Leaderboard

I do think a lot of people boredom-eat, or comfort-eat. A habit, to have something to do with your hands (and teeth) without paying particular regard to what you're doing. Like smokers, who need to have something in their fingers. There is no doubt that people are getting much, much larger. To see some people walking about is painful. Their knees bend awkwardly and the strain on their backs must be dreadful. They are injuring their bodies in horrible ways. And that's just what can be seen. Processed foods with all their additives aren't a good thing at all. Who knows what really goes into them? But another thing that concerns me is what is done to animals while they are still alive. If they are given growth hormones to stimulate their growth, so that they put on weight more quickly (and thus earn more money for their farmers), surely those growth hormones will pass through into whatever eats those animals? So people must be ingesting growth hormones from over-medicated animals. And that's impossible for the eater to detect.

For the first time ever, I've put on about 10 lb that I wish weren't there. It's mostly snacky eating that's done it, together with half a bottle of wine twice a week and a shedload of delicious Lindor chocolates (lots of offers round Christmas and the months afterwards = woe is me!). I prefer fresh vegs and homecooked food, so no issues there. My life/activities have been little changed in the last ten years, so it's not activity levels. I've given up buying chocolates and cut back on the vino. I think the increase is halted, maybe even reversing slowly. A friend who was told he has pre-diabetes and had got to around 215-220 lb was sent by his doc on a diabetes awareness course, which he found really helpful. By watching carbohydrates, he managed without any difficulty to lose 30-35 lb and is now fitter and gets up hills much easier than he did 40 years ago. He found this "Carbs and Calories" book extremely helpful: Carbs & Cals Books | Carb & Calorie Counter Book (carbsandcals.com) You can get it through Amazon and probably many other sources as well. It's quite useful, not preachy, shows photos on standard sized plates, dishes or spoons of common foods in different portion sizes, and also shows substitutes, giving the carb count for each photo. Another friend who has been overweight for years and has tried quite a few diets, unsuccessfully, is now doing very well with Noom. She says she's never got this far before. She has a number of medical issues that can affect her weight. This Noom plan apparently addresses the psychology behind eating - what, when, and how - rather than calorie-counting or similar. Noom: Stop dieting. Get life-long results.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/12/13/whats-on-your-table-how-americas-diet-has-changed-over-the-decades/ https://www.precisionnutrition.com/eating-too-much-blame-your-brain https://smokymountainnews.com/lifestyle/rumble/item/31055-a-history-of-the-food-pyramid In one household one person could be vegan, another keto, another is alternate fasting, another eats whatever/whenever. How do you coordinate a society when one house seems impossible? Each person's solution is specific to them.

The older I get the more frequently I return to this topic. In my 40s and 50s I had no problem controlling my weight through a variety of means: Atkins diet, sheer-willpower-starving-myself-down-to-a-certain-weight, aerobics and free weights…but now in late 60s it’s tough to try and lose weight - I don’t have the drive to do all that…another “mystery” for me is how metabolism changes with age - and there’s probably other factors that affect it too.

Your links are clear obesity/overweight is a growing trend and is a problem for everyone. There's no studies on the cause. You've cited a correlation on a small sample size and compared it to other issues, which would also require thorough studies as to there causes . . . Which I am sure exist.

During our brief tenure in FWC we spent a lot of time harvesting produce grown there. I distinctly remember apples, potatoes, tomatoes and perhaps onions. We were involved in making salsa; I've written about that elsewhere. They raised chickens, beef and pigs as well. Did we benefit from this largesse? Nope. It was shipped to HQ. it's a challenge to perform four hours of hard physical labor after a breakfast of one cup of granola and milk, and a delicious lunch of one cup of tomato soup and two zwieback crackers. On rare occasions we got chicken or other meats, and every day we had to exercise vigorously. I realized recently that this arrangement is very similar to a work camp in a communist country. We workers slaved away for the benefit of the elite, who graciously permitted us to have a few crumbs from under their gilded tables.