I only have my own anecdotal experience to work from, but I genuinely believe that most Americans are so lost when it comes to diet that these last-resorts are

I only have my own anecdotal experience to work from, but I genuinely believe that most Americans are so lost when it comes to diet that these last-resorts are all they have left. I am very fortunate to have fallen in love with a Greek woman who has shared her family's diet with me. It's likely saved me from needing an extreme solution myself. I think that in North America, we don't know the first thing about eating healthy. A big part of the Mediterranean diet is using high quality, expensive, olive oil with everything. My parents would blow a gasket if they knew that we paid for the fancy stuff. At $10/L it's more than my parents would ever spend, but it's honestly not noticeable as far as my budget is concerned. It's seriously a game changer. By putting high quality olive oil in all you're food, everything becomes much tastier and satisfying than before. It allows you to eat and be satisfied with much less. The other key is to splurge on expensive, good looking vegetables. Having delicious vegan recipes allows you to get your kicks without eating tons of saturated fats. This allows you to be satisfied with less volume. It's made up through quality and taste. This is the foundation of a healthy diet, eating high quality tasty food. The problem with the North American diet is that we don't have the same traditions of passing down recipes as they do in other parts of the world and so none of us know how tasty a simple dish can be. We then eat this processed crap that gets passed off as identical to the original when it's a fraction as tasty and nutritious. As a result, we compensate by eating far too much of it. I think that this continent is in dire need of better recipes and respect for their ingredients. Until that gets integrated into the culture, we are doomed to depend on these extreme measures to stay at a healthy weight. Don't get me started on drive-through culture or eating at your desk. Eating is something to be enjoyed, not rushed. When you rush your meal, you eat more and you aren't taking the time to enjoy any subtlety in the taste. This results, again, in overeating.