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Comment by briancleland | Hacker News Reader

Absolutely nothing magical about eating when you are hungry and stopping when you are sated. As long as you avoid unhealthy, unnatural foods (primarily refined carbs) this strategy works just fine. Animals don't have to count calories to avoid obesity, no reason why humans should either.

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Admittedly this is only partially informed, but I am pretty sure most animals don't have access to enough calories to be obese. And those that do (e.g. pets, zoo animals) are (sometimes) kept from obesity due to careful calorie counting by their human caretakers.

I think every labrador retriever on the planet would be 200 lbs if they had their way.

They also wouldn't be confined to a house or yard.

Even farm dogs do their best to get fat. Either way, that's an indictment of activity level then, and not of food quality.

Eating is naturally regulated by appetite. That's why appetite and satiation exist. It's difficult to be obese when you eat only unprocessed foods. If you don't believe me, try it out. You might be surprised.

You didn't address their point that zoo animals have to sometimes be kept on diets to remain slim, in spite of their all natural diet. This article seems to think it's a whole gamut of things that keeps these animals thin. http://sciencenordic.com/can-wild-animals-become-overweight

Appetite and satiation are far more complex than just "eat until your full and then stop", for instance amensiac patients have been observed to eat waaay more than they should have just because they did remember eating (Rozin et al. (1998)), even they should have by all rights been physically full. There's whole layers of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns with excess food consumption.

Personally, I have been able to effectively lose and keep off weight while still enjoying all manner of unnatural foods (Ice cream, McDonald's and candy, oh my).

I had success with calorie-counting, and I think part of that came from accidentally co-opting an existing behavior involving bargain-hunting and frugality.

Food choices became about avoiding "spending" my calories on "bad deals", avoiding foods which didn't promise enjoyment commensurate to their cost.

I did that too - I made sure to get my protein (via protein shakes), but after that just ate what I wanted. I developed the same habit too - I ended up restricting things like rice or pasta because I'd rather "spend" those calories on an ice cream cone.

Many animals actively work towards obesity every year before hibernation. They can absolutely gain weight on all natural foods.

Storing up fat for hibernation is perfectly natural and has no negative effect on the health of the animal. It has nothing to do with obesity as the term is normally used.

My physiology is so far removed from a wild animal’s it’s not even funny. My ancestors propagated thanks to luck, wit and guile, not their ability to get food and mate like wild animals.

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