I am an American and I agree. This issue started at the end of World War II. The technology we developed to store and preserve bulk calories in tiny packages was probably a contributing factor to outcome of that war. It was cheap, simple and it was fantastic technology at the time. It has gotten too good, unfortunately.
However, processed foods are just one of the problems. All things considered, we have a lot of extremely cheap normal food as well. The mid-west is practically dedicated to cattle farms and corn. Our calories are super cheap and for the most part, we have excellent logistics networks. A funny rumor is that we here in Colorado get fresher sea food than most coastal locations since our orders get processed first thing in the morning for transport. (That sounds silly enough that I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true.)
There are many different issues that cause higher obesity rates here, is my point.