[FITZ]

Still --- my kids go to the same kinds of schools mentioned in the article --- they're served the same fattening "ethnic" foods (politically correct meals), they play their share of video games --- but they aren't obese --- nor are the more active Mexican kids. What you run across in this area --- the food being consumed is the same for everyone --- the guys out baling hay aren't obese but the housing project dwellers almost all are. Everyone eats the fat and carbohydrate laded tamales and burritos --- but not everyone is fat. Some people replace the lard with small amounts of vegetable oil --- which kills the flavor but they seem to be slimmer. To me that's like eating popcorn without the butter.

[CajunConservative]

I agree that there needs to be more activity as part of the solution. Perhaps if people had to exchange community service for benefits there would be less of a problem in this area.

I do know in my family that several of us have benefitted from making concious dietary changes and the biggest one was simply going back to eating real foods. It takes a little bit more time but the effort is worth it.

[valkyrieanne]

Well, for one thing, people differ genetically. Some think that Europeans were hit with a wave of Type 2 diabetes in the 17th-early 18th century, when prosperity made it possible for just about everyone to have white flour and sugar. The massive die-offs from the Type 2 diabetes that resulted made it so that Europeans who survived (some of whom emigrated to America) were the ones who had *less* "thrifty genes" - and thus less tendency to Type 2 diabetes than did the Africans or Native Americans.

Hispanic people aren't uniform, either - some have more Spanish, some have more Indian, some are a mix of Spanish-Anglo-Indian