Why has obesity become so rampant in the United States?

Not only in America but the world over the trend is the same. Obesity is gaining in numbers and this is affecting the health of the society as a whole. It doesn't require the brains of a rocket scientist to know that the main causes of obesity are lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. McDonalds, Pizza huts and Burger Kings might have had great success in the American markets but they have been the pioneers in bringing fast food to the common man. And fast food is the junk that our body doesn't really require. But being the most easily accessible we are often choosing it. the junk foods load our bodies with unwanted fats and this accumulates to make us obese. Junk foods were always being eaten but in the days without remote controls and automobiles we were forced to do so many things that the physical activities a person was involved in were too high and this took care of the excess fats we ate in our food. but with more and more progress in science we have been blessed (or doomed) with gadgets that make life all the more easy and we have to do less and less physical activity. This has lead to a stage where we are eating much more than we should and are working much less than we should. cumulatively these factors result in additional storing of fats in the body leading to obesity.

This is simply due to the competitive revolution in America. No one has time to look at themselves. From students to the adults everyone is busy giving competitions. As they have no time, the Food basically is always Junk. No time to make meals by their own hands! Busy schedule makes them no workout and sitting at one place probably making them fat!. With this busy life, there is no proper balance in whatever other things they are doing and they wont take care about it. Thats what is going on!

I guess those things that you mentioned are the things that make obesity a global epidemic. The food they take, the lifestyle thy chose and the technology of the times makes it more worse than ever before. I could just remember that before elevators and escalators were not yet introduced people are required to go up and down through the stairs, but now you can easily go up and down without exerting much effort. Before, you need to walk to reach a certain place but now you can reach anyone with a car just sitting and driving. Fastfood has also sporuted and has become a popular choice of food, unfortunately they way food are cooked is not that healthy anymore since it is rather cooked and prepared rather qucikly and the food ingredients are not as healthy as it used to be.

I think it is a combination of more fast food, lots of homework, and excess stress.