Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, just someone who is curious about how the body works on a high level. To better understand cause and effect, a question that Pet

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, just someone who is curious about how the body works on a high level. To better understand cause and effect, a question that Peter Attia asks is that, do children eat more and grow (gaining weight as they age), or is it because they are growing that they eat more? Nutrition turns out to be a lot more complex than just calories in and calories out. It looks like that is a manifestation of something deeper, like growth hormones triggering a different type of metabolism. He asks the same question about obesity. Do people get fat (elevated number of triglycerides stored in the fat cells) because they are eating more than expending energy? Or, are they eating more because of hormonal imbalances? He (along with many other doctors) suggest that it is actually the effect of insulin that causes the body to be conservative with the expending of energy. Insulin resistance also leads to diabetes, which is strongly correlated with obesity. So the hypothesis is that it is out of control insulin (due to sugar intake, HFCS, simple carbs, prevelant in american diet) that is the cause for the obesity epidemic, and not just less exercise (although exercise can be used to eliminate the excess glucose in the body which triggers the insulin response). Here are some of his talks: TED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhLBPPtlrY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMhLBPPtlrY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWdHYSrh7M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWdHYSrh7M And his blog http://eatingacademy.com/ http://eatingacademy.com/