Recent data shows that over 40% of adults and 20% of children are now classified as obese, with severe obesity affecting 9.7% of the population.

Obesity means being roughly 20-30% heavier than a healthy weight for one’s height, while extreme obesity can be 75-100% above this ideal weight.

This means that, according to the latest data, nearly 10% of Americans are approaching double their recommended healthy weight.

Liberal policies are making Americans fat. Liberals pushed for lockdowns, and the result? The average weight gain among the 42% of adults who got fatter during lockdown was 29 lbs.

Lockdowns also permanently increased the number of Americans relying on fast food, takeout, delivery, and processed meals.

They closed gyms, forcing people to live online, and now the damage is clear—not just in skyrocketing obesity rates and the decline in physical activity, but in other areas too, like kids falling two years behind in school.

The effects of these policies are now undeniable. Liberals are also behind efforts to eliminate school PE classes and competitive sports, arguing that they are racist, promote testosterone and masculinity, or hurt the feelings of kids who don’t perform as well.

Liberals are also fixated on higher obesity rates among minorities, claiming racism or inequality is to blame rather than personal choices.

They push the concept of “food deserts“—low-income areas without grocery stores—ignoring the fact that liberal policies on looting and shoplifting have driven stores out of inner-city neighborhoods.

Interestingly, they don’t seem to blame racism for Southern whites being heavier than Northern whites. And, as usual, their solutions involve more nonsense legislation, government spending, socialism, higher taxes, and infringements on personal liberties.

Only 23% of adults get enough exercise, and the numbers for children are even worse. Schools across the U.S. are cutting back PE programs or reducing them to just twice a week, leaving kids with only 10-20 minutes of exercise per session, which is nowhere near enough.

Seventy-five percent of teens aren’t getting the physical activity they need.

And, as usual, liberals are going to make the obesity problem even worse. They’ve concluded that kids don’t participate in sports because they don’t “feel” comfortable due to “peer victimization.”

On top of that, they’re pushing to end fitness testing in schools, claiming it causes “body shaming.” Rather than addressing the real issues, they focus on pushing their political agendas, like blaming climate change for obesity, or implementing irrelevant policies such as creating creating “nut-free campuses” or restricting advertising to kids.

This, of course, killed off Saturday morning cartoons by banning ads for fast food, candy, and toys. This policy did nothing to address obesity but did increase the amount of time kids spend online, further contributing to the obesity problem.

Recent data highlights that states like Louisiana, Mississippi, and West Virginia are seeing some of the highest obesity rates, and these are also the states with the greatest concentration of fast food restaurants.

Louisiana tops the list for poor eating habits, with an obesity rate of 40.1%, the highest density of fast food chains at 8.83 per 10,000 people, and an average daily sugar intake of 17.6 teaspoons. Mississippi follows closely with a 39.5% obesity rate and an average daily sugar consumption of 20 teaspoons.

Kentucky ranks third, where residents lead the nation in sugar intake with 21.2 teaspoons daily.

Delaware, while not leading in fast food density, makes the list due to its high alcohol consumption (4.01 gallons per capita), cementing its place among the states with the poorest eating habits.

Black and Hispanic adults, face higher rates of obesity. In 38 states, more than 35% of Black adults are classified as obese, while Hispanic populations show similar trends in 34 states.

Liberals argue this is due to limited access to healthy food, but in reality, every American has the freedom to choose what they buy at the grocery store.

Part of the misleading data supporting claims that poor people don’t have access to healthy food comes from health myths, like the belief that healthy food must come from specialized stores like Whole Foods with organic or green labels.

This is nonsense. You can make a healthy salad from vegetables at any grocery store, regardless of labels, and it will still be far better for you than a plate of French fries.

The real issue lies in education, awareness, and personal responsibility, not access. And personal responsibility is something liberals try to remove from the equation.

The obesity rate, shocking as it is, is being undercounted. Recommended healthy weights are being quietly increased as society begins to accept heavier and heavier people as normal.

With the left campaigning against fat-shaming and concepts like “body nazism,” obesity is becoming normalized. We’re seeing it everywhere—even in the opening ceremony of the Olympics, which once represented the pinnacle of physical fitness, now featuring a morbidly obese woman.

If even the Olympics, an institution that should embody health and fitness, can no longer promote slim, fit bodies and healthy lifestyles, we are truly heading down a dangerous path as a society.