In Australia (after we introduced plain packaging laws for cigarettes, banned advertising, and made many other related laws) smoking has dropped significantly[1]. It's amazing how much advertising and education plays into this. What if it was not legal to advertise junk food to children, or you had plain-packaging style laws for junk food?

I used to be obese, so I completely agree that fat people usually are somewhat aware of how fat they are and of the health impacts. It's just hard to make them care, and they need help with going through a lifestyle change that they are going to make mistakes during.

[1]: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mediareleasesbyCatal...

One problem is that "junk food" is an ill-defined term, even though it may seem obvious.

For example, years ago Greek Yogurt became popular in supermarkets in the U.S. If you look at the nutrition label of a yogurt like Chobani, it contains roughly 4 teaspoons of sugar in one small container. And yet yogurt is advertised as a healthy food.

If you "quit sugar" in the U.S., you'll quickly realize just how many items at supermarkets have added sugar. I'm more concerned about "sneaky calories" then straight-up junk food.

You make a good point about defining junk food, buy I'm not sure Chobani yoghurt is the best example; the only sugar in plain Chobani yoghurt is lactose from the milk that was used to make it - lactose has a much lower glycemic index than that of glucose.

It really helps that you can get a decent meal for the price of a cigarette pack.

And there's no "shyness" of overweight people telling healthy-weight people they're "skinny". I hear it every day, and my weight is dead-smack-in-the-middle of the "healthy" range for my height.