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I really believe it's society increasing consumption of carbohydrates that causes this. Reading the literature from Tim Noakes and seeing the effects it has on

by dalore 7y ago

I really believe it's society increasing consumption of carbohydrates that causes this. Reading the literature from Tim Noakes and seeing the effects it has on kids and adults in The Magic Pill it's hard to argue that it certainly has some effect. I don't think it's "caloric surplus" as they claim. It's the wrong type of calories.

mcfunk 7y ago
Dr. Jason Fung and others have written some very compelling arguments for the idea that hormonal imbalance driven by both caloric makeup (too many refined carbs) and too frequent eating (market-driven obsession with snacking) are the underlying hormonal cause of obesity. And yes, we're not all simple machines, "calories in calories out" does not explain the problem.
hprotagonist 7y ago
For literally thousands of years, the vast majority of humanity has subsisted on bulk carbohydrates as the vast majority of their diet. Peasants ate {bread,oatmeal,congee, gruel...} and not a whole lot else, for most of recorded history, and for most of recorded history, most humans were peasants. It has to be more than just "carbs bad", because summed across population, we eat WAY LESS percentage carbs per person now than we did in 1100 AD. We eat more, period, and we exert ourselves less, and i think that's got to count for a lot.
- apta 7y ago
  There's probably a difference between whole carbs, and the majority of what is available today in the market (refined and processed carbs). That probably plays a role here.
  - imtringued 7y ago
    Yes it basically boils down to the fact that most processed foods have added sugar or carbohydrates and you only see food that is easy to preserve in your local supermarket (whole grain flour becomes rancid quickly, food is picked unripe, etc). It's effectively fast food but without the stigma.
    - dalore 7y ago
      Yes real food goes off quickly and so isn't as profitable. Meanwhile most of the food on the supermarket shelves have so little nutrition that even bacteria won't eat it, it's cheap to make, stores long, and has higher profits then real food.
- dalore 7y ago
  For a small fraction of human evolution we have eaten carbohydrates. Literally only thousands of years as you put it. And you can see we have declined since then. It was well know in Egypt that the wheat eaters (as they were known) had poor nutrition, rotten teeth etc. It was known that carb based food (normally cheap plant based food) was for slaves, like the pyramid builders. > Peasants ate {bread,oatmeal,congee, gruel...} and not a whole lot else, for most of recorded history, and for most of recorded history, most humans were peasants. Yes, peasants ate it, and you can see they had poor nutrition, poor teeth, and were generally poor in health compared to the rich people who ate meat with protein and fat. When times are tough, people cut out expensive meat and their health declined. So you are kind of making my point. That carbs are a bad source of energy and only used when nothing better or can't afford. Also the term recorded history is a very short time when talking about human evolution. We evolved without carbs. Our brains increased in size due to eating protein and fats. We hunted the harder to kill but more fatty animals. > It has to be more than just "carbs bad", because summed across population, we eat WAY LESS percentage carbs per person now than we did in 1100 AD. We eat more, period, and we exert ourselves less, and i think that's got to count for a lot. You've got to be kidding? You think we eat way less carbs per person now then in 1100AD? We didn't have refined sugar and flour back then. Any carbs we ate were loaded with fibre and so not digestible (and doesn't count). We are talking digestible carbs because that's the only thing that matters (the rest just pass out). We are eating way more carbs then in 1100AD and then before that due to the amount of processed sugar and flour in everything. That old tripe of we are just fat because we don't exercise is not just true. Plenty of people try and exert themselves and it just doesn't work. We aren't simple thermodynamic machines. Again have a read up on Tim Noakes
screye 7y ago
A lot of Asian cultures have largely carb based diets and it doesn't seem to cause obesity among them. I suspect sugar and fast food being bigger culprits. Soda in particular is the worst.
- dalore 7y ago
  Are you kidding? Asian countries definitely have an obesity and diabetes problem. Sugar are carbs. It's the same thing.

by dalore 7y ago

mcfunk 7y ago

Dr. Jason Fung and others have written some very compelling arguments for the idea that hormonal imbalance driven by both caloric makeup (too many refined carbs) and too frequent eating (market-driven obsession with snacking) are the underlying hormonal cause of obesity. And yes, we're not all simple machines, "calories in calories out" does not explain the problem.

hprotagonist 7y ago

For literally thousands of years, the vast majority of humanity has subsisted on bulk carbohydrates as the vast majority of their diet. Peasants ate {bread,oatmeal,congee, gruel...} and not a whole lot else, for most of recorded history, and for most of recorded history, most humans were peasants. It has to be more than just "carbs bad", because summed across population, we eat WAY LESS percentage carbs per person now than we did in 1100 AD. We eat more, period, and we exert ourselves less, and i think that's got to count for a lot.

apta 7y ago
There's probably a difference between whole carbs, and the majority of what is available today in the market (refined and processed carbs). That probably plays a role here.
- imtringued 7y ago
  Yes it basically boils down to the fact that most processed foods have added sugar or carbohydrates and you only see food that is easy to preserve in your local supermarket (whole grain flour becomes rancid quickly, food is picked unripe, etc). It's effectively fast food but without the stigma.
  - dalore 7y ago
    Yes real food goes off quickly and so isn't as profitable. Meanwhile most of the food on the supermarket shelves have so little nutrition that even bacteria won't eat it, it's cheap to make, stores long, and has higher profits then real food.
dalore 7y ago
For a small fraction of human evolution we have eaten carbohydrates. Literally only thousands of years as you put it. And you can see we have declined since then. It was well know in Egypt that the wheat eaters (as they were known) had poor nutrition, rotten teeth etc. It was known that carb based food (normally cheap plant based food) was for slaves, like the pyramid builders. > Peasants ate {bread,oatmeal,congee, gruel...} and not a whole lot else, for most of recorded history, and for most of recorded history, most humans were peasants. Yes, peasants ate it, and you can see they had poor nutrition, poor teeth, and were generally poor in health compared to the rich people who ate meat with protein and fat. When times are tough, people cut out expensive meat and their health declined. So you are kind of making my point. That carbs are a bad source of energy and only used when nothing better or can't afford. Also the term recorded history is a very short time when talking about human evolution. We evolved without carbs. Our brains increased in size due to eating protein and fats. We hunted the harder to kill but more fatty animals. > It has to be more than just "carbs bad", because summed across population, we eat WAY LESS percentage carbs per person now than we did in 1100 AD. We eat more, period, and we exert ourselves less, and i think that's got to count for a lot. You've got to be kidding? You think we eat way less carbs per person now then in 1100AD? We didn't have refined sugar and flour back then. Any carbs we ate were loaded with fibre and so not digestible (and doesn't count). We are talking digestible carbs because that's the only thing that matters (the rest just pass out). We are eating way more carbs then in 1100AD and then before that due to the amount of processed sugar and flour in everything. That old tripe of we are just fat because we don't exercise is not just true. Plenty of people try and exert themselves and it just doesn't work. We aren't simple thermodynamic machines. Again have a read up on Tim Noakes

screye 7y ago

A lot of Asian cultures have largely carb based diets and it doesn't seem to cause obesity among them. I suspect sugar and fast food being bigger culprits. Soda in particular is the worst.

dalore 7y ago
Are you kidding? Asian countries definitely have an obesity and diabetes problem. Sugar are carbs. It's the same thing.