Warning: This diet is NOT easy!

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Are we stupid? To lose weight in America is damn hard. Nobody can make it easy for us. And let me tell you, it's the exact opposite. They make it not easy for us. At every opportunity America wants you to overeat.

Trying buying a small popcorn at the movies. My wife did just yesterday. The 15-year-old behind the counter warned her that it was better to buy the bigger sizes: "you save money." (First, how do you save money by spending 75 cents more than you want to.) And second how is it better to eat more popcorn.

Trying buying a normal-sized candy bar. Can't do it. Try buying a small coke. Sorry, sizes start at large and work their way up.

We did find one thing you could buy in a small size: The bottled water.

You're saying to yourself, this is silly. Of course, movie theaters have large food items. That's how they make their money. But start looking around the next time you are out. Every food item is supersized now.

Last week, after seeing the Nutcracker we went to an Italian restaurant in Torrington. It didn't have a child's menu for our 7 year old, so we ordered a little penne with butter and little cheese. Out comes the biggest bowl you have ever seen. It must have been a pound of pasta. There must be some mistake, I said. No, that's the normal entrée portion; they couldn't RightSize it for my son. (I have been to Italy, and no Italian restaurant would have served that much pasta for any adult, let alone a child. In America it's normal.)

What's the most amazing is that the restaurant people thought I was the weird one. "You can always take it home," said one.

Good luck eating out in America. Until we start changing these Texas-sized portions into Rhode Island-sized meals, we all will be paying for Alaska-sized health bills.