Welcome, Louisiana! Plop down, pull your chair up to the table and take a load off. Oh, and pass the bucket of fried chicken while you’re at it, too.

Mississippi is glad to call you its latest neighbor in sloth.

For the sixth year running, Mississippi’s collective waistline is the largest in the nation. The latest survey takes the sluggish pulse of our nation regarding the supersizing of Americans and the diagnosis isn’t good.

Last year, three other states — Alabama Tennessee and West Virginia — joined Mississippi having obesity rates of more than 30 percent.

This year, Louisiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma and Arkansas loosened their belts a bit and joined the heavyweight division.

Unfortunately, for most overweight adults, society cannot help much. They must realize the need to drop some pounds by their own inner wakeup call or by a health scare. But the more troubling problem our country is facing is the epidemic of obese children and our ability to look into their pudgy faces and ignore the problem.

The latest survey, written by the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that a whopping 84 percent of parents believe their children are at a healthy weight.

Ironically the same report shows nearly one-third of all children and teens are overweight or obese.

That means many parents are in denial. If we really want to get serious about our future, our country should zero in on this problem like a laser.

Collectively, our country can — and should — do better.

Forget the battle cry for the war on drugs for a minute; let’s face a more sinister, quieter killer.

We need a war on fat. At the moment, the enemy is winning.