While Lent seems an irrelevant anachronism, Mardi Gras just keeps gaining stature year after year, as does the good ol' US of A... well, maybe not stature, but girth, certainly.

While NURTZ isn't going to be tossing out any cheap beads this morning, we're more than happy to hurl a few news nuggets regarding just HOW fat Tuesday is.

I Hear America Chewing. According to this MSN article, 6 out of every 10 adults in the country falls into the "overweight" category. Of course, seemingly a bajillion of us ballooned into the obese classification overnight when the CDC redefined the standards in 1998. For added fun, click here for an interactive map that shows just how blimpy YOUR state has grown in 20 years.

Bip Gets Buff. Everyone's favorite vulcanized pitchman, Bip - the Michelin tire man, has been off the charts for a couple of years, but now he's back... a lean, mean advertising machine.  The Sun reports that someone's been off burning rubber for the past eight years in order to "reflect more health-conscious times." Like most celebrity news, NURTZ is including before and after pictures so that everyone can make caustic remarks about Bip's previous flab.

"Glandular Problem" and "Big Boned" Are Passé Excuses. Science, always on the look-out to generate big bux, spends an inordinate amount of time studying why people can't stop eating, or at least helping to come up with new excuses. The latest ideas being batted around are that either microbes or viruses are to blame. Yupperdoo - depending on what sort of bugs are parked in your stomach, you're either going to break down the doors at Cinnabon's or go for a walk. Here's a picture of a fat mouse and a link NURTZ offers up as the pure-dee veritas to what we're saying.

We're Busting Out the Doors! According to this article, Columbia's waistline is beginning to impact the furniture biz. Restaurants in particular are starting to demand larger chairs and tables, since, no busboy on the planet wants to have to grease up a patron's thighs with butter in order to pop said diner out of a too-small chair. It's not just chairs either. Plumbing manufacturers like Kohler are starting to super size toilets as well.

As Cities Sprawl, So Do the People. "People who don't like to exercise move to the suburbs," so sez Professor Lawrence Frank of the University of British Columbia. The shorthand here is that suburb communities that are nothing but spaghetti streets and residences leave no one a REASON to walk anywhere. Folks living in a mixed use environment, with gridlike street layouts tend to walk to the store, entertainment or whatever, whereas, folks in the sticks tend to have to DRIVE to find anything. Not to mention, current covenants and building restrictions placed on most new suburban communities leave little visual appeal for anyone just wanting to go for a stroll. "Oh goodie, another house that looks exactly like the LAST house I walked past."

So, there you have it. We're growing as a nation. Don't lose any sleep over it though, according to another study, sleep deprivation could be a contributory factor to obesity as well. Oh, yeah, McDonalds, the constant target of millions of pointing fingers is considering putting out a Happy meal for adults that is calorie conscious, comes in a box decorated with slogans advocating personal responsibility and comes with a FREE PEDOMETER as a prize.

Of course, tomorrow being the beginning of Lent, you COULD give up food for a few weeks.