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Comment by jmcphers | Hacker News Reader

A lot of comments blaming this on high-carb, sugary foods, but it has to be more than that. Carbs and sugar intake started falling in 2000 and has fallen every year since[1]; this is not happening because people can't control themselves around delicious foods. Obesity continues to stubbornly rise despite the fact that we, as a nation, have all started to eat in ways that are supposed to be healthier. Something else is going on.

[1] https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/11/a-chemical-hunger-p...

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It’s because we are super sedentary.

During the pandemic, I got my mom walking 10k steps a day with no diet change, she lost a pound a week for a year. Once she stopped, gained it all back.

>It’s because we are super sedentary.

I think about that too. Sitting in front of screens for most of the day, people don't need as much energy as they used to when the tradition of 2 to 3 meals a day was established. I chose to eat just once a day, and still think some more fasting wouldn't hurt.

This is the cheat code. If you have a sedentary white collar job, only eat one meal.

Depending on your weight, walking for 1 hour burns about 300 calories, which is 1 pound ever 12 days. So that is definitely a big factor (on hour walking is about 7200 steps).

Part 3 of that link is more interesting, seriously looking into the possibility of chemical contamination in the environment: https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/13/a-chemical-hunger-p...

It’s quantity first and foremost, of calories and of gas carrying us around rather than our own bodies.

Put in the bigger picture of our capitalist consumer economy, which has been unstoppably growing since the neoliberal policies of the 1970s, it seems like the quite logical result. (As is the fact that there is more information still trying to convince us these are not problems—-e.g. big is beautiful! or coke == happiness—-than who are trying to point us towards solutions, i.e. halting and/or at least slowing the liberal regime.)

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