ing and eating larger meals as 'better value for the dollar', rather than focusing on what is good for us. As our fat intake, as the percentage of our dietary intake, has increased through the years, the subsequent excess fat in our energy intake is stored at a greater rate than carbohydrates or proteins (Hill & Peters, 1998). It may not be this excess intake of dietary fat that promotes obesity, but our increase in overall calories consumed that leads to obesity (Hill & Peters, 1998)Hill and Peters (1998) show that the current trend is a decrease in physical activity in our daily lives as advances in technology and transportation make our life much easier. The advent of television, and recently computers and video games, has led to an entire generation of children who spend their free time in front of a screen instead of engaging in physical activity for entertainment.Physical activity promotes fat loss while preserving lean body mass (A Report of the Surgeon General (1996). A very effective form of long-term weight regulation combines physical activity with caloric restriction (A Surgeon General Report, 1996). The consensus amongst researchers today is to favour a healthier overall lifestyle, one which includes physical activity, improved diet, and weight loss promotion (Wickelgren, 1998). The lessons we learn as children stick with us for the rest of our lives, this lack of physical exercise amongst the last couple of generations of children seems to correspond with the greater prevalence of obesity in society today. Have the children 'learned' to be obese by following the lead of adults? Or have the obese children grown into obese adults? Or maybe obesity is an environmental disease we have all been on a 'timeline' for since the Industrial Revolution began. Ever since the Industrial Revolution began the population has shown an increasing obesity rate due to the physical ease with which we can now go through life. Now with mainstream...
