This is what Sherry Rauh believes may be the case in her WebMD feature “Is Fat the New Normal?”

She notes that 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese which makes being seem like heavy the “average” body type. This is becoming more true as “the average American is 23 pounds heavier than his or her ideal body weight.”  The problem with this is that people tend to “equate ‘normal’ with average” and we are left with the idea that it is normal to be overweight, which may be detrimental to the health of many people.

Another interesting point that Rauh makes is that being overweight has a lot to do with where you live and who you associate with as people ten to emulate what they are used to. This means that they best thing that you can do for those around you is to be a healthy role model. If you tend to eat well and get regular exercise your positive actions have a good chance of rubbing off on thse closest to you!

Read all of Rauh’s article here: http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/is-fat-the-new-normal