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But that explanation doesn't hold water. Look at any old cookbook and you'll see that the calorie content in a typical "healthy" meal has gone down not up, peo

But that explanation doesn't hold water. Look at any old cookbook and you'll see that the calorie content in a typical "healthy" meal has gone down not up, people used to load up every dish with tons of fat, sugar and syrup, and still struggled to gain weight. Mechanics, cops, security guards, firefighters, janitors, handymen, and personal service workers are twice as likely to be obese as high school teachers, professors, natural and social scientists, cooks, programmers, and lawyers. How can that possibly be if the principal factor is activity level? Why is obesity higher at lower altitudes if it's just about the availability of cars? Treating obesity as a cultural problem of personal moral failing is ignoring the cold hard facts: the epidemiological contour of the obesity epidemic points to a chemical contaminant that some people are exposed to more than others, not a cultural shift.

anonuser123456 3y ago
> Look at any old cookbook … >not a cultural shift I think your statements are in conflict. There have been enormous shifts in food production and consumption over the last few generations.
- hannasanarion 3y ago
  Read it again. The statements are not in conflict because the culture reacted to the increasing obesity, not the other way around. If modern cookbooks had more fattening recipes, then I would be wrong and obesity would be explainable by culture, but they don't. Modern cookbooks are leaner than old cookbooks. In decades and centuries prior to the 1980s people ate more sweets and fats, not less. Modern cookbooks have leaner recipes because obesity is a problem now. Obesity is not a problem now because cookbooks have leaner recipes (how would that even work?)
  - anonuser123456 3y ago
    People don’t use cookbooks. They go to McDonnalds.
    - hannasanarion 3y ago
      Do you not see how that's circular? Cookbooks in the old days were just as calorie dense as McDonalds is today. People used to eat tons of sugar and butter in everything, including things that were home cooked or marketed as healthy. Having lots of high-calorie foods available has never caused people to get fat until recently, when it suddenly started happening all over the world all at once, especially to people who work with heavy machinery. You can't just blame McDonalds for that.
arrosenberg 3y ago
Cookbook recipes are a bad metric for this. First of all, eating habits have broadly changed - way more eating out and delivery, way less cooking. Second, many of those jobs listed have become more sedentary - there is more driving, computer work, standing in elevators, and more work done by machines compared to 50 years ago, way fewer calories are burned. Third, portion sizes have changed - restaurants serve a ridiculous amount of food per person. > Why is obesity higher at lower altitudes if it's just about the availability of cars? In my experience people who live at altitude (e.g. Denver) tend to be more active as a rule, so lets say cultural forces. Could be because they burn more energy surviving too. > the epidemiological contour of the obesity epidemic points to a chemical contaminant that some people are exposed to more than others, not a cultural shift. Yeah, it's sugar. To be clear, I'm not ruling out the possibility that phthalates or something else do have an affect, but we can solve most of the problem right now by removing sugar and corn subsidies and redirecting the money toward community gardening and youth sports programs.

anonuser123456 3y ago

> Look at any old cookbook … >not a cultural shift I think your statements are in conflict. There have been enormous shifts in food production and consumption over the last few generations.

hannasanarion 3y ago
Read it again. The statements are not in conflict because the culture reacted to the increasing obesity, not the other way around. If modern cookbooks had more fattening recipes, then I would be wrong and obesity would be explainable by culture, but they don't. Modern cookbooks are leaner than old cookbooks. In decades and centuries prior to the 1980s people ate more sweets and fats, not less. Modern cookbooks have leaner recipes because obesity is a problem now. Obesity is not a problem now because cookbooks have leaner recipes (how would that even work?)
- anonuser123456 3y ago
  People don’t use cookbooks. They go to McDonnalds.
  - hannasanarion 3y ago
    Do you not see how that's circular? Cookbooks in the old days were just as calorie dense as McDonalds is today. People used to eat tons of sugar and butter in everything, including things that were home cooked or marketed as healthy. Having lots of high-calorie foods available has never caused people to get fat until recently, when it suddenly started happening all over the world all at once, especially to people who work with heavy machinery. You can't just blame McDonalds for that.

arrosenberg 3y ago

Cookbook recipes are a bad metric for this. First of all, eating habits have broadly changed - way more eating out and delivery, way less cooking. Second, many of those jobs listed have become more sedentary - there is more driving, computer work, standing in elevators, and more work done by machines compared to 50 years ago, way fewer calories are burned. Third, portion sizes have changed - restaurants serve a ridiculous amount of food per person. > Why is obesity higher at lower altitudes if it's just about the availability of cars? In my experience people who live at altitude (e.g. Denver) tend to be more active as a rule, so lets say cultural forces. Could be because they burn more energy surviving too. > the epidemiological contour of the obesity epidemic points to a chemical contaminant that some people are exposed to more than others, not a cultural shift. Yeah, it's sugar. To be clear, I'm not ruling out the possibility that phthalates or something else do have an affect, but we can solve most of the problem right now by removing sugar and corn subsidies and redirecting the money toward community gardening and youth sports programs.