60 years ago, overweight wasn’t a problem. When I was a kid growing up on the streets of Detroit in the 1950’s, the fat child on the playground or the overweight adult on the bus was the exception, not the rule. You didn’t see fat folk. Overweight people stood out like flashing neon signs. Less than 10% of the population was overweight. Most people were thin. If you’re not old enough to remember what I’m talking about, go on youtube and look at some vintage TV from the 50’s. Everyone from Dobie Gillis to Donna Reed to Ozzie and Harriet were skinny. By today’s standards, even Jackie Gleason was semi-svelte. As Walter Cronkite, also thin, used to say, that’s the way it is. Or that’s the way it used to be. Normal weight was, well, normal. The problem is now, in 2012, 60% of us are overweight. Fat people are no longer the exception, they rule. You don’t think twice when you see a fat person waddling down the street or grunting up a staircase. And the unfortunate odds are, you are that fat person. For the first generation in history, parents are going to live longer lives than their children, because their children are just too darn fat. I’ve been on the front line fighting obesity for 30 years, and I’ve seen it happen. And it’s not just in the U.S. There’s an international obesity epidemic going on. My colleagues in France, England and even China are seeing the same thing. We’re all in trouble, because we’re too darn fat.