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The best thing anyone can do is to simply avoid overeating. If you're obese, it's because you're overeating - and you can fix the problem by just eating less. I

The best thing anyone can do is to simply avoid overeating. If you're obese, it's because you're overeating - and you can fix the problem by just eating less. In some sense it's comforting, because it's so easy to describe the problem and a solution, and some sense not because people like eating food! The problem with "processed" food is that it's usually calorically dense and tasty, so it's easy to eat too much.

swarnie 3y ago
I'd go simpler than that. If something goes in your mouth you need to confidently be able to state every ingredient in it. Easy rule, easy to follow. You've got to work really, really hard following this rule to still end up as a Double F.
- shaftoe444 3y ago
  Can you confidently state all the amino acids in an egg?
  - swarnie 3y ago
    No, its an egg. Are you just being contrarian or do you not get the general idea?
    - malfist 3y ago
      Well, my twinky has "cake and cream" so I can list all it's ingredients. Makes it healthy, right?
    - shaftoe444 3y ago
      I am being contrarian. Rules of thumb like yours are good but the article claims a level of scientific rigour that I don't think exists.
- cedilla 3y ago
  So I can't have the homemade daal but I can have loads of potato chips (potatoes, salt, sunflower oil, paprika, yeast, sugar, onion)?
  - swarnie 3y ago
    > homemade daal You can name the ingredients yes? Surely you can because you've put each one in yourself. > but I can have loads of potato chips No, because im not convinced you know what Firming agent (calcium chloride) is. Getting the idea of how this works? I gave the general public the benefit of the doubt in another comment but now im not so sure.
    - cedilla 3y ago
      There is no calcium chloride in my potato chips. I don't know if it's in the home made daal though. You're massively shifting the goalpost by now requiring that I know what calcium chloride is. I do but I still don't think it makes chips better food than the daal, which includes tamarind paste, which I'm not entirely sure what it is (some kind of root?)
benjaminwootton 3y ago
Your first sentence says that it's a simple matter of overeating, whilst your second alludes to the correct fact that it's more about what you eat. And even then, it's not a simple question of volume. The processed foods are addictive and play havoc with blood sugar with little satiety. I really think they are at the heart of the obesity epidemic.
adrian_b 3y ago
While you are right, in order to be able to eat less you normally have to change what you eat. Many years ago I was obese and it was very difficult to eat less because the junk food that I was buying did not satiate me until eating too large amounts of it. Now I can easily control my weight and I can have any weight I believe to be optimal, but that is because now I eat only food that I cook myself from raw ingredients and which satiates me in much smaller amounts and I do not feel hungry even a long time after eating. I have verified that I have not changed and only the choice of food matters, because I have bought some of the things that I liked in the past, and after eating them I was soon hungry like in the old times, despite the big calorie content. The food that I eat now has a relatively high content of proteins and of healthy fat, and most of the carbohydrates are from starch. I no longer use any sugar in the daily food, I make some sweets at most once per week, but usually more seldom that that. So while someone who eats "ultraprocessed" food might see a great improvement by just eating less, I believe that it is very unlikely that anyone could succeed to do this as long as they keep eating the same food.
malfist 3y ago
"simply avoid overeating" has the same ring of "simply stop being depressed" People are a lot more complicated than that, and a persons diet is anything but simple.
- beebeepka 3y ago
  What is so complicated about it? Now, it obviously is hard for those who like to indulge themselves too much, but it is pretty much the exact opposite of complicated.
  - Jochim 3y ago
    It's complicated because it's generally a symptom of deeper issues related to circumstance e.g. mental health, price, time, availability etc. Solving poverty is also not very complicated when reduced down to "just have more money". That might be a useful starting point but it's worthless in practical terms.
    - beebeepka 3y ago
      I am reducing overeating down from what, life itself? I disagree that leading with "reduce consumption, if possible" is impractical when we're trying to address the results of calorie intake
      - Jochim 3y ago
        > I disagree that leading with "reduce consumption, if possible" is impractical when we're trying to address the results of calorie intake We do lead with "Reduce consumption, if possible". The point isn't that it's impractical but rather that stopping there is woefully ineffective. We've never had more visibility into calories consumed; yet we're still seeing rising levels of obesity. If we actually want to reduce obesity then we need to identify and address the reasons that cause people to overeat. That's what makes the reductive view of "calories in, calories out" counter-productive.
- Panzer04 3y ago

swarnie 3y ago

I'd go simpler than that. If something goes in your mouth you need to confidently be able to state every ingredient in it. Easy rule, easy to follow. You've got to work really, really hard following this rule to still end up as a Double F.

shaftoe444 3y ago
Can you confidently state all the amino acids in an egg?
- swarnie 3y ago
  No, its an egg. Are you just being contrarian or do you not get the general idea?
  - malfist 3y ago
    Well, my twinky has "cake and cream" so I can list all it's ingredients. Makes it healthy, right?
  - shaftoe444 3y ago
    I am being contrarian. Rules of thumb like yours are good but the article claims a level of scientific rigour that I don't think exists.
cedilla 3y ago
So I can't have the homemade daal but I can have loads of potato chips (potatoes, salt, sunflower oil, paprika, yeast, sugar, onion)?
- swarnie 3y ago
  > homemade daal You can name the ingredients yes? Surely you can because you've put each one in yourself. > but I can have loads of potato chips No, because im not convinced you know what Firming agent (calcium chloride) is. Getting the idea of how this works? I gave the general public the benefit of the doubt in another comment but now im not so sure.
  - cedilla 3y ago
    There is no calcium chloride in my potato chips. I don't know if it's in the home made daal though. You're massively shifting the goalpost by now requiring that I know what calcium chloride is. I do but I still don't think it makes chips better food than the daal, which includes tamarind paste, which I'm not entirely sure what it is (some kind of root?)

benjaminwootton 3y ago

Your first sentence says that it's a simple matter of overeating, whilst your second alludes to the correct fact that it's more about what you eat. And even then, it's not a simple question of volume. The processed foods are addictive and play havoc with blood sugar with little satiety. I really think they are at the heart of the obesity epidemic.

adrian_b 3y ago

While you are right, in order to be able to eat less you normally have to change what you eat. Many years ago I was obese and it was very difficult to eat less because the junk food that I was buying did not satiate me until eating too large amounts of it. Now I can easily control my weight and I can have any weight I believe to be optimal, but that is because now I eat only food that I cook myself from raw ingredients and which satiates me in much smaller amounts and I do not feel hungry even a long time after eating. I have verified that I have not changed and only the choice of food matters, because I have bought some of the things that I liked in the past, and after eating them I was soon hungry like in the old times, despite the big calorie content. The food that I eat now has a relatively high content of proteins and of healthy fat, and most of the carbohydrates are from starch. I no longer use any sugar in the daily food, I make some sweets at most once per week, but usually more seldom that that. So while someone who eats "ultraprocessed" food might see a great improvement by just eating less, I believe that it is very unlikely that anyone could succeed to do this as long as they keep eating the same food.

malfist 3y ago

"simply avoid overeating" has the same ring of "simply stop being depressed" People are a lot more complicated than that, and a persons diet is anything but simple.

beebeepka 3y ago
What is so complicated about it? Now, it obviously is hard for those who like to indulge themselves too much, but it is pretty much the exact opposite of complicated.
- Jochim 3y ago
  It's complicated because it's generally a symptom of deeper issues related to circumstance e.g. mental health, price, time, availability etc. Solving poverty is also not very complicated when reduced down to "just have more money". That might be a useful starting point but it's worthless in practical terms.
  - beebeepka 3y ago
    I am reducing overeating down from what, life itself? I disagree that leading with "reduce consumption, if possible" is impractical when we're trying to address the results of calorie intake
    - Jochim 3y ago
      > I disagree that leading with "reduce consumption, if possible" is impractical when we're trying to address the results of calorie intake We do lead with "Reduce consumption, if possible". The point isn't that it's impractical but rather that stopping there is woefully ineffective. We've never had more visibility into calories consumed; yet we're still seeing rising levels of obesity. If we actually want to reduce obesity then we need to identify and address the reasons that cause people to overeat. That's what makes the reductive view of "calories in, calories out" counter-productive.
Panzer04 3y ago