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Being fat is a trap

federicopereiro.com

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Re: Being fat is a trap

#321

Post by burnt-resistor »

ableal wrote: post #201
amarcheschi wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tea is a nice alternative to water, and I say this as someone who doesn't like most drinks other than water. There's a huge variety of tastes among green teas, white teas, oolong, black teas... Specific tea variety, different locations where the plants are grown, different manipulations, all concur to a lot of different tastes. However, a lot of people I've met just say it tastes like "earthy/dirty water"

> There's a huge variety of tastes And a lot of those are not "tea" (with theine/caffeine), they're herb infusions such as mint, hibiscus, chamomile, etc. You can drink as much as you want without getting the typical caffeine buzz. I particularly like the Morocco Mint & Spices that Lipton sells.

Decaf: Organic peppermint tea.

Caf: Turkish Caykur Rize tea with a tiny bit of sugar or honey, and boiling water.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#322

Post by thijsb »

fpereiro wrote: post #299

Hi HN! OP here. Thank you everyone for reading and commenting. Thanks to your feedback I have done the following edits to the post: - Added a comment on GLP-1 agonists. I wrote the article like it was 2023, not 2025. These drugs now exist and their benefits massively outweigh their drawbacks, particularly for people that really need help. Anything that helps out of the trap, particularly with this effectiveness, shou…

good article, I can (unfortunately) relate. another aspect of the trap is when you have set backs (stress, life events) or get tired (long days, less sleep, emotional events) typically the first recourse is to stop the hardest parts: physical fitness, e.g., you take a car instead of bike/walk, skip sports, alcohol instead of water. it's sometimes a vicious circle, you're tired due to overweight, thus eat more to get energy, making you more overweight.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#323

Post by paulcole »

AStonesThrow wrote: post #298
paulcole wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t it just a more fun way to go through life to believe that you do have enough mental fortitude, discipline, self-honesty, commitment to change, and persistence to be healthy? I just don’t get the appeal of throwing my hands up and going, “Yep, somebody needs to care more about me than I care about me.”

No, because you'd be trapped in a cult of selfishness. A religion of self is a very bad place to be. I am not a self-contained sovereign god-being who just miraculously actualizes the positive reality I envision. Yes, positivity is essential, and negative thinking is also a trap , but this "Believe In Yourself!" and "Follow Your Passion!" is rotten fruit from the $16 self-help bookshelf in the public library.

But isn’t the advice of if something sucks in your life, attempt to take action to change it the only thing that actually works?

Re: Being fat is a trap

#324

Post by Jensson »

const_cast wrote: post #319
timcobb wrote: post #44

> but you have the choice to step out of the fat trap. People should also talk about the volition trap. I'm 40 and it feels like I've had more than a life's worth of people talking about how "you can do it if you just try!" > ... advertising signs that con / you into thinking you can do what's never been done / meantime life goes on all around you The sheer scope of the obesity pandemic should make it clear that we a…

> How did we come all this way as a species if we are so fundamentally flawed at basic metabolic regulation? IMO: because we have always had nowhere near enough food. Agriculture revolution was what, 10,000 years ago? That's a blip. It's entirely possible in my mind that the same mechanism and behaviors that fuel obesity were actually helpful for almost all of human history. It's just now, like right now, that they'r…

> IMO: because we have always had nowhere near enough food. Agriculture revolution was what, 10,000 years ago? That's a blip.

I think its the opposite, agricultural is much more reliable food so then population could grow until everyone barely starved. Before then people either had more food than they could use or they just died from starvation, people generally lived better lives before agriculture but there were much less people.

The reason we grow fat is because its good to be fat when you are a hunter gatherer, since there is more food than you can possible eat when you kill a large animal you just eat as much as you can, and then you survive better if you don't find another kill for a while.

Agriculture only started to produce enough food for everyone when we human stopped multiplying, before then starvation was only a few generations away as people would multiply exponentially until there isn't enough food again.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#325

Post by Jensson »

CBLT wrote: post #205
_fat_santa wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sheer scope of the obesity pandemic should make it clear that we are not the problem, that our volitions are not the problem. Certainly so many people can't be too weak to regulate one of the most basic facets of existence? How did we come all this way as a species if we are so fundamentally flawed at basic metabolic regulation? Certainly so many people shouldn't have to try so hard? Sure, some people succeed,…

A couple of years ago, I was researching modern food science (for unrelated reasons). What really struck me was how focused we are on product longevity. Everything must have low available water in order to survive warehouses, transit, and shelves. Sugar, sodium, oils, and phosphates are all just tools to accomplish this. Put another way, the bag of chips at the American grocery is _designed from concept to factory_ t…

That is because Americans shop every 2 weeks so things need to last 2 weeks.

In other countries that shops more frequently there is less need for that, and there these products has much fewer additives.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#326

Post by Jensson »

jrs235 wrote: post #197
_fat_santa wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The sheer scope of the obesity pandemic should make it clear that we are not the problem, that our volitions are not the problem. Certainly so many people can't be too weak to regulate one of the most basic facets of existence? How did we come all this way as a species if we are so fundamentally flawed at basic metabolic regulation? Certainly so many people shouldn't have to try so hard? Sure, some people succeed,…

>At least in the US where the problem is much worse than in the EU, I would say the major driving factor is the lack of cheap healthy foods. And portion sizes! There a several factors that lead to such large portions. Americans expect (and now desire, thanks to the ever expanding gut lines) to be stuffed from an ordered meal so producers spend the extra $1 on food costs to ensure larger portions and fewer complaints.…

Portion size isn't an issue if you make your own food like most of the world does. But that is just yet another reason why Americans are fat I guess, its easier to get fat when you don't cook the food you eat.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#327

Post by Jensson »

sorcerer-mar wrote: post #86
cenamus wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eat only every other day? Fast one week on and off? All entirely possible.

Do you have friends or family? This is a ridiculous proposal for 99.9% of people.

Just don't eat when they do? Its not hard to say no, I do that a lot.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#328

Post by Jensson »

em-bee wrote: post #269
orev wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you’re working 16h per day, every day, you have time to cook. There are many things that are very easy to cook and don’t even take that much effort, but people just refuse to learn how to use the tools they have. All you need is an oven and some baking pans, and you can easily make a well balanced meal in less than an hour. Roasted chicken, potatoes, vegetables. Done. There’s only a little bit of prep, then it…

Unless you’re working 16h per day, every day, you have time to cook. if you are single, sure. but as soon as you have family, those calculations go out the window. worse if you are a single parent. long commutes, a stressful job... 8 hours work, 8 hours sleep, 1 hour commute, 1 hour lunch, 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour spending time with my kids (means i do what they want), 1 hour TV to relax. 1 hour exercise/go for…

> 1 hour spending time with my kids

Cook when you do that.

> i love cooking

This is probably the problem, you try to cook fancy stuff rather than things that are easy and fast to cook. Cooking barely takes any time if you cook easy things.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#329

Post by Jensson »

ac29 wrote: post #310
j_w wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because people drink an absurd quantity of their calories: https://www.healthyfoodamerica.org/sugary_drinks_in_america_...

177 calories per day on average according to your link. More in teenagers, less in adults. Long term trend is decreasing consumption.

Which is a lot over time. With 3500 calories per pound that means quitting soda would on average make people lose a pound every 3 weeks, that is about 15-20 pounds a year.

Re: Being fat is a trap

#330

Post by Jensson »

bitmasher9 wrote: post #276
HPsquared wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people forget that mild hunger is a normal part of existence.

I think people are oversensitive to hunger stimulation. A small amount of hunger will completely distract some people, cause them to become overly emotional and overspend.

Probably because they aren't used to it, its like how people in warmer climates wear more clothes for the same outdoor temperature since they aren't used to being cold.
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