You may be right, it's a long time since I was there on a regular basis.
I blame obesity on two factors - sugar in everything, and the prevalence of cheap processed foods - pasta, rice, bread etc.
For me, eating low carb vegetables and low glycemic fruit worked wonders, after banning sugar in everything I could.
As a bonus, I also found I could eat as much protein, yoghurt, and cheese as I wanted, without putting weight back on.