Texas is a big state in more ways than one. It’s the nation’s second largest land mass with an area larger than most countries. It’s also the state with the nation’s fattest city.

But not to worry Kingsville, you’re not on the list. In fact, the magazine that unveiled the information, which I understand is based on some very serious statistics, probably doesn’t even know that Kingsville exists, at least not in this universe.

Perhaps in parallel universe, where things are upside down, the city could have topped the fattest city list, but for now, the distinction goes to our neighbor to the north, Corpus Christi.

That’s not the worst of it. In fact, it seems Kingsville is surrounded by both fat cities and fat counties with Corpus Christi as the nation’s No. 1 fattest city and Duval and Jim Hogg counties, to the west, as among the top 10 fattest counties.

There’s no competition to the south and in the warm Gulf waters to the east, only Shamu poses any threat (yes, people are often surprised to learn that the Gulf of Mexico has whales and dolphins).

And Corpus Christi isn’t alone. Four other Texas cities, El Paso, Dallas, San Antonio and Houston are on the list. The only good news is that Austin, which ranked 97th, and Ft. Worth, 66 on the list, garnered an “A” and “B” rating respectively, from the magazine as among the leanest cities.

The magazine, Men’s Health, explained its methodology on its web site: “To arrive at our rankings, we calculated the percentage of people who are overweight, the percentage with type 2 diabetes, the percentage who haven’t left the couch in a month (CDC Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System); the money spent on junk food (Bureau of Labor Statistics); and finally, the number of people who ate fast food nine or more times in a month (Mediamark Research).”

The only good news is that “the folks at The Biggest Loser have decided to help Texas lose its tonnage. Tune in and watch America’s second-largest state shrink before your eyes.”

So do we really live in Muy Gordo Land? And if so, who’s to blame? The answer is simple.

In a trip to San Antonio last week, I stopped at Lulu’s Bakery and Café (made famous in the Man vs. Food television show) for a casual lunch with my wife, daughter and nieces. I ordered their famous chicken fried steak meal, which feeds two to three persons and is served up in two platters, along with the bakery’s 3.5 lb. cinnamon roll.

The chicken fried steak was awesome and the cinnamon roll was as large as a cake. You won’t go hungry here, but you will gain weight. Let’s just say it’s a good place to expand your horizon.

The week before, we were at the mall in Corpus Christi where we dined on a truckload of stir fry served up with rice and an egg role. The only thing that was better than the food was the price.

So to answer my earlier question lies within us. We live in a society where bigger is always better and restaurants and the food they serve is no exception.

I’ve also come to learn that our legislators are considering a bill that would require fast food restaurants to inform customers of their menu’s calories. It’s a futile effort (like the earlier bill to include students’ body fat index on every report card) and I can honestly state that fast food aficionados won’t even bother looking.

The truth is we have a choice. We can choose to join the local gym and be fit and healthy or we can choose to munch on the couch while watching our favorite television show. But it should be our choice, and not the choice of our school or government.