Avoid processed foods, fast food and days without physical exercise

We can't hope that individuals can muster the self-discipline of their own to avoid processed foods, fast food and days without physical exercise. Instead the idea is that governments must actively work to change environments and reduce the menu of harmful options available in everyday life.

Now we have hundreds of towns in Europe and elsewhere that have adopted a version of this strategy, aimed particularly at preventing children from becoming overweight and obese. They have hired dietitians to counsel children and their families in schools, organized walk-to-school days, hired sports educators and even built new sporting facilities. The U.S. government is increasing its funding for cities and towns to pursue so called community-based obesity prevention, in an effort to gather data about which kinds of tactics work best.

"Finally, people are acknowledging that the obesity problem is so pervasive that it isn't just because people are making bad choices", says Laura Kettel Khan, an obesity expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which makes grants to states for community obesity-prevention programs.