Sugar is poison

[dps]

Or one could just eat healthy food and exercise and not worry about whether their brain is somehow being fooled.

Another problem I have with "eat less, excercise me, that's all there is to it" is that it ignores practicality.  This has been the mantra for a while.  How's that working out for us?

Sure, if you eat healthy and exercise, you'll probably avoid the danger factors, you are unlikely to be fat if you stick to it.  However, if you can avoid the danger factors with far less effort, what's wrong with that? 

Maybe some kinds of junk foods aren't really that bad, and only certain junk foods are highly damaging.  It sure is easier to stick to a diet that allows for some junk food, than to just religiously stick to healthy food.  If you can come up with a theory that work just as well, or almost as well, but requires far less energy to stick to, that's a big win. 

There's nothing that's more practical than exercising more and eating less.  It's actually simpler than worring about exactly what chemical are in a particular food.  People don't do it because they don't want to do it, not because it's not practical.

Of course, the same thing happens with other methods as well.  People cut out sweets, or fats, or whatever happens to be the thing that the current pseudo-scientific fad diet says that you're supposed to cut out, and have some success with it for a while, but they don't stick with it, and gain the weight back.

[DGuller]

There's nothing that's more practical than exercising more and eating less.  It's actually simpler than worring about exactly what chemical are in a particular food.  People don't do it because they don't want to do it, not because it's not practical.

That's exactly what I mean by practical.  If some method requires will power than only few people possess, then it's not practical.  In practice that method, as effective as it can be, will not be used regularly.

You can quit smoking as well just by not smoking anymore.  Some people can do it.  However, that's not the most practical way to quit, especially for a heavy smoker.  We'd have a lot more smokers these days if all we did to help people quit is to implore them to have more will power.

[dps]

Every smoker that I've known who has successfully quit did it cold turkey, without any medical aid.  Admittedly, that's just anecdotal, and a small sample size.

[crazy canuck]

Another problem I have with "eat less, excercise me, that's all there is to it" is that it ignores practicality.  This has been the mantra for a while.  How's that working out for us?

Maybe if people stopped making it a mantra and actually did it things would work out better.  You sound like the secretary in Malthus' office who is mystified as to why she cant lose weight has she shoves a box of donuts into her mouth on a daily basis.

[DGuller]

Another problem I have with "eat less, excercise me, that's all there is to it" is that it ignores practicality.  This has been the mantra for a while.  How's that working out for us?

Maybe if people stopped making it a mantra and actually did it things would work out better.  You sound like the secretary in Malthus' office who is mystified as to why she cant lose weight has she shoves a box of donuts into her mouth on a daily basis.

I hope I sound like someone who is interested in finding a systemic solution that works for most people, because that's how I approach this.  We obviously don't have one, because we have plenty of fat people and it's getting worse.

[crazy canuck]

A lot of fat people that eat more then they should and dont exercise as much as they should.  The sytem you are looking for is something that will force people to do less of the former and more of the latter.  Lots of people make lots of money selling that "system" and yet we still have a lot of fat people.  Why is that?  because at the end of the day food is plentiful and excerise is hard to do for a fat person.

[Valmy]

A lot of fat people that eat more then they should and dont exercise as much as they should.  The sytem you are looking for is something that will force people to do less of the former and more of the latter.  Lots of people make lots of money selling that "system" and yet we still have a lot of fat people.  Why is that?  because at the end of the day food is plentiful and excerise is hard to do for a fat person.

Yes but that was all still true in the 70s and 80s and we were alot thinner.  That is what I do not get.

But maybe it is the tendency to eat out more as Brazen said.

[The Brain]

You have to punish the fat. It's like sluts.

[crazy canuck]

A lot of fat people that eat more then they should and dont exercise as much as they should.  The sytem you are looking for is something that will force people to do less of the former and more of the latter.  Lots of people make lots of money selling that "system" and yet we still have a lot of fat people.  Why is that?  because at the end of the day food is plentiful and excerise is hard to do for a fat person.

Yes but that was all still true in the 70s and 80s and we were alot thinner.  That is what I do not get.

But maybe it is the tendency to eat out more as Brazen said.

For sure it is.  People are not eating too much unhealthy food and they are not exercising more to offset the shit they are putting into their bodies.  There is no mystery here.

[Malthus]

Every smoker that I've known who has successfully quit did it cold turkey, without any medical aid.  Admittedly, that's just anecdotal, and a small sample size.

That's what I did. I quit more than five years ago, cold turkey.

[Malthus]

A lot of fat people that eat more then they should and dont exercise as much as they should.  The sytem you are looking for is something that will force people to do less of the former and more of the latter.  Lots of people make lots of money selling that "system" and yet we still have a lot of fat people.  Why is that?  because at the end of the day food is plentiful and excerise is hard to do for a fat person.

Yes but that was all still true in the 70s and 80s and we were alot thinner.  That is what I do not get.

But maybe it is the tendency to eat out more as Brazen said.

Increased portion sizes on nearly everything over the last 30 plus years.

[DGuller]

Portion sizes just doesn't sound plausible.  How many people eat out with any sort of regularity?  I agree that portion sizes are ridiculous, but over-eating once a week doesn't seem like an efficient way to get fat.  Chugging a 2-liter bottle of soda a day is another matter entirely.

[Valmy]

For sure it is.  People are not eating too much unhealthy food and they are not exercising more to offset the shit they are putting into their bodies.  There is no mystery here.

But why?  Are you suggesting the people of the 1980s were morally superior and self denying?  I was there and I assure you we were not

[Valmy]

Increased portion sizes on nearly everything over the last 30 plus years.

Might be something to that.  I have noticed plates in restaurants getting bigger and bigger.  In some places they are practically serving dishes now.

[crazy canuck]

For sure it is.  People are not eating too much unhealthy food and they are not exercising more to offset the shit they are putting into their bodies.  There is no mystery here.

But why?  Are you suggesting the people of the 1980s were morally superior and self denying?  I was there and I assure you we were not

I am suggesting that the food choices people had were superior.  There was far less prefab garbage masquerading as real food back then.

edit: also, come to think of it, yes people also had superior eating habits in general.