Just curious, what kind of diet is considered "Western"? I would assume you are talking about diets high in sugar and carbs, but I'm sure other Eastern cultures eat plenty of high carbohydrate diets too right?
1. high in refined carbohydrates
2. snacks between meals
Yes, there are Asian cultures with diets high in carbs that don't suffer from our epidemic. But those diets aren't high in refined carbohydrates or other crap we've been told to eat to lower the fat intake (e.g. margarine).
Where is it written that thou shall only eat three meals a day? This is in itself a Western cultural bias.
The obesity crisis started in approx 1977. If you look at the the eating patterns from 1950, people ate less meals per day back then, an average of 3.
There's also a scientific explanation for it: when you snack, insulin goes up. By having 6 meals per day, like the average American now does, the insulin never goes down during the day. The body then develops insulin resistance, leptin resistance (satiety hormone) and it's all downhill from there.
In fact, ACTUAL studies show that the number of meals doesn’t affect weight loss, only the amount of calories[0].
How you eat, how many times and how that affects your weight loss is totally up to the individuals preference, and what they feel is easier for them to maintain in their daily life.
And you did not address his main point: that when one snacks, insulin goes up. It's a contributor to obesity, and as I understand it, is not controversial.
It’s probably safe to say it is high sugar, high carb, high fat, high protein, high preservatives, high in toxins, highly inflammatory, high in calories... yet low in micro nutritional value (vitamins and minerals). When you have all that, it explains why we focus on sugar and carbs, because when you combine all that with insulin spikes/high blood sugar levels it becomes deadly, and in that environment removing the sugar/carbs (insulin spikes) it is going to result in significant improvements in health and weight.
Those factors also explain high incidents of chronic diseases (heart disease, fatty liver, type 2 diabetes) and obesity.
Is this an indirect way of saying people are eating high calories? Because most people use these terms in a relative manner. i.e. high carbs compared to fat and protein, or high fat and protein with fewer carbs.
So for counter example you could eat a calorie surplus (like body builders bulking phase or maybe an endurance athlete refueling and preparing for another event) but that doesn’t necessarily mean the macros are all high (above daily recommended or above the amount to maintain body weight).
Most people just don’t understand/know what is and isn’t crap as you call it. But I think understanding what foods lead to metabolic disorders and chronic diseases, people would look at American grocers as peddlers of poison (of course they have a small percentage of healthy foods too).
Walk only around the outside of the store and you'll be fine. Don't go down any aisle except for spices.
1) produce aisle
2) butcher
3) some dairy
4) a few dried base foods like oats, rice, and maybe beans.
The entire rest of the grocery store is tasty poison.