BY NOW, we will have consumed the leftovers from our Thanksgiving feasts, which saw us dispose of 45 million turkeys, perhaps 200 million sweet potatoes, and at least 50 million pies of various sorts. Add in stuffing made from white bread, cranberry sauce loaded with sugar, and carrots roasted in brown sugar and butter, and you have a dieter’s nightmare–one estimate puts the carb content of a typical Thanksgiving meal at what Atkins would call “a whopping” 200 grams. Just to make certain that none of this vast intake is offset by exercise, most American men plunked down on couches to watch the traditional football game, many wearing clothes from the “relaxed” (read extra-large) section of the Gap and other clothing stores.

For most, the gorging continued through last weekend. Two-thirds of American companies closed on the Friday following Thanksgiving, giving their workers time to refill their platters between visits to the shopping malls on that busiest of all shopping days.