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A Cultural History of Fat
31–40 of 75 posts
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'll put it aletrnatively: Since 1) we eat too much and 2) we're not being force-fed, what drives the food down our collective throats? How do you explain the obesity epidemics which is a very recent phenomenon, if not through perverse market forces?
> How do you explain the obesity epidemics which is a very recent phenomenon, if not through perverse market forces? - Extremely high levels of food security in developed nations. It's hard to get fat when food isn't available. - Related, nutritionally-questionable food products that were used to achieve this food security (primarily mass-preserved and processed foods). - A transition from jobs requiring large amount…
From an evolutionary standpoint, less eating restraint may be linked to increased survival rares in times of scarcity, as stored energy in fat provides a clear advantage. Nowadays, in first world countries, food is everywhere and "overeating" becomes much easier.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I eat a snickers bar and afterwards I'm still hungry, I'm not necessarily going to eat another snickers bar. If I eat a very flavorful salad but perhaps am not feeling quite satiated, next time I'm not necessarily going to order the competitor's product that is drenched in olive oil. I'm sure there is some truth to these sorts of "survival of the fittest" arguments, but you can only simplify how people reason abou…
I'll put it aletrnatively: Since 1) we eat too much and 2) we're not being force-fed, what drives the food down our collective throats? How do you explain the obesity epidemics which is a very recent phenomenon, if not through perverse market forces?
>How do you explain the obesity epidemics which is a very recent phenomenon, if not through perverse market forces?
When you put it that way, I feel like asking how could the obesity epidemic possibly be blamed on perverse market forces? It's not like the food markets of the past were any less competitive, greedy or unregulated than they were when the obesity epidemic took hold.
I will weakly float two hypotheses that I've heard to explain it: technological change that made certain types of food cheaper (the bad ones), and government regulation that subsidized corn production which of course subsidized corn syrup based foods.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#34A company that produces food that is more appetizing and less filling than its competitors will sell more of it and beat them in terms of revenue and profit. They either have to align themselves or die/be assimilated. Even without any ill intent, growth seeking in the food industry would have lead to an obesity epidemics. https://soundcloud.com/user-876103472/grow
I find "appetising" and "less filling" are understatements. When I think of the food industry, I tend to think more in terms of "behaviour reinforcement" and "psycho- and physiological addiction".
I'd even say 'brain damage'. Processed food industry seriously limits what you will taste. Most natural fruits/vegetables have so much variety and subtlety in flavour.. they also often come with built-in satiety triggers. You rarely consume as much salad/carrots than pringles/cookies. Modern life is pretty toxic in the end.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#35This article does not discuss in depth the change in diet from mainly protein and fat based diets of the hunter-gatherers to carb-rich diet of today.
We've had a carb rich diet since the neolithic revolution. The obesity epidemics started after WW2. I don't think that they are related.
> We've had a carb rich diet since the neolithic revolution.
This isn't true.
The modern diet gets 90% (asspulled number, sorry) of its energy from sugar, white flour and potatoes.
None of these three really existed in any measurable quantities three hundred years ago.
Sugar especially is something only very modern people started to eat in huge quantities.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#36Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#37A company that produces food that is more appetizing and less filling than its competitors will sell more of it and beat them in terms of revenue and profit. They either have to align themselves or die/be assimilated. Even without any ill intent, growth seeking in the food industry would have lead to an obesity epidemics. https://soundcloud.com/user-876103472/grow
If I eat a snickers bar and afterwards I'm still hungry, I'm not necessarily going to eat another snickers bar. If I eat a very flavorful salad but perhaps am not feeling quite satiated, next time I'm not necessarily going to order the competitor's product that is drenched in olive oil. I'm sure there is some truth to these sorts of "survival of the fittest" arguments, but you can only simplify how people reason abou…
Sure you are. Are you buying an individual snickers bar or a 5 lb bag of Mars, Inc confections?
Also, the use case and marketing strategy for your two scenarios are different. A product like Snickers is a quick on-the-go fix of food. The marketing connection for a salad is different -- the money and full feeling is in the dressing. Many people translate "salad" as leaves with goops of fat/sugar on them. If you are a oil/vinegar person, you're an awful customer for Kraft.
The food industry is attacking traditional, lower margin foods to make more $. The best example is the push against milk in favor of nut and grain based white liquid. All of the substitute products are mostly water and corn syrup, but are sold at dairy prices.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Please tell me more ? At which level ? Genuinely interested :) !
For one, the amount of refined sugar in our diet exploded recently. More generally, even if the molecular building blocks didn't change, the way food is prepared industrially and marketed makes us more likely to eat too much of it.
A lot of our modern economy seems to be relying on human predisposition to addictions. Think sugar / carbs, alcohol, tobacco, certain games, news and social media and their recommendation engines. All exploiting similar neural pathways.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
We've had a carb rich diet since the neolithic revolution. The obesity epidemics started after WW2. I don't think that they are related.
> We've had a carb rich diet since the neolithic revolution. This isn't true. The modern diet gets 90% (asspulled number, sorry) of its energy from sugar, white flour and potatoes. None of these three really existed in any measurable quantities three hundred years ago. Sugar especially is something only very modern people started to eat in huge quantities.
I'm not sure potatoes are the problem.
The problem is carbs give you short term energy. It's great and healthy if you're doing manual labor, playing sports, lifting weights, etc. or otherwise burning that caloric intake.
If you're watching TV and eating carbs your energy boost is wasted and can get stored as fat.
And sugar as far as far as I'm aware is never healthy but can have less of a health impact in very small doses.
Re: A Cultural History of Fat
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
The carbs we get now in modern processed foods are not the same carbs we've been used to for millenia.
Please tell me more ? At which level ? Genuinely interested :) !
In the country I live in, white flour must legally be mixed with iron. In natural foods, iron is bounds to proteins like hemoglobin or ferritin. Legally mandated iron is just "iron", which means whatever's cheapest, i.e. metallic iron powder. This is known to be poorly absorbed:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15864409
So what happens to the non-absorbed portion? I have read speculation that it could affect intestinal bacteria. Intestinal bacteria are poorly understood, but widely believed to affect human health. What happens when you start feeding them evolutionarily novel nutrients? I'm not claiming that it has any measurable effect, good or bad, but from a precautionary principle viewpoint it seems to me a bad idea.