Fellow Americans, what do you think could be done to combat our nation's obesity epidemic?

My immediate thought was about urban design

I think there are a lot of people living in urban settings, or outside of the US, who really don't understand just how unfriendly much of the US is to pedestrians and cyclists.

I live on a fairly busy street. No sidewalks. No bicycle lanes. Iffy shoulders. And the speed limit is 45 mph. All of which means I can't really go for a stroll up the street.

It's about 6 miles to the grocery store. That's walkable/bikeable (ignoring the afore-mentioned safety concerns)... But it's somewhat problematic to get groceries home.

It's about 60 miles to my workplace, which means walking or biking isn't going to work.

There's no public transit. No buses or trains or anything like that.

All of which means that I need to take my car if I want to go anywhere.

There is no casual exercise to be had from just walking down to the store or going to work or whatever. If I want to go for a walk I'm either doing laps around my house or getting in my car and driving someplace where I can walk.

/r/AskAnAmerican Thread Parent