> Eat whatever you want, just make it yourself. I'm astonished by how few people prepare their own meals. You're playing the diet game on hard mode if you're l

> Eat whatever you want, just make it yourself. I'm astonished by how few people prepare their own meals. You're playing the diet game on hard mode if you're limiting yourself to cafe/restaurant food (not to mention the cost!). Conversely, it's actually pretty difficult to eat poorly if you cook everything yourself. Eliminating sugar, refined wheat and ensuring every meal is at least 50% vegetables by volume would go a long way to reducing the number of people in the "obese" category. In that respect, I'd agree that calorie counting is at best unnecessary, at worst counterproductive. But even with such an incredibly low bar to clear, I'm not sure it will make a difference to obesity rates. I'm highly skeptical that the upwards trend has anything to do with confusion, cost, lack of information or anything like that. People just aren't willing to give up the constant dopamine hit from fried and sugary foods.