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Hmm.
I can agree that less dining out leads to fewer oversized portions. And, a lower food budget in general may also mean fewer snacks, processed foods, and meats in the groceries, which are all generally more expensive and more fattening.
But I don't know about the widespread walking/biking. People who already have the option to walk may do so when gas prices rise, but huge sections of our population do not have walking as a viable option because of the way suburbs are laid out. My nearest grocery store is 2 miles away. There is no public transportation in our area--it's about 5 miles from us to the closest major highway, and I'm only guessing that our intermittent and poorly-run bus system does go along that highway. We could certainly cut back all non-critical driving, but that would amount to not leaving the neighborhood, rather than walking/biking where we wanted to go.
In an utter nightmare scenario--we're talking gas so expensive it may as well not exist--I suppose it would be physically possible for Mr. Clod to bike the 16 miles to work, and I could get some sort of trailer that could pull two kids and groceries behind a bike. But before it ever got to that point, Mr. Clod's job would just let everyone telecommute, and our neighborhood busybodies (aka Homeowner's Association) would set up some sort of public transport, carpooling, or grocery-delivery-by-bike-messenger system. So we'd never see those exercise benefits.
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