The men who made us fat

I'm sorry, but I find this topic and title especially ridiculous. It doesn't take a genus to figure out what's healthy and what's not. Also, eating in moderation doesn't make someone fat. Eating bad foods excessively and to the point you're full every time does. That can't be blamed on anyone other than each person who lives that way. Nobody is standing there with a gun to someone's head saying "eat all of this bad food, or else".

Just baffling


Point: it isn't about blame when we look at entire populations as systems. The concept of responsibility on an individual level doesn't address what to do about creating a sustainable human existence for the community at large.


Counterpoint: you have no one to blame but yourself for being fat.


Don't you guys get it? Personal responsibility is not the opposite of rational systems on the community level. They aren't at odds because its like arguing Newtonian concepts of gravity in terms of quantum physics. They only contradict each other if you suffer from failure of imagination or a really bad case of rationalism.


I took responsibility for my condition. But I'm also all about evidence so I don't ignore everything that doesn't fit my notions.

Yes of course if you are eating an extra 1000 calories you are going to gain some weight,

But my point is if you cant naturally regulate your caloric intake, something is wrong. And if it's HFCS that is screwing up your natural mechanisms to regulate your food then that is a contributing factor to making you fat.

Not everyone who is thin actively tries to be thin and 'accounts' for their calories. They manage adjust their intake later without even thinking about it. So what is the different between them and the people that get fat? Why can some people naturally regulate caloric intake and therefore their body weight and others overeat and get fat?[/]

Thats the real question that needs to be answered

What does that even mean? Seriously.

Some people are just naturally thin. They don't have to count calories or regulate their food intake. They manage to regulate their body weight without trying AT ALL.

So, why (or how?), are some people overriding this natural caloric regulator?

Thats the real question that needs to be answered



Don't hold your breath waiting for an answer to that one. Even with the human genome fully mapped there is no one answer. It seems to be a huge and varied combination of nature and nurture.

There is as much pfaff over that as the reason why once you are fat you have an almost overriding tendency to stay fat.

If you can figure out why you got fat in the first place you then have the power to prevent it from happening again. Most people who lose weight do not maintain weight loss, so this is actually a very important question to ask.

I think we could probably find out the answer if people were actually working towards it. But people aren't answering the right question. We ask 'why do we get fat' then people answer 'calories in calories out'. Why do we not ask why some people have the balance so wrong? Why do we stop at step 1?

Yes of course if you are eating an extra 1000 calories you are going to gain some weight,

But my point is if you cant naturally regulate your caloric intake, something is wrong. And if it's HFCS that is screwing up your natural mechanisms to regulate your food then that is a contributing factor to making you fat.

Not everyone who is thin actively tries to be thin and 'accounts' for their calories. They manage adjust their intake later without even thinking about it. So what is the different between them and the people that get fat? Why can some people naturally regulate caloric intake and therefore their body weight and others overeat and get fat?[/]

Thats the real question that needs to be answered

What does that even mean? Seriously.

Some people are just naturally thin. They don't have to count calories or regulate their food intake. They manage to regulate their body weight without trying AT ALL.

So, why (or how?), are some people overriding this natural caloric regulator?

I'm going with their parents forced them to learn self control

Unfortunately there is this pesky thing called REALITY. And she's a *****.

Reality is that you're never going to solve obesity until you force people to acknowledge that it is the result of poor lifestyle choices. It's not genetics. It's not the food supply. It is straight up lack of willingness to accept responsibility for your own decisions. The only sustainable way to "fix" obesity from a societal standpoint is to stop telling people that someone else is to blame for it.

You're talking about a fantasy land of unicorns and rainbows where we solve obesity by holding hands and singing songs while we dance around a campfire.

There are more factors that play into the obesity factor in America than willingness to accept responsibility for one's own decisions. We have a culture that chooses quantity over quality. It is easier to be thin in a country that makes good collective decisions, and makes you feel accountable to someone besides yourself. I lived in Italy for 5 years, and easily lost weight and kept it off. As soon as I returned to America the pounds just flew back on. There are many reasons for this, and one is that I am less active. However, I also feel that I became less accountable to myself because I was not expected to follow certain culinary/dietary rules. In Italy you used to be hard pressed to find clothes larger than a 10 in women's (this is changing). People eat together a lot more, and make healthier choices. I think that you tend to overeat less if you are with others as well. People generally go home to eat lunch during the workday, which I believe promotes healthier eating. Eating out is more of a treat than a habit. Overeating is not a daily event, and typically if you have one large meal, you make sure that the next one is smaller. I know that people are going to get ticked off about this comment, but they also make many healthier choices, and do not treat fast food and sodas as diet staples. Their sugar consumption is tiny compared to ours--our size small ice cream from DQ would be a size large there. These are all things that we could do in America, but I think that we've fallen into a vicious cycle. My husband works 12-13 hour days, and sometimes barely has time to choke down lunch. I think that the stressful lifestyle that we have adapted produces cortisol, and makes us crave less healthy foods. There are lots of other things that I could mention, or hypothesize about, but I don't want to make this into a dissertation.
I believe in personal responsibility. Today, with the internet, it is much easier to become and stay informed. When I was younger this was not as true. There is a saying in Italian "Volere e' potere" (to want is to do) but sometimes it is difficult to even know where to start, and we can have many misconceptions that we hold as facts that ultimately derail us. We all need to take a hard look at what we eat, and try to make the best decisions for ourselves. And while the Colonel is not stuffing chicken down our throats, it would be nice if society made health a priority as well, instead of just screaming about the obesity epidemic.

Unfortunately there is this pesky thing called REALITY. And she's a *****.

Reality is that you're never going to solve obesity until you force people to acknowledge that it is the result of poor lifestyle choices. It's not genetics. It's not the food supply. It is straight up lack of willingness to accept responsibility for your own decisions. The only sustainable way to "fix" obesity from a societal standpoint is to stop telling people that someone else is to blame for it.

You're talking about a fantasy land of unicorns and rainbows where we solve obesity by holding hands and singing songs while we dance around a campfire.

There are more factors that play into the obesity factor in America than willingness to accept responsibility for one's own decisions. We have a culture that chooses quantity over quality. It is easier to be thin in a country that makes good collective decisions, and makes you feel accountable to someone besides yourself. I lived in Italy for 5 years, and easily lost weight and kept it off. As soon as I returned to America the pounds just flew back on. There are many reasons for this, and one is that I am less active. However, I also feel that I became less accountable to myself because I was not expected to follow certain culinary/dietary rules. In Italy you used to be hard pressed to find clothes larger than a 10 in women's (this is changing). People eat together a lot more, and make healthier choices. I think that you tend to overeat less if you are with others as well. People generally go home to eat lunch during the workday, which I believe promotes healthier eating. Eating out is more of a treat than a habit. Overeating is not a daily event, and typically if you have one large meal, you make sure that the next one is smaller. I know that people are going to get ticked off about this comment, but they also make many healthier choices, and do not treat fast food and sodas as diet staples. Their sugar consumption is tiny compared to ours--our size small ice cream from DQ would be a size large there. These are all things that we could do in America, but I think that we've fallen into a vicious cycle. My husband works 12-13 hour days, and sometimes barely has time to choke down lunch. I think that the stressful lifestyle that we have adapted produces cortisol, and makes us crave less healthy foods. There are lots of other things that I could mention, or hypothesize about, but I don't want to make this into a dissertation.
I believe in personal responsibility. Today, with the internet, it is much easier to become and stay informed. When I was younger this was not as true. There is a saying in Italian "Volere e' potere" (to want is to do) but sometimes it is difficult to even know where to start, and we can have many misconceptions that we hold as facts that ultimately derail us. We all need to take a hard look at what we eat, and try to make the best decisions for ourselves. And while the Colonel is not stuffing chicken down our throats, it would be nice if society made health a priority as well, instead of just screaming about the obesity epidemic.

very interesesting and true...
just read about the insulin response aiding us to crave, and eat fatty carbs...best book i ever read...worth reading it as she is a professor in food and nutrition, and also had soo many health/ food related problems....so she has been ther and done that..made so much more sense than most diet book i have read.....
zoe harcombe if you are interested in having a look

Just watching a fascinating 3part documentary about the Foodindustry on UK television (BBC2).
Part 1 about the US and the introduction of Cornsyrup and the wide range foods it's added to. Very good and highly informative. Watch it if you can.

It's terrifying how the US industry totally ignores the impact Sugar (in various forms and artificial Sweeteners) has on the increase in Obesity.

Who on here really checks all the food labels?

What has been winding me up for years is when I discovered that most of the available varieties of smoked Salmon (which i love and eat a lot of) have got sugar added to it! Why on earth? Totally unnecessary for the flavour. The same with Bacon! Good news is there are some without added sugar or any other form of sweetener.

Which are the foods you've discovered have sugars added to it and surprised you the most?