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People didn’t have McDonalds and cars ages ago. Barn-raising, (manual) farming, and hunting are hard energy-intensive work. Our calorie output required to survi

People didn’t have McDonalds and cars ages ago. Barn-raising, (manual) farming, and hunting are hard energy-intensive work. Our calorie output required to survive dropped while the calorie inputs available cheaply dramatically increased. That is all part of “overcome metabolic efficiency.” :-)

alwillis 5y ago
It's easy to demonize fast-food but that's not even the worst of it. High-fructose corn syrup has been added to so many foods that didn't have it 10-20 years ago. The second or third ingredient on a bottle of ketchup, for example, is high-fructose corn syrup. You can get ketchup that doesn't have high-fructose corn syrup added to it; often it's a natural or organic brand that often costs more than the regular brand. And depending on where someone lives, brands without refined sugars may not be readily available. Google "food desert" and see what comes up. It was literally impossible a generation or two ago to ingest the amount of carbohydrates the average American gets just from eating prepared and processed foods today.
- OJFord 5y ago
  > It's easy to demonize fast-food but that's not even the worst of it. High-fructose corn syrup has been added to so many foods that didn't have it 10-20 years ago. We should just count ready-meals etc. as 'fast-food' too, no good reason that it implicitly refers to 'restaurants' only really. > The second or third ingredient on a bottle of ketchup, for example, is high-fructose corn syrup. Interesting, that didn't sound right to me (but it has been a long time since I've had it) - found this: https://www.truthorfiction.com/heinz-ketchup-ingredients-u-s-vs-uk/ https://www.truthorfiction.com/heinz-ketchup-ingredients-u-s... (tldr just sugar in the UK)
schrectacular 5y ago
The obesity epidemic is a lot more recent than barn-raising days. Even in the 90s people were considerably skinnier.
kjeetgill 5y ago
> People didn’t have McDonalds and cars ages ago. Barn-raising, (manual) farming, and hunting are hard energy-intensive work. Our calorie output required to survive dropped Not saying I know any better, but at it's face I don't buy this. The change in day-to-day activity doesn't feel like it would account for the difference from just the 80s to now. > while the calorie inputs available cheaply dramatically increased. This I buy much more, confounded with maybe the specifics of the nutrients available.
- nradov 5y ago
  Even a small change in average daily activity can account for a large difference. If you cut your total daily energy expenditure by just 50 kcal (the equivalent of walking less than a mile) while keeping intake the same then you can gain up to 5 lb in one year. Add that up over a few years and suddenly you're obese.
  - elcritch 5y ago
    Not to mention increase in sugars in foods; soda pops also drastically increased from 8oz to 20oz. Combined with even small decreases in activity can add up quickly.
  - somenameforme 5y ago
    You're right in one way, but not another. Small increases in caloric content can have a large and counter-intuitive impact due to the nature of systems in equilibrium: just one small soda or candy bar a day above your equilibrium will drive large weight gains. But you're not factoring in the fact that as your weight increases so does your idle energy costs, meaning that as you gain weight you burn more calories doing nothing. Put another way, if today you burn 1500 calories a day idle, and you start eating 2000 calories a day - at some point you will reach an equilibrium, likely well before you're obese. I'm also in the camp that thinks that lifestyle explanation for rises in obesity is completely unsubstantiated.

alwillis 5y ago

It's easy to demonize fast-food but that's not even the worst of it. High-fructose corn syrup has been added to so many foods that didn't have it 10-20 years ago. The second or third ingredient on a bottle of ketchup, for example, is high-fructose corn syrup. You can get ketchup that doesn't have high-fructose corn syrup added to it; often it's a natural or organic brand that often costs more than the regular brand. And depending on where someone lives, brands without refined sugars may not be readily available. Google "food desert" and see what comes up. It was literally impossible a generation or two ago to ingest the amount of carbohydrates the average American gets just from eating prepared and processed foods today.

OJFord 5y ago
> It's easy to demonize fast-food but that's not even the worst of it. High-fructose corn syrup has been added to so many foods that didn't have it 10-20 years ago. We should just count ready-meals etc. as 'fast-food' too, no good reason that it implicitly refers to 'restaurants' only really. > The second or third ingredient on a bottle of ketchup, for example, is high-fructose corn syrup. Interesting, that didn't sound right to me (but it has been a long time since I've had it) - found this: https://www.truthorfiction.com/heinz-ketchup-ingredients-u-s-vs-uk/ https://www.truthorfiction.com/heinz-ketchup-ingredients-u-s... (tldr just sugar in the UK)

schrectacular 5y ago

The obesity epidemic is a lot more recent than barn-raising days. Even in the 90s people were considerably skinnier.

kjeetgill 5y ago

> People didn’t have McDonalds and cars ages ago. Barn-raising, (manual) farming, and hunting are hard energy-intensive work. Our calorie output required to survive dropped Not saying I know any better, but at it's face I don't buy this. The change in day-to-day activity doesn't feel like it would account for the difference from just the 80s to now. > while the calorie inputs available cheaply dramatically increased. This I buy much more, confounded with maybe the specifics of the nutrients available.

nradov 5y ago
Even a small change in average daily activity can account for a large difference. If you cut your total daily energy expenditure by just 50 kcal (the equivalent of walking less than a mile) while keeping intake the same then you can gain up to 5 lb in one year. Add that up over a few years and suddenly you're obese.
- elcritch 5y ago
  Not to mention increase in sugars in foods; soda pops also drastically increased from 8oz to 20oz. Combined with even small decreases in activity can add up quickly.
- somenameforme 5y ago
  You're right in one way, but not another. Small increases in caloric content can have a large and counter-intuitive impact due to the nature of systems in equilibrium: just one small soda or candy bar a day above your equilibrium will drive large weight gains. But you're not factoring in the fact that as your weight increases so does your idle energy costs, meaning that as you gain weight you burn more calories doing nothing. Put another way, if today you burn 1500 calories a day idle, and you start eating 2000 calories a day - at some point you will reach an equilibrium, likely well before you're obese. I'm also in the camp that thinks that lifestyle explanation for rises in obesity is completely unsubstantiated.