4 ms·

I doubt it's a chicken/egg problem. There's too much evidence that our obesity problem is caused by excess caloric intake.

• AstralStorm 7y ago
  And excess calorie intake is caused by what? What makes one want to eat more than they need?
  • rthomas6 7y ago
    That's a good question without a simple answer. Here are some of the contributing factors. One factor is processed foods. They often either have lower satiety/calorie ratios, and refined sugars with no accompanying fiber has actually been shown to decrease satiety and make a person hungrier. Another factor is sedentary lifestyle. Peoples' appetites tend to be somewhat fixed, and if you used to burn 2100 calories a day on a 2100 calorie diet, but now you burn 2000 calories, that adds up. It doesn't seem like much, but that's 1 pound every 35 days, or 10.42 pounds every year. Another factor is just evolutionary. In human history, broadly, it makes sense to eat at a surplus whenever possible, because except for very very recently, food surpluses were rare occurrences, and having that extra fat storage on your body could mean the difference between starving and living through a famine.