Obviously exercise has a great impact on it, but I have also noticed that southern cooking means fried. I was in DC a few years ago, and I noticed that a lot of people were not only obese but had terrible eating habits. Everything seemed to be fried and greasy, people poured tons of sugar into coffee and tea, and opted for junk food wherever possible. Also, it was really hard to find healthy things to eat like fresh fruit except at the hotel dining room. I noticed that healthy thinges are hard to find or locate,but junk food is easily and readily available everywhere.
One thing I did like was the biscuits at breakfast. It's a nice change from bread. It's a good thing the biscuits are tasty because the bagels are inedible. But i really liked the biscuits.
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You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. That's great...if you want to attract vermin.