Not long ago, a woman in the Netherlands (where I now live) remarked to me, "You don't look American.

"Why's that?" I asked her.
"You're not fat," she said.

It did not occur to me until later that day that she herself carried a good forty pounds more than she really needed.

But the obesity crisis has reached Europe, too, now. For years, Americans have wondered why it was that Europeans stayed so thin. Everyone talked about sit-down meals and no snacking and the French miracle diet and how Europeans moved more and on and on, theorizing ad infinitum about the amazing European slimness.

No longer.

Now the Dutch government is instituting various measures similar to those in America: listing calorie counts on labels, restricting the sale of candy in schools, and so on. Frequently, you hear complaints about the "Americanization" of the world, about how the introduction of McDonalds and Burger King are chiefly to blame, and too much time spent in front of the TV. But you know something? I don't believe it.

When I first moved to Holland, I was struck, yes, by how slim at fit most people seemed to be, despite diets based largely on cheese, sausage, potatoes, and French fries. But I also remember being amazed at the limited variety of options in grocery stores. For America's aisles and aisles of soda -- cola, lemon-lime, orange-flavored, tonic-style, root beer, what-have-you, the Dutch had Coke, Pepsi, and generic; 7-up; Fanta orange; and sparkling water.

For America's countless cookie options, Holland had maybe ten or 15 or so. Et cetera. Even the fruit aisles were spare: apples, oranges, grapefruit, pears, grapes. Vegetables? Celery, carrots, potatoes, iceberg lettuce, asparagus, onions, cauliflower, and a new discovery in Holland: broccoli. There were about three brands of potato chips, none of which were "sour cream and onion."

But that's changed. Options now are almost as varied here as they are in the US. We even now have chocolate chip cookies, a new arrival only about three years ago. Some stores even sell (gasp!) Oreos. And even though the Dutch still bicycle to work, and even though they climb countless flights of stairs to get home every night, the weight is piling on.

Think about it. When you go to a buffet dinner, you taste a bit of this, a bit of that. You take a small slice of apple pie, a small slice of chocolate cake, and a tiny sliver of ginger cheesecake just to taste. The roast beef nestles beside the Southern fried chicken, and the creamed potatoes next to the creamed corn.

Before you know it, you've heaped three meals on a single plate. Or there's the box of mixed chocolates - the one from which you take a bite of this one, a bite of that, and by the time you're done, you've eaten about ten full chocolates, instead of the one or two you'd likely have consumed if all the chocolates were the same. The variety is far too tempting. You want to taste it all. And so you do.

I think, too, that this is why limited-food diets often work, at least in the short-term. Cut carbohydrates, and your food choices grow so limited that eventually it all gets boring and you're not as tempted anymore. You eat less, you lose weight.

Watching what has happened here convinces me: it's not just calories we need to watch, but options: one slice of chocolate cake beats a half-slice of cake, a half-slice of pie, a half-slice of cheesecake, and a cookie.

Personally, I'm done admiring the "European way" of eating. I don't think it's more sensible than America's, as I once did (though I do think that the Dutch are far more apt to watch their weight for health reasons than for fashion: even models here are far less emaciated than their US counterparts).

I don't think it's an American thing versus a European thing, or that we are bad and they are good, or anything like that. I think it's just a matter of simple consciousness and sensibility. After all, the chocolate will still be there tomorrow. But your hips don't have to be.