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Americans on average eat 400-700 more calories per day than in the 1970's. That explains it pretty well.

Retric 4y ago
That’s simply restating the problem, the question is why people are eating more calories even as they are doing less physical labor.
- HDThoreaun 4y ago
  Food is cheaper and tastes better.the solution isn’t expensive bland food. It’s these drugs.
  - halfmatthalfcat 4y ago
    Amazing how there's no room for self-control or accountability in these discussions. There's a reason most of the world isn't addicted to heroin...
    - HDThoreaun 4y ago
      People don’t suddenly have less self control. Of course you could lose weight by eating less than your body urges you too. That has nothing to do with why more people are obese now though.
      - lm28469 4y ago
        > People don’t suddenly have less self control. That's what we get after decades and decades of marketing targeting kids... large scale behaviour changes. Look at how tobacco was advertised, it was the same thing, now most of us know smoking is very detrimental to your health and addictive. I wonder when people will realise they're pulling the same shit for food
        Retric 4y ago
        Again, most people who gained weight were adults. Someone who was 18 in 1975 is only 66 today. Young kids are more likely to be obese but it’s only 22.2% for 12 - 19 year olds vs 44.3% among adults aged 40 to 59.
        lm28469 4y ago
        Kids burn much more calories than adults, once their metabolism starts slowing down they'll take the hit "only" is quite an understatement, having a quarter of your youth being physically disabled is quite alarming
        Retric 4y ago
        I agree ”only” isn’t the best descriptor. Still it’s clear it isn’t simply people eating a constant amount rather calorie consumption is significantly increasing with age. Weight gain doesn’t seem to be a metabolic issue, rather on average people eat just a little more and gain just a little more weight every single year and metrics like obesity and morbid obesity smooth over this underlying trend as even the morbidly obese still tend to gain weight.
        0xcde4c3db 4y ago
        Obesity started rising across all age groups at about the same time (ca. 1980).
      - dokem 4y ago
        > People don’t suddenly have less self control How do you know this? As the adage goes: ...good times make weak men... We've had good times in the late part of the 20th century. We now have weak lazy people in addition to abundance of shit food. We absolutely live in a time of over acceptance. In the old days it would be: "Hey man, you're getting fat. That's not ok". Not it's all about sitting down and listening to excuses with our legs folded.
        Retric 4y ago
        The WWII generation was also getting more obese just like every other age group during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
    - Retric 4y ago
      Self control is a statistically significant factor representing around a 4% difference in body weight on average. But it doesn’t explain why things have changed.
    - cameronh90 4y ago
      We banned heroin because it being readily available leads to loads of people getting addicted to it. Even with it being illegal, lots of people still end up addicted to it. No matter your views on prohibition, it's pretty obviously not a good idea to encourage heroin use due to the risk of addiction. Yet we do precisely that with salty sugary foods, with many of them advertised specifically towards children.
    - harimau777 4y ago
      Other countries have better public policies for treating addiction? Other countries outlaw advertising drugs to consumers? Other countries have lower rates of industrial injuries leading to lower rates of painkiller dependence? Other countries have functioning social safety nets leading to less deaths of despair?
  - lm28469 4y ago
    > tastes better What a strange way to say "they're more salty/sweet and fat", which are all know to trigger food addictions If you think coke taste better than water you're an addict in denial
- wonderwonder 4y ago
  My theory is over work, stress and a general feeling of being overwhelmed. It seems that there is never time to just relax and move at a normal pace anymore.
rhinoceraptor 4y ago
That doesn't explain anything, it's a tautology. This is like saying the reason why rich people are rich is that they make more money than they spend.
- Rury 4y ago
  That's not quite a tautology. A tautology would be: the reason people are rich, is because they are wealthy. What he's essentially saying is: people are fat, because they eat too much. "Eating too much" does not necessarily or literally mean "fat". Likewise, "making more money than you spend" is not another way of saying "rich", as it's possible you can "make more money than you spend" and still not be rich.
  - rhinoceraptor 4y ago
    The answers that are interesting and worth discussing, are things like the introduction of hyperpalatable foods, excess oxidized omega 6 polyunsaturated fats, excess carbohydrates, excess fructose, etc., the debates rage on. The answer that is not interesting is simply saying that people take in more calories than they expend, because it it tautologically true. People now are more health-conscious than at any point in human history. Basically no one wants to be fat, yet most people are, and we have far higher rates of chronic disease.
    - Rury 4y ago
      You're entitled to find his or anyone's answer not interesting, but what he said is not a tautology. Just because it's obvious does not make it tautological. But in any case, the matter really is as simple as people eating too much nowadays. Evolutionary speaking, we didn't eat 3 meals every day, let alone all highly calorie packed ones. Food was also relatively quite scarce for much of civilization, until modern preservation techniques like refrigeration came along. Heck, we didn't have many of the palatable foods that we have today, just 50 years ago, and those which we did were not in the same abundance as they are today. Fact of the matter is, no one wants to accept that they eat too much, nor do they want to eat less when it is pleasureful, nor do they want to work at changing their habits. But it is very much a cause behind modern diseases.

That’s simply restating the problem, the question is why people are eating more calories even as they are doing less physical labor.

HDThoreaun 4y ago
Food is cheaper and tastes better.the solution isn’t expensive bland food. It’s these drugs.
- halfmatthalfcat 4y ago
  Amazing how there's no room for self-control or accountability in these discussions. There's a reason most of the world isn't addicted to heroin...
  - HDThoreaun 4y ago
    People don’t suddenly have less self control. Of course you could lose weight by eating less than your body urges you too. That has nothing to do with why more people are obese now though.
    - lm28469 4y ago
      > People don’t suddenly have less self control. That's what we get after decades and decades of marketing targeting kids... large scale behaviour changes. Look at how tobacco was advertised, it was the same thing, now most of us know smoking is very detrimental to your health and addictive. I wonder when people will realise they're pulling the same shit for food
      - Retric 4y ago
        Again, most people who gained weight were adults. Someone who was 18 in 1975 is only 66 today. Young kids are more likely to be obese but it’s only 22.2% for 12 - 19 year olds vs 44.3% among adults aged 40 to 59.
        lm28469 4y ago
        Kids burn much more calories than adults, once their metabolism starts slowing down they'll take the hit "only" is quite an understatement, having a quarter of your youth being physically disabled is quite alarming
        Retric 4y ago
        I agree ”only” isn’t the best descriptor. Still it’s clear it isn’t simply people eating a constant amount rather calorie consumption is significantly increasing with age. Weight gain doesn’t seem to be a metabolic issue, rather on average people eat just a little more and gain just a little more weight every single year and metrics like obesity and morbid obesity smooth over this underlying trend as even the morbidly obese still tend to gain weight.
      - 0xcde4c3db 4y ago
        Obesity started rising across all age groups at about the same time (ca. 1980).
    - dokem 4y ago
      > People don’t suddenly have less self control How do you know this? As the adage goes: ...good times make weak men... We've had good times in the late part of the 20th century. We now have weak lazy people in addition to abundance of shit food. We absolutely live in a time of over acceptance. In the old days it would be: "Hey man, you're getting fat. That's not ok". Not it's all about sitting down and listening to excuses with our legs folded.
      - Retric 4y ago
        The WWII generation was also getting more obese just like every other age group during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
  - Retric 4y ago
    Self control is a statistically significant factor representing around a 4% difference in body weight on average. But it doesn’t explain why things have changed.
  - cameronh90 4y ago
    We banned heroin because it being readily available leads to loads of people getting addicted to it. Even with it being illegal, lots of people still end up addicted to it. No matter your views on prohibition, it's pretty obviously not a good idea to encourage heroin use due to the risk of addiction. Yet we do precisely that with salty sugary foods, with many of them advertised specifically towards children.
  - harimau777 4y ago
    Other countries have better public policies for treating addiction? Other countries outlaw advertising drugs to consumers? Other countries have lower rates of industrial injuries leading to lower rates of painkiller dependence? Other countries have functioning social safety nets leading to less deaths of despair?
- lm28469 4y ago
  > tastes better What a strange way to say "they're more salty/sweet and fat", which are all know to trigger food addictions If you think coke taste better than water you're an addict in denial
wonderwonder 4y ago
My theory is over work, stress and a general feeling of being overwhelmed. It seems that there is never time to just relax and move at a normal pace anymore.

rhinoceraptor 4y ago

That doesn't explain anything, it's a tautology. This is like saying the reason why rich people are rich is that they make more money than they spend.

Rury 4y ago
That's not quite a tautology. A tautology would be: the reason people are rich, is because they are wealthy. What he's essentially saying is: people are fat, because they eat too much. "Eating too much" does not necessarily or literally mean "fat". Likewise, "making more money than you spend" is not another way of saying "rich", as it's possible you can "make more money than you spend" and still not be rich.
- rhinoceraptor 4y ago
  The answers that are interesting and worth discussing, are things like the introduction of hyperpalatable foods, excess oxidized omega 6 polyunsaturated fats, excess carbohydrates, excess fructose, etc., the debates rage on. The answer that is not interesting is simply saying that people take in more calories than they expend, because it it tautologically true. People now are more health-conscious than at any point in human history. Basically no one wants to be fat, yet most people are, and we have far higher rates of chronic disease.
  - Rury 4y ago
    You're entitled to find his or anyone's answer not interesting, but what he said is not a tautology. Just because it's obvious does not make it tautological. But in any case, the matter really is as simple as people eating too much nowadays. Evolutionary speaking, we didn't eat 3 meals every day, let alone all highly calorie packed ones. Food was also relatively quite scarce for much of civilization, until modern preservation techniques like refrigeration came along. Heck, we didn't have many of the palatable foods that we have today, just 50 years ago, and those which we did were not in the same abundance as they are today. Fact of the matter is, no one wants to accept that they eat too much, nor do they want to eat less when it is pleasureful, nor do they want to work at changing their habits. But it is very much a cause behind modern diseases.