quicko: obesity

America gets a pretty bad rap as far as obesity goes, much of which is deserved. Australia deserves one, too.

I'm not going on personal experience here so much as national statistics, but the figures really are quite signficant -- despite the swimming and surfing and rugby, around half of Australians are overweight. The Biggest Loser has an Australian edition and was quite a popular show. It's a serious problem (though, come to think of it, I'm not sure I've seen a public health announcement about it on TV yet, so perhaps not ...), not that Max Brenner does much to help.

I know it goes against the stereotypes of sporty Sydneysiders doing all sorts of extreme sports -- but that's just it, they really are just stereotypes. Sure, lots of people do exerise, but not the majority. And the beautiful bathers at Bondi -- well, mostly they're not Australian.