The true cause of obesity

snookumss

Lack of understanding of energy intake vs energy needs.

Now, do I think that everyone should count calories? Of course not. But I DO think that there's a significant portion of people who do not understand how energy balance dictates weight change, and knowing this could help people either lose, or not get that way to begin with.

Exactly Sidesteal. If I had been informed of all the calorie stuff in high school, there is no way I would have ever become obese. In fact, I think I would have been much healthier all along. I had no idea, it wasn't until I discovered MFP and started being able to closely look at the foods I was eating. I think that we should have a nutrition course in high school, so that people would be informed before it gets too bad.

PaulS70

True! Just because a person doesn't understand why there is a lack of balance between energy in and energy out doesn't mean it isn't the reason. We just have to figure out why our in/out is messed up.

This is exactly what I was trying ask with the original post... Why is our in/out messed up? Why do we overeat?

That's why I used the term "vacuously true" which may have been a misquote, but anyway...

In other words you must have improper energy balance to be overweight, but how and why do we get there?

UsedToBeHusky

I can accept your first three theories, but I have to reject the last one. I reject any philosophy that treats "junk" food as if it were some foreign matter that our bodies somehow can't handle. Yes, additives have altered the nature of our diets dramatically, but additives have not chemically altered the food. Food is still food. Nutritional values vary, but if it is identified as food, whether it be healthy or "junk" it is still food. I think that viewing "junk" food as junk instead of food actually fosters an unhealthy relationship with food. As if it is somehow the food's fault that we are fat. We have to take responsibility for our own choices, and I think that blaming any kind of food is blame-shifting. Instead of taking responsibility for the choices that made us fat, we blame the restaurants, food distributors, and the government for not protecting us from the "junk", but essentially, it was OUR lack of self-control when it came to eating the nutritionally defecient food that made us fat.

Sidesteal

I can accept your first three theories, but I have to reject the last one. I reject any philosophy that treats "junk" food as if it were some foreign matter that our bodies somehow can't handle. Yes, additives have altered the nature of our diets dramatically, but additives have not chemically altered the food. Food is still food. Nutritional values vary, but if it is identified as food, whether it be healthy or "junk" it is still food. I think that viewing "junk" food as junk instead of food actually fosters an unhealthy relationship with food. As if it is somehow the food's fault that we are fat. We have to take responsibility for our own choices, and I think that blaming any kind of food is blame-shifting. Instead of taking responsibility for the choices that made us fat, we blame the restaurants, food distributors, and the government for not protecting us from the "junk", but essentially, it was OUR lack of self-control when it came to eating the nutritionally defecient food that made us fat.

Great post.

Long2bme

We overeat because of the vast amounts of food out there. We eat non foods such as all the processed items in the interior isles of the grocery store.

50 yrs ago we did not have fast food or the volume of grocery store choices we have today. We have not evolved enough to listen to our bodies, we listen instead to our brain sensory cues of I see it I want it, I smell it I want it and fill our mouths with foods that are not health supporting.

PaulS70

I can accept your first three theories, but I have to reject the last one. I reject any philosophy that treats "junk" food as if it were some foreign matter that our bodies somehow can't handle. Yes, additives have altered the nature of our diets dramatically, but additives have not chemically altered the food. Food is still food. Nutritional values vary, but if it is identified as food, whether it be healthy or "junk" it is still food. I think that viewing "junk" food as junk instead of food actually fosters an unhealthy relationship with food. As if it is somehow the food's fault that we are fat. We have to take responsibility for our own choices, and I think that blaming any kind of food is blame-shifting. Instead of taking responsibility for the choices that made us fat, we blame the restaurants, food distributors, and the government for not protecting us from the "junk", but essentially, it was OUR lack of self-control when it came to eating the nutritionally defecient food that made us fat.

I suppose I should clarify...

None of these theories are mine. I have read them from various researchers, doctors, scientists etc.

I may have not described #4 as well as possible and have not represented exactly the thoughts of the theorists. It wasn't specifically junk food or food additives that cause the "hormone blockage," it could very well be too much food, or bad genetics or stress... who knows. Its mostly a proposed mechanism for overeating.

sunfyrejade

I can accept your first three theories, but I have to reject the last one. I reject any philosophy that treats "junk" food as if it were some foreign matter that our bodies somehow can't handle. Yes, additives have altered the nature of our diets dramatically, but additives have not chemically altered the food. Food is still food. Nutritional values vary, but if it is identified as food, whether it be healthy or "junk" it is still food. I think that viewing "junk" food as junk instead of food actually fosters an unhealthy relationship with food. As if it is somehow the food's fault that we are fat. We have to take responsibility for our own choices, and I think that blaming any kind of food is blame-shifting. Instead of taking responsibility for the choices that made us fat, we blame the restaurants, food distributors, and the government for not protecting us from the "junk", but essentially, it was OUR lack of self-control when it came to eating the nutritionally defecient food that made us fat.

One caveat I would add to this is...depending on your family background you may have been raised with unhealthy habits that are in fact your parents fault but once you reach a certain age it is your responsibility to educate yourself and fix these habits. Case in point, I was raised drinking soda to the point where I was up to 3L a day, it was accepted and natural in my house. Once I moved out and grew up, I educated myself and made a different choice but when I was a kid I didn't know better and followed my parents example.

neanderthin

It would help if the population knew what a portion looked like.

Pollyfleming

I'm going to add that the shame factor of being overweight has been diminished over the last thirty years and our own perception of weight has changed. When I was growing up, there was one 'fat' kid in school and it was horrible for her. When I gained a little weight in elementary school, my mom immediately started shaming me into losing weight. At school the kids called me 'fatty' and all sorts of names. Even my teachers would tease me. I weighed less than 100 pounds and I was just under 5 feet. Today, I wouldn't be considered fat at all. I am not advocating going back to shaming because it was horrible but I do think it kept me in line.
The other thing about the shame issue is our ability to get high calorie food anonymously without fear of reproach--and by that I mean in drive-thru fast food places. Thirty years ago there were fewer drive thrus for us to binge on. A lot of my kids' friends put on weight once they could drive and not because they were walking less (parents where I live drive their kids everywhere) but because suddenly they can go to McDonald's or Wendy's or Jack in the Box or Del Taco at anytime and they go A LOT.

Florawanda

We have an obesity epidemic in UK at the moment, and part of it may be down to lack of knowledge of just how many calories are contained in fast-food, now so readily available. In wartime Britain, because of food rationing, which went on into the 50s, most adults were pretty healthy. Meat was in short supply, so people supplemented their ration with unrationed offal, like liver, and with lots of veggies; sugar and sweets were rationed, and Coca Cola did not then exist over here (though I do remember an American serviceman in the 1940s giving us a huge box of 'candy' - my eyes were on stalks! I can remember the careful cutting of a rare Mars Bar into 3 pieces between my 2 brothers and me... he who cut, got the last piece! When sweet rationing finally ended when I was 11, I fear I never looked back!

Add to this the added lethargy in getting out to exercise that we are teaching our children. 25 years ago, kids would play out much more, ride their bikes around the neighbourhood, and walk to and from school. For all sorts of reasons (e.g. stranger-fear, time pressures, TV and computer games) this has changed considerably.

But there is also the psychological element ... when you were hurt as a child, were you given, as well as a kiss and a cuddle, a sweet? Look how, if people want to give you a reward, they take you out for a meal, or give you choccies. Birthdays and any kind of celebration always involves food of some sort. So when we are emotionally low, we have learned to turn to 'comfort' food.

The only way to break this cycle is to teach our children about other rewards, and teach them differently about food values and exercise. My long-since grown-up children were taught early on the words, protein, carbohydrate and vitamin, and also knew that they might get scurvy if they didn't eat enough fresh fruit and vegetables! They only had water or milk to drink, except on special occasions, and chocolate and sweets were bought with their limited pocket money.

Rhea30

Lack of understanding of energy intake vs energy needs.

Now, do I think that everyone should count calories? Of course not. But I DO think that there's a significant portion of people who do not understand how energy balance dictates weight change, and knowing this could help people either lose, or not get that way to begin with.

I agree that a lot of people do not understand how much they need to eat. What puzzles me is how does every other animal do it? With ample food around you don't get fat lions and fat deer and fat cheetahs. How do they know how much they need?

Actually you would get fat lions, cheetahs and so on if they have ample food but they don't have ample food.

PaulS70

Lack of understanding of energy intake vs energy needs.

Now, do I think that everyone should count calories? Of course not. But I DO think that there's a significant portion of people who do not understand how energy balance dictates weight change, and knowing this could help people either lose, or not get that way to begin with.

I agree that a lot of people do not understand how much they need to eat. What puzzles me is how does every other animal do it? With ample food around you don't get fat lions and fat deer and fat cheetahs. How do they know how much they need?

Actually you would get fat lions, cheetahs and so on if they have ample food but they don't have ample food.

Maybe. I would argue that it would depend on what the ample food was. Natural vs. unnatural, low quality vs high quality.

PaulS70

I also forgot in the original post that "potion size" is a key part of the TOXIC ENVIRONMENT theory. That should be noted

ILiftHeavyAcrylics

I can accept your first three theories, but I have to reject the last one. I reject any philosophy that treats "junk" food as if it were some foreign matter that our bodies somehow can't handle. Yes, additives have altered the nature of our diets dramatically, but additives have not chemically altered the food. Food is still food. Nutritional values vary, but if it is identified as food, whether it be healthy or "junk" it is still food. I think that viewing "junk" food as junk instead of food actually fosters an unhealthy relationship with food. As if it is somehow the food's fault that we are fat. We have to take responsibility for our own choices, and I think that blaming any kind of food is blame-shifting. Instead of taking responsibility for the choices that made us fat, we blame the restaurants, food distributors, and the government for not protecting us from the "junk", but essentially, it was OUR lack of self-control when it came to eating the nutritionally defecient food that made us fat.

This

travla01

I can accept your first three theories, but I have to reject the last one. I reject any philosophy that treats "junk" food as if it were some foreign matter that our bodies somehow can't handle. Yes, additives have altered the nature of our diets dramatically, but additives have not chemically altered the food. Food is still food. Nutritional values vary, but if it is identified as food, whether it be healthy or "junk" it is still food. I think that viewing "junk" food as junk instead of food actually fosters an unhealthy relationship with food. As if it is somehow the food's fault that we are fat. We have to take responsibility for our own choices, and I think that blaming any kind of food is blame-shifting. Instead of taking responsibility for the choices that made us fat, we blame the restaurants, food distributors, and the government for not protecting us from the "junk", but essentially, it was OUR lack of self-control when it came to eating the nutritionally defecient food that made us fat.

One caveat I would add to this is...depending on your family background you may have been raised with unhealthy habits that are in fact your parents fault but once you reach a certain age it is your responsibility to educate yourself and fix these habits. Case in point, I was raised drinking soda to the point where I was up to 3L a day, it was accepted and natural in my house. Once I moved out and grew up, I educated myself and made a different choice but when I was a kid I didn't know better and followed my parents example.

I agree that people should educate themselves and MOST DEFINITELY take responsibility for what they eat. (I think this is the biggest problem with many people today) I do disagree that all food is 'food'. In other words, what we call "food'' these days can be described as junk. Take a look at the labels of what you eat. Most of the food offered in the inner aisles of grocery stores are loaded with chemicals, and chemically extracted oils. They are so processed now I know I can't identify the ingredients. I assume that most people don't know what they are putting into their body. I consider chemically processed foods as junk.

I know I have seen a drastic difference since I stopped eating these foods and shopped in the outer ring of the grocery store/organic aisles. My emotional eating has decreased, and my constant hunger has diminished. A good sized, eggs and bacon breakfast keeps me full for hours.

That is just my 2 cents.

KJVBear33

I say forget ALL of those theories.........they MAY have some validity, but I think that it has to do with today's society. I have heard this over and over again..........obesity in the US is such a problem, but everyone throws up their hands like they don't know how to help this scenario while throwing money to programs that may not need it or should not be funded THAT much and it really gets underneath my skin. The reason for WHY this happens is because there are a multitude of easy fixes as far as meals are concerned because there are a dozen.......billion........fast food places one could go to, they have pop and candy vending machines in schools FILLED with fattening products, and the hot lunches schools provide are a joke I think.........I mean yes, all of these places, save for vending machines that is, have to abide by nutritional standards and all. But still.........its today's society that is the problem. Everywhere you look everyone is looking for that quick fix.........youre out and you are tired and don't want to cook and yet you don't want to go out to eat--you want to eat at home--what do you do? Get a greasy nasty pizza, go get fried food at a drive thru, or get chinese food that is wrought with God knows what.

I seem to think that its not laziness........I think its the fact that we have already a taste of what we like and what we don't like and its an automatic thing. I honestly know from experience that before I started losing weight myself, I would go for things that I knew tasted great to me, but I never gave it much thought of what I was putting in my mouth. Now, I know. Like for instance, I would go to the movies and get popcorn every single time. Is it wrought with grease and God only knows what else? Yes........but does it taste good? very much so..........so smelling that popcorn as you walk in is just going to pull you in unless you get it through your head before you enter the theater........no, I am not going to do this.

Figuringoutme

I think those are all true. at least for me.


and..
The thing about animals. Wild animals eat natural food and they only eat when there hungry. They have to hunt for food unlike domestic animals that can walk into the next room and have a bowl of food out for them.

sunfyrejade

I agree that people should educate themselves and MOST DEFINITELY take responsibility for what they eat. (I think this is the biggest problem with many people today) I do disagree that all food is 'food'. In other words, what we call "food'' these days can be described as junk. Take a look at the labels of what you eat. Most of the food offered in the inner aisles of grocery stores are loaded with chemicals, and chemically extracted oils. They are so processed now I know I can't identify the ingredients. I assume that most people don't know what they are putting into their body. I consider chemically processed foods as junk.

I know I have seen a drastic difference since I stopped eating these foods and shopped in the outer ring of the grocery store/organic aisles. My emotional eating has decreased, and my constant hunger has diminished. A good sized, eggs and bacon breakfast keeps me full for hours.

That is just my 2 cents.

I think it depends on your term of "junk", I think what the OP was trying to highlight was blaming food that is not nutritionally sound is a cop out. I definitely agree with food choices being a big part of health and well-being. Processed food with more chemicals in them that most people cannot pronounce is looked at by our bodies as toxins and make our livers work overtime (I try to explain to my students that the liver pulls out everything not just drugs and alcohol) and are not as nutritionally valuable as real food. However if you still only eat 1200 calories of twinkies or cheesy poofs you might lose weight based on the energy because 1200 calories is still 1200 calories. Would you be healthy? Probably not, but I think laying blame on the food doesn't make you accountable for your choices in food. Just because it's available doesn't mean we should eat it.....

PaulS70

I say forget ALL of those theories.........they MAY have some validity, but I think that it has to do with today's society. I have heard this over and over again..........obesity in the US is such a problem, but everyone throws up their hands like they don't know how to help this scenario while throwing money to programs that may not need it or should not be funded THAT much and it really gets underneath my skin. The reason for WHY this happens is because there are a multitude of easy fixes as far as meals are concerned because there are a dozen.......billion........fast food places one could go to, they have pop and candy vending machines in schools FILLED with fattening products, and the hot lunches schools provide are a joke I think.........I mean yes, all of these places, save for vending machines that is, have to abide by nutritional standards and all. But still.........its today's society that is the problem. Everywhere you look everyone is looking for that quick fix.........youre out and you are tired and don't want to cook and yet you don't want to go out to eat--you want to eat at home--what do you do? Get a greasy nasty pizza, go get fried food at a drive thru, or get chinese food that is wrought with God knows what.

I seem to think that its not laziness........I think its the fact that we have already a taste of what we like and what we don't like and its an automatic thing. I honestly know from experience that before I started losing weight myself, I would go for things that I knew tasted great to me, but I never gave it much thought of what I was putting in my mouth. Now, I know. Like for instance, I would go to the movies and get popcorn every single time. Is it wrought with grease and God only knows what else? Yes........but does it taste good? very much so..........so smelling that popcorn as you walk in is just going to pull you in unless you get it through your head before you enter the theater........no, I am not going to do this.

This sounds almost exactly like the TOXIC ENVIRONMENT theory.

applejacks1552

Simply understanding the energy value of foods does not make you want the higher calorie fatty/sugary/salty foods any less, now does it?

Yes, we can make better desicions with that information, but our underlying biological drive is to gravitate toward those very foods.

And do advertisers and food producers take advantage of that? Of course they do. And are we rewarded chemically every time we eat a food that rings those bells in our brains? Of course we are!

I agree, thousands of years of evolving in an environment where calories were scarce and where we had to work very hard for our food built us to be "survivors". We had to get through famines and times of food scarcity, all the while doing a lot of physical labor.

So a lot of us today are REALLY good at making the most of very little food.

But food is not scarce anyore. And the simplier our foods are chemically, the more our bodies gravitate toward them because it means buring less calories to transform them into useful energy (simple sugars, animal fats).

So while it's not exactly our faults that as a society we have become overly efficient at making high calorie foods highly available with little effort on our parts, we can't fall into the trap of using it as an excuse.

As a society, we need to educate ourselves about energy balance and fight that natural inclination to overconsume. We also need to learn to expend energy, which is also fighting against our nature to avoid expending energy if we don't need to.

And it's also very frustrating, because some us are more "blessed" than others when it comes to the ability to store calories as fat. Metabolism is very genetically driven. And watching a thin friend consume 4 slices of pizza with no consequences, while you are reduced to a grilled chicken salad with light dressing and hoping to keep your weight down does smack of unfairness.

But as mama always said, life just isn't fair. So we just have to work harder.

But it is frustrating when people assume that if you are overweight, that you are just lazy, stupid, or lack self control.

I like to joke though and tell people my body is simply preparing for the next apocolyptic famine.