ago - despite an increasing number of public health campaigns.

The Medical University of South Carolina compared the studies, covering the period between 1988 to 2006, and found several indications that lifestyles were becoming less healthy in five key areas.

But, given our soaring rates of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, I hardly think we're a good role model for overcoming childhood obesity. Are we?

Our life-partner China seems to thinks so. Chinese health officials have asked the U.S. for help in addressing China's increasing number of overweight children.

Furthermore, the First Lady's brand new White House vegetable garden will hopefully encourage Americans to think more about the foods they're stuffing down their throats.

An estimated one in three adults living in the U.S. are overweight or obese. How did this come to be? It's probably due to the cumulative effect of many factors (eg. poor diet, inactivity, lack of sleep, stress), rather than one, isolated problem.

So which states are helping or hurting our efforts to reduce the girth of our nation?