BBC News - Hunter gatherer clue to obesity
Quote:
Various factors are involved, including processed foods high in sugar and fat, large portion sizes, and a sedentary lifestyle where cars and machines do most of the daily physical work.
The relative balance of overeating to lack of exercise is a matter of debate, however.
Some experts have proposed that our need for calories has dropped drastically since the industrial revolution, and this is a bigger risk factor for obesity than changes in diet.
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I find this is sort of related to a book I read years ago and can't remember the name of, where they were saying that modern people actually work longer hours than hunter/gatherer people, which kind of goes against what seems intuitive, that they're always living hand to mouth and constantly having to forage for food. But we're predators in the wild, if for no other reason that hunting is fun, and if you look at other predators they aren't always having to work. The big cats sleep most of the day away. This article backs that up and says that they don't expend as vast amounts of calories as you'd think and that our weight has more to do with what and how much we eat.
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