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Well, I'll have to admit, a lot of it is due to the food industry. I remember when they started putting sugar into peanut butter. Why? To get people addicted so they would eat more peanut butter.
For the longest time I still ate peanut butter that didn't contain sugar but it's a losing battle and now peanut butter is so sweet it tastes like candy.
Same thing with cereal. It used to be plain and then they started adding sugar to little kids' cereal. That made me mad to see my little sisters eating sugary cereals. I still, to this day, don't put sugar on cereal, or maybe just a little bit and I refuse to buy pre-sweetened cereal.
The ads on tv for fast food, the huge servings of fries that are now available, and the gigantic hamburgers--it didn't used to be that way. Even in a real, non junk type restaurant they load your plate up so that you can only eat half of it. Well, a normal person takes it home and eats it the next day, but probably a lot of people actually eat the entire meal right then and there.
So it's will power, yes, but also the food industry does have to take responsibility for offering this junk in the first place. Some people read about nutrition but apparently a lot don't. There are articles in almost any magazine about nutrition but if you don't read the articles, then you probably don't know any better. If nobody ever taught you to think for yourself and not believe the ads on tv, then you will do what they say instead of what is healthy.
Dealing with the misinformation the food industry puts out makes it harder for people to have will power and to learn how to make good food choices. If they're showing a huge piece of chocolate cake on tv and telling you how good it is, that's no help!
Yes, but why are they eating such caloric dense foods? Its well known that the combination of fat, sugar and salt elicits a drug like response in the brain......and these foods are everywhere. Its like trying to overcome alcoholism when someone is offering you free beer at every corner....
That may be true, but what tastes good and what we crave are not static. These things change in accordance with our dietary patterns, and I don't think the science has completely figured out all the reasons why.
How many times have you read on this site where someone quit their daily pop habit and then months later took a taste of one and thought it was disgusting and cloying?
Or that someone cut way back on sugary foods and now sugary things they used to eat all the time are sickeningly sweet to them now?
Or someone quit eating meat and now they're grossed out by it?
I think the composition of our gut microbiota influences our cravings. It would make sense considering that what we eat changes this composition. Eating a certain type of food for a while often makes people crave that type of food, and not eating a certain type of food often makes people no longer want that food. It would also seem probable that our gut microbiota would evolve some mechanism to influence what we eat in order to ensure their survival. It is already known that these organisms can affect mood and behavior, and h. pylori secretes enzymes to increase the pH in our stomach to create a more hospitable environment for itself.
Not eating enough/frequently enough/the right foods in the first place also contributes. If you skip breakfast you're more likely to eat junk food later. If you try to starve yourself you're more likely to eat junk food later. If you don't eat after your workout you're more likely to eat junk food later.
Hormones are probably a factor too. But, I wouldn't consider it a normal state to crave junk food all the time. Once in a while, after not eating for a long time, or after following a strict, restricted diet, or after intense exercise- sure. But not all the time. In that case, something has gone wrong.
The best way to keep from eating junk food, in the both the short term and the long term, is to continually be eating quality food so that
a.) they don't get so hungry that they crave junk food
b.) their cravings and tastes adapt towards eating quality food
From that point on it's easy.
Last edited by EugeneOnegin; 07-02-2013 at 11:02 PM..
So people have approximately the same desire to eat asparagus as they do french fries?
For people who are used to eating quality foods, they would likely have a greater desire to eat asparagus. More often than not, I would rather have the asparagus.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles
And, lack of will power isn't the reason the majority of people choose french fries over asparagus?
Nope.
Is it will power that prevents me from eating donuts? No, I find them disgusting. Is it will power that prevents me from drinking pop? No, it is way too sweet for me.
See previous post.
Fat people and skinny people for the most part do not crave the same foods. Lean people for the most part aren't lean because they're masters of Puritanical self-denial.
Last edited by EugeneOnegin; 07-02-2013 at 10:59 PM..
I agree with this completely. So many overweight people begin a diet and exercise plan, work hard at it and see NO results. It's easy to stay the course when you see the fruits of your labors, but when you don't not so much. If research leads to treatments for the metabolic and hormonal issues that stand in the way of successful weight loss for many, I think that'd be a good thing. The overweight would still have to do the work (diet and exercise), but if medical intervention can assist in removing the road blocks to success, that's a win-win.
Yes, this. I am helping coach an assisted weight loss program at our gym. Have been reviewing food journals of the participants plus working out with them in classes. Some have literally been struggling for months and doing all the right things, yet they just aren't getting the results they want. It is so unbelievably frustrating and I totally understand why people give up.
I've been personally fighting this fight for years and years. My homones are completely messed up and medicine offers symptom-relieving solutions but nothing to get at the real cause of what the problem is. So annoying!
Though I think obesity is not just about food intake or weight but also the mental struggles that person is not dealing with in life or the feelings they don't want to face. That being said people do need to be accountable and to blame commercials or the food industry is not being accountable for one's own actions and behaviors. For some it is easier to blame others then to change themselves. If a person does not understand nutrition and what their body needs then it is that person's role to get educated whether it be by a dietician or books. One has to learn to help themselves to get better.
I understand people get frustrated when they don't see quick results but just like they did not become overweight overnight you don't become thin that way either. People who live in extremes usually battle their weight for life and constantly fluctuate. Unless you have a medical condition or allergy that you have to take a specific food out of your diet I feel all foods can be in a healthy eating plan. Once an awhile having a small piece of cake does not make a person overweight. It is about day in and out of bad choices that put a person over their caloric needs
Yes, this. I am helping coach an assisted weight loss program at our gym. Have been reviewing food journals of the participants plus working out with them in classes. Some have literally been struggling for months and doing all the right things, yet they just aren't getting the results they want. It is so unbelievably frustrating and I totally understand why people give up.
I've been personally fighting this fight for years and years. My homones are completely messed up and medicine offers symptom-relieving solutions but nothing to get at the real cause of what the problem is. So annoying!
IMO, this is why the "just eat less, exercise more and the weight will fall off" mantra is not the solution for everyone. There are many obese people whose metabolism and hormones are completely out of whack because of their years of poor diet and lack of exercise. These people need help that the medical community and the diet/exercise community seem unable to provide. Perhaps medical research will assist in finding therapies that, in conjunction with diet and exercise, will up the odds for success.
Not at all. There are obese women who truly think they look sexy. There are men who think obese women are sexy.
Why did you say not at all when your response to my question was in agreement to what I mentioned about them conforming to societal pressures to look sexy despite what their physique looks like.
Eating "less" shouldn't be the solution for anyone.
The mantra should be eat clean, exercise, and the weight will come off. When you eat clean you eat more food in terms of bulk, but fewer calories.
Trying to eat less, on any kind of long term basis, is about as realistic as trying to breathe less. That's why people fail.
But yet sometimes it does not. Or it's such a painfully slow process that people get discouraged and go back to their bad habits. You believe in clean eating. Others tout high protein/low carb as the way and others will swear by periodic fasting and cleanses. Reality is that NO ONE knows what will work best for EVERYONE. Perhaps in the future research will be able to devise testing and benchmarks that can point people to a healthy regime that gives them the best chance of success.
But yet sometimes it does not. Or it's such a painfully slow process that people get discouraged and go back to their bad habits. You believe in clean eating. Others tout high protein/low carb as the way and others will swear by periodic fasting and cleanses. Reality is that NO ONE knows what will work best for EVERYONE. Perhaps in the future research will be able to devise testing and benchmarks that can point people to a healthy regime that gives them the best chance of success.
The bottom line is you have to burn more than you take in. We can debate on what the right foods are to eat and the merits of a fat and protein based diet, excluding wheat, juicing, intermittent fasting...but they all have to lead to the same place in order for one to lose weight... burn more calories than you consume. Simple equation, difficult to implement.
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