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That's a refreshing success story, thanks for sharing. I suspect for some people they just gained a little weight cumulatively over time due to a slightly fatt

That's a refreshing success story, thanks for sharing. I suspect for some people they just gained a little weight cumulatively over time due to a slightly fattening eating habit, and for those it's probably not that big an ask to change/fix. But for many of the overweight/obese people I know, their eating is a straight up dysfunctional drug abuse-style addiction. Predictably it's as difficult to change these behaviors as it is to get a drug addict to quit their drug of choice.

NineStarPoint 5y ago
In many ways it’s more difficult. With drug addiction you have the ability to quit cold turkey and avoid the stimulus, with food addiction you still are forced to partake to live. There are posisble things like completely cutting sugar, or switching to an incredibly regimented diet that can act similarly but…in the end food is a massive part of culture in a way even alcohol is not. I’m sure food issues are some of the hardest to deal with.
- pengaru 5y ago
  I don't disagree, and find it worth appreciating how blurry the actual lines of separation are between food and "drugs". Coffee/tea, Cheese, Chocolate, Nutmeg, sweets in general, they activate similar mechanisms and reward systems to "drugs". The whole dogmatic war-on-drugs attitude creates this imaginary boundary around "food" which for many I suspect green-lights abuse of "food" because it's not "drugs". It makes me wonder how much our societal obesity problems would change if the prevailing attitude towards drugs became more factual and nuanced. If people understood better that cocaine isn't as problematic as psilocybin in terms of addiction, maybe they'll also start thinking more critically about candy bars vs. oranges. Perhaps my optimism is showing.
carom 5y ago
We really need to study the physiological mechanisms that cause food addiction and pass regulations to address the issues.

NineStarPoint 5y ago

In many ways it’s more difficult. With drug addiction you have the ability to quit cold turkey and avoid the stimulus, with food addiction you still are forced to partake to live. There are posisble things like completely cutting sugar, or switching to an incredibly regimented diet that can act similarly but…in the end food is a massive part of culture in a way even alcohol is not. I’m sure food issues are some of the hardest to deal with.

pengaru 5y ago
I don't disagree, and find it worth appreciating how blurry the actual lines of separation are between food and "drugs". Coffee/tea, Cheese, Chocolate, Nutmeg, sweets in general, they activate similar mechanisms and reward systems to "drugs". The whole dogmatic war-on-drugs attitude creates this imaginary boundary around "food" which for many I suspect green-lights abuse of "food" because it's not "drugs". It makes me wonder how much our societal obesity problems would change if the prevailing attitude towards drugs became more factual and nuanced. If people understood better that cocaine isn't as problematic as psilocybin in terms of addiction, maybe they'll also start thinking more critically about candy bars vs. oranges. Perhaps my optimism is showing.

carom 5y ago

We really need to study the physiological mechanisms that cause food addiction and pass regulations to address the issues.