The problem is that we've been demonizing fat for the last 50 years and replacing it with sugar. Not coincidently chronic diseases and obesity started becoming a problem around that time. Things like portion control and discipline aren't necessary if you're eating the kind of low carb/high protein/high fat diet you should be eating because it's satiating without turning you into a fatass. Our prehistoric ancestors didn't have to worry about any of this because they weren't eating the kind of high carb crap that the average 21st century Westerner does.
I can only relate to my historic agricultural, skinny grandparents and their high carb diet ( grains / bread, potatoes, etc ) and family cooking books packed with desserts. Those desserts were, however, not avaliable 24/7 because they required efforts. Soda was always avaliable to my grandparent's generation though. But they never abused it, because that would have been wasteful.
I wouldn't have dared ask for a second tiny glass of soda with the meal when invited there. That would have been impolite.
And when prepackaged desserts and candy became more common and affordable, old habits of being very strict with money kept them thinking ''not spending money for someone else to cook desserts for me''.
They also had plenty of internal limits on eating ( thinking eating too much is wasting, getting fat is ugly and sinful, not fitting in your clothes anymore is expensive in labour or money )
And external limits ( not sitting next to food all day ( they were next to crops though...), plate and glass size, limited money to spend and back in the day, limited avaliability, not having someone baking desserts 24/7, being seen as, or called a glutton, mocked for getting fat, religious periods of fasting and seasonal food restrictions ).
I pointed out several times to my parents the difference in eating habits and plates / glass sizes, not genetics, explained why they were fat and our farmers relatives, still then living, were skinny. Mother only listened with facing T2 diabetes, father never cared much and picked meds.
Just to give my two cents, soda is probably my biggest vice, next to alcohol. I am in the habit of drinking a glass of it a day with dinner, yet I remain thin. To be fair, I do intentional exercise about three times a week, but I don't think that's the main reason why I keep the weight off, I think it's because I live in a country where walking frequently is an accepted part of life. I get a lot of incidental exercise just walking to the store, or work, or church, or even just going out for an evening stroll.
That was the biggest culture shock to me when I visited America for the first time; everyone drives everywhere, for any reason. Dollar store is 15 minute walk away? Eh, I'll just jump in the car, I can't be bothered. Even my then-fiancée, now-wife remarked when I visited that she was seeing parts of her small town which she had never explored before because we were walking around rather than just driving from place to place.
Portion sizes and snacking are also a big problem in America, but the lack of incidental exercise from walking is a huge contributing factor, I think. I will be moving back with my wife fairly soon and that's something I am going to have to navigate in my own life. How do I incorporate the walking which I used to do when the country is built around driving everywhere? Otherwise, if I continue to eat like I do now, I probably will start putting on weight.
I observed the exact same thing, from the opposite perspective. I visited Japan recently and despite eating out a ton I didn't gain much if any weight at all. I can only assume that was thanks to all the walking we were doing. Japanese food is full of salt and sugar too. Meanwhile in America I have to exercise every day if I want to eat over 1500kcal. Like you said, I hop in the car just to go to the store 5 min away. It's not even particularly safe to walk around in my neighborhood, so more time at the gym will have to do.
But your (our) DNA can! Several things are still "hard wired" into us, although we can overcome them if we're aware of it.
You are correct about portion size, plus utter lack of physical activity = get fat.
Carbs can make you fatter faster than fats. It's calories that count the most, I think.
I just saw that since 1961 out "daily calorie intake" has gone from just over 3000 to just under 3500 in NA, and similar in Europe too. The whole world's calories have gone up, actually, since there's more food thanks to more CO2 :>
One thing about dietary studies : anything that relies on self-report is fabrication.
The researchers who do self-report dietary studies know it's fabrication. But they still get paied, so they keep doing these ''studies''.
People just write whatever they might remember ( half of their intake typically ) with no acuracy in quantity, and make stuff up.
If you take a bunch of fat people who claim they can't lose weight no matter how little they eat, tell them all they are eating is now being monitored, ask them to self-report acurately their intake, and a third party mesures objectively, they only report, on average, half of what they eat.
That's people who were told they would be strictly monitored and asked to be as acurate as possible.
Imagine random people who don't think anyone is going to verrify.
P.S. : In those studies, ''diet resistant fat people'' are exactly as fat as expected from their objectively-mesured food intake. They are just delusional / lying.
Careful not to overcorrect. Heart disease peaked in the 1960s, before the food pyramid was created with its mistaken emphasis on bread and pasta. People should definitely eat far fewer carbs than they eat now, but they should eat less of everything in general.
The problem is that we've been demonizing fat for the last 50 years and replacing it with sugar. Not coincidently chronic diseases and obesity started becoming a problem around that time. Things like portion control and discipline aren't necessary if you're eating the kind of low carb/high protein/high fat diet you should be eating because it's satiating without turning you into a fatass. Our prehistoric ancestors didn't have to worry about any of this because they weren't eating the kind of high carb crap that the average 21st century Westerner does.
I can't relate to our prehistoric ancestors.
I can only relate to my historic agricultural, skinny grandparents and their high carb diet ( grains / bread, potatoes, etc ) and family cooking books packed with desserts. Those desserts were, however, not avaliable 24/7 because they required efforts. Soda was always avaliable to my grandparent's generation though. But they never abused it, because that would have been wasteful.
I wouldn't have dared ask for a second tiny glass of soda with the meal when invited there. That would have been impolite.
And when prepackaged desserts and candy became more common and affordable, old habits of being very strict with money kept them thinking ''not spending money for someone else to cook desserts for me''.
They also had plenty of internal limits on eating ( thinking eating too much is wasting, getting fat is ugly and sinful, not fitting in your clothes anymore is expensive in labour or money )
And external limits ( not sitting next to food all day ( they were next to crops though...), plate and glass size, limited money to spend and back in the day, limited avaliability, not having someone baking desserts 24/7, being seen as, or called a glutton, mocked for getting fat, religious periods of fasting and seasonal food restrictions ).
I pointed out several times to my parents the difference in eating habits and plates / glass sizes, not genetics, explained why they were fat and our farmers relatives, still then living, were skinny. Mother only listened with facing T2 diabetes, father never cared much and picked meds.
Just to give my two cents, soda is probably my biggest vice, next to alcohol. I am in the habit of drinking a glass of it a day with dinner, yet I remain thin. To be fair, I do intentional exercise about three times a week, but I don't think that's the main reason why I keep the weight off, I think it's because I live in a country where walking frequently is an accepted part of life. I get a lot of incidental exercise just walking to the store, or work, or church, or even just going out for an evening stroll.
That was the biggest culture shock to me when I visited America for the first time; everyone drives everywhere, for any reason. Dollar store is 15 minute walk away? Eh, I'll just jump in the car, I can't be bothered. Even my then-fiancée, now-wife remarked when I visited that she was seeing parts of her small town which she had never explored before because we were walking around rather than just driving from place to place.
Portion sizes and snacking are also a big problem in America, but the lack of incidental exercise from walking is a huge contributing factor, I think. I will be moving back with my wife fairly soon and that's something I am going to have to navigate in my own life. How do I incorporate the walking which I used to do when the country is built around driving everywhere? Otherwise, if I continue to eat like I do now, I probably will start putting on weight.
I observed the exact same thing, from the opposite perspective. I visited Japan recently and despite eating out a ton I didn't gain much if any weight at all. I can only assume that was thanks to all the walking we were doing. Japanese food is full of salt and sugar too. Meanwhile in America I have to exercise every day if I want to eat over 1500kcal. Like you said, I hop in the car just to go to the store 5 min away. It's not even particularly safe to walk around in my neighborhood, so more time at the gym will have to do.
But your (our) DNA can! Several things are still "hard wired" into us, although we can overcome them if we're aware of it.
You are correct about portion size, plus utter lack of physical activity = get fat.
Carbs can make you fatter faster than fats. It's calories that count the most, I think.
I just saw that since 1961 out "daily calorie intake" has gone from just over 3000 to just under 3500 in NA, and similar in Europe too. The whole world's calories have gone up, actually, since there's more food thanks to more CO2 :>
One thing about dietary studies : anything that relies on self-report is fabrication.
The researchers who do self-report dietary studies know it's fabrication. But they still get paied, so they keep doing these ''studies''.
People just write whatever they might remember ( half of their intake typically ) with no acuracy in quantity, and make stuff up.
If you take a bunch of fat people who claim they can't lose weight no matter how little they eat, tell them all they are eating is now being monitored, ask them to self-report acurately their intake, and a third party mesures objectively, they only report, on average, half of what they eat.
That's people who were told they would be strictly monitored and asked to be as acurate as possible.
Imagine random people who don't think anyone is going to verrify.
P.S. : In those studies, ''diet resistant fat people'' are exactly as fat as expected from their objectively-mesured food intake. They are just delusional / lying.
Careful not to overcorrect. Heart disease peaked in the 1960s, before the food pyramid was created with its mistaken emphasis on bread and pasta. People should definitely eat far fewer carbs than they eat now, but they should eat less of everything in general.