Big Brother may be coming to a kitchen near you. And we can't help but notice that he's put on a few pounds lately.

The obesity epidemic in the U.S. has prompted several states to use legislation to raise awareness of poor eating habits. The latest to do so is Maine - even if it's not the first state that pops in your head when someone says obesity. In fact, Maine currently ranks 34 in the nation in obesity rate, and third in the not-so-hotly contested New England region.

That hasn't stopped Maine governor John E. Baldacci from signing into law three new bills aimed at curbing the state's obesity rate.

One laws now make it mandatory that chain restaurants display the calories of each menu item, following in the footsteps of New York. This makes perfect sense, and in our minds is a no-brainer consumer rights issue. Another new Maine law encourages schools to voluntarily report student's body mass index (BMI) to allow the state to evaluate current obesity prevention measures and seek out areas for reform. The third bill aims to assess the physical education capacities of schools and encourages the enhancement of PE programs.

Other states also have taken a legislative approach to curbing their state's obesity rate. In 2006, Governor Schwarzenegger of California signed a bill that required the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a Healthy Food Purchase Program that would provide incentives to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables in low-income communities. The Governator resisted mandating a regiment of muscle-building vitamins for the kids.

Similar to Maine, Massachusetts recently passed into law that chain restaurants with 20 or more locations within the state are required to post calorie counts next to the items on their menus.

Some measures have even attempted to take it to the next level, beyond calorie labeling and incentives. Since the mid 1990s, the concept of a "fat tax" or "Twinkie tax" has been floating around like bacon grease on a pan. It's now being batted around by New York Governor David Patterson as a possible step in fighting obesity in the Empire State. This tax would be added on to products such as non-diet soft drinks. The measure so far has not been well received by N.Y. residents.

Is this the wave of the future? Many efforts to curb obesity rates at a legislative level have had little to no success once they are passed, if they pass at all. Many critics of such measures claim that the issue has become too politicized. In 2007, New Mexico State Senator Steve Komadina introduced the Right to Eat Enchiladas Act (pdf) which, culinary issues notwithstanding, stated that the public needs to take responsibility for its eating habits without the intervention of a government body or agency.

The National Institutes of Health have an Obesity Education Initiative as does the US Department of Agriculture. If knowledge is power, then maybe getting the message out is the key to success when it comes to fighting obesity.

Maybe Big Brother can make restaurants inform their customers of how many calories are in the burger they sell, or up the price of soda by a dime, or force a school to report its students' BMI. But at the end of the day, will the nanny state approach really get kids to opt for an apple instead of a donut? The answer is no. And that's all right. The public needs to and ultimately will make that decision on their own.