Instagram
YouTube
"Rather than being some kind of disorder or failure of willpower, weight gain is largely a normal response, by normal people, to an abnormal situation." — Dr Greger
What kind of 'abnormal situation' is Dr Greger talking about? He explains that our ancestors lived in forests for millions of years and food was relatively scarce. We had to spend many hours daily foraging (and sometimes, hunting) for food. So our physiology has developed in such a way that as humans, we instinctually gravitate towards 'calorie dense' foods which offer more calories per kilogram than others.
Even after the advent of agriculture, foods continued to be 'natural', not 'processed' — they were not as calorie dense as modern processed foods. Also, our daily meals did not have such high levels of salt, oil and sugar — each of these makes our food 'addictive', leading to overeating.
In the last 100 years, 'Calorie Rich And Processed' (CRAP) foods (which often have high levels of salt, oil and sugar) have started becoming available in abundance, at low cost. Food marketing campaigns repeatedly encourage us to consume such foods. Today, CRAP foods are so interwoven into our culture — our way of living — that we have lost collective memories of what natural food (low in calorie density, with low (or even zero) levels of salt, oil and sugar) used to look like — the kind of food our ancestors ate!
Dr Greger argues that obesity is a "normal response" by humans to an "abnormal" environment: the 'toxic food environment' that humans find themselves in. In other words, the main reason for the obesity epidemic is not that obese humans exhibit 'lack of will' or 'lack of judgment' or 'lack of exercise.' The main reason for the obesity epidemic is our food environment. To tackle this epidemic, we must make changes in our food environment.
To understand what's amiss with our food environment, Dr Greger's video series is helpful:
(8 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"The common explanations for the cause of the obesity epidemic put forward by the food industry and policymakers, such as inactivity or a lack of willpower, are not only wrong, but actively harmful fallacies."
(4 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"The big fat "fat gene" accounts for less than 1% of the differences in size between people."
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"Rather than being some kind of disorder or failure of willpower, weight gain is largely a normal response, by normal people, to an abnormal situation."
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"We have an uncanny ability to pick out the subtle distinctions in calorie density of foods, but only within the natural range."
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"The rise in the U.S. calorie supply responsible for the obesity epidemic wasn't just about more food but a different kind of food."
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"Why are U.S. taxpayers giving billions to support the likes of the sugar and livestock industries?"
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"The unprecedented rise in the power, scope, and sophistication of food marketing starting around 1980 aligns well with the blastoff slope of the obesity epidemic."
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"We all like to think we make important life decisions like what to eat consciously and rationally, but if that were the case we wouldn't be in the midst of an obesity epidemic."
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"How the power of the "eat more" food environment can overcome our conscious controls."
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"Like the tobacco industry adding extra nicotine, the food industry employs taste engineers to accomplish a similar goal: maximize the irresistibility of their products."
(8 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary:
"Implausible explanations for the obesity epidemic, such as sedentary lifestyles or lack of self-discipline, serve the needs of the manufacturers and marketers more than the public's health and the interest in truth."
(6 mins) Transcript. Fascinating video! Dr Greger's summary: "Amazingly, a baby born to an obese surrogate mother with a skinny biological mom may harbor a greater risk of becoming obese than a baby from a big biological mom born to a slim surrogate." Watch the video for intriguing insights.
The worldwide obesity epidemic has led to interesting new terms appearing in research papers: Globesity, for example:
"The root causes of the epidemic of obesity are governmental policies and the food industry which make obesity difficult to escape in the US and now worldwide.""The structural environmental changes resulted from the unintended consequences of laws that created unregulated marketing and advertisements, food subsidies to a "food industrial complex" which manufactures obesogenic foods that foster addiction to its foodstuffs."
The ObesiTV research paper from 2012 explains:
"Results of numerous studies indicate a direct association between time spent watching television and body weight. Possible explanations for this relationship include: 1) watching television acts as a sedentary replacement for physical activity; 2) food advertisements for nutrient-poor, high-calorie foods stimulate food intake; and 3) television viewing is associated with "mindless" eating. In addition to decreasing physical activity and increasing the consumption of highly palatable foods, television viewing can also promote weight gain in indirect ways, such as through the use of targeted product placements in television shows; by influencing social perceptions of body image; and airing programs that portray cooking, eating and losing weight as entertainment."
gurmeet@gmail.com