More Americans are OK with Fat

Perhaps because two-thirds of Americans are now overweight, many of us are more accepting of heavy people than we used to be.  A survey by the NPD Group found that over a 20-year period, the percentage of Americans who said they find overweight people les attractive fell from 55% to 24%.  The study also found that fewer Americans are eating less or are choosing low-fat, low-calorie foods today than during the 1980s.

Yet while we might not be as obsessed with thinness as we were back then, the study found that we still favor thin people over their heavier counterparts.  When asked to make assumptions about a man photographed beside an obese woman and a woman of normal weight, the survey subjects judged the man more negatively when viewing the photo of him beside the obese woman.  Overweight teens, moreover, are only half as likely to date as their thinner peers.

Source:  AP Health (via Yahoo)