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A Cultural History of Fat
- usmanshaikh06 8y agoThis article does not discuss in depth the change in diet from mainly protein and fat based diets of the hunter-gatherers to carb-rich diet of today.
- thatswrong0 8y agoWere all hunter-gatherer diets protein and fat based? https://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/paleo-diet-half-baked_3.jpg https://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/paleo-diet-h...
- mrob 8y agoIs that percentage by weight, percentage by dry weight, percentage by calories, or something else? And no matter which I interpret it as, all those diets are "protein and fat based" by Standard American Diet standards. Seeds and nuts are very high in fat.
- xutopia 8y agoThis specific graphic seems to be by weight. The type of meats the Inuits eat is really high in fat.
- salty_biscuits 8y agoHunter gathers ate whatever they could get, so varied a lot from place to place. As I understand it the Hadza's main source of calories is from tubers, so lots of carbs, just lots of fibre too.
- mhd 8y agoOh, the paleo myths are still a thing?
- EamonnMR 8y agoThey've been replaced with Keto.
- otabdeveloper1 8y ago"Keto" isn't a myth, it's basic biology and metabolism facts.
- pygy_ 8y agoWe've had a carb rich diet since the neolithic revolution. The obesity epidemics started after WW2. I don't think that they are related.
- close04 8y agoAlso physical activity for most people took a nosedive in the past decades. Work has mostly shifted to static jobs and that shifts the balance of any diet.
- ionised 8y agoThe carbs we get now in modern processed foods are not the same carbs we've been used to for millenia.
- pygy_ 8y agoNow we're getting somewhere...
- jahn716 8y agoBut clearly not frequently enough, hence the obesity...
- navaati 8y agoPlease tell me more ? At which level ? Genuinely interested :) !
- pygy_ 8y agoFor one, the amount of refined sugar in our diet exploded recently. More generally, even if the molecular building blocks didn't change, the way food is prepared industrially and marketed makes us more likely to eat too much of it.
- DanielleMolloy 8y agoA lot of our modern economy seems to be relying on human predisposition to addictions. Think sugar / carbs, alcohol, tobacco, certain games, news and social media and their recommendation engines. All exploiting similar neural pathways.
- freddie_mercury 8y agoWhy should it? You haven't offered any concrete reason for why. It is a book review. I would expect it to cover whatever the book covers, from whatever angle the book decides to approach things.
- _i____ii_______ 8y agoThis is a slim summation of the contents of a fat book.
- sneilan 8y agoPerhaps this review could be stuffed with some more information.
- pygy_ 8y agoA company that produces food that is more appetizing and less filling than its competitors will sell more of it and beat them in terms of revenue and profit. They either have to align themselves or die/be assimilated. Even without any ill intent, growth seeking in the food industry would have lead to an obesity epidemics. https://soundcloud.com/user-876103472/grow https://soundcloud.com/user-876103472/grow
- glastra 8y agoI find "appetising" and "less filling" are understatements. When I think of the food industry, I tend to think more in terms of "behaviour reinforcement" and "psycho- and physiological addiction".
- pygy_ 8y agoThat's where "ill intent" kicks in.
- agumonkey 8y agoI'd even say 'brain damage'. Processed food industry seriously limits what you will taste. Most natural fruits/vegetables have so much variety and subtlety in flavour.. they also often come with built-in satiety triggers. You rarely consume as much salad/carrots than pringles/cookies. Modern life is pretty toxic in the end.
- pygy_ 8y agoI wouldn't go as far as damage, because it is reversible. If you stay away from saturated stimuli you relearn to taste subtler nuances. Capsaicin, and similar substances (TRPV1 agonists) which are found in hot peppers and ginger do kill nociceptive neurons, but that's AFAIK the only case where some food directly damages your nervous system. I think food addiction is mostly reversible (it may be easier to relapse than to become addicted in the first place).
- agumonkey 8y ago
- emsal 8y agoHow are the cultural metaphors verified, like the connection between focus on the afterlife and fatness attributed to the rise of Christianity in Europe? I still can't put a handle on how historians are able to determine what a culture's prevailing attitude is toward something when it seems so ephemeral.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]