There are a lot of theories on the internet as to why we gain weight. First to understand the why, we have to have basic knowledge of the how. Humans were designed to store extra energy as body fat, in times when food was available. This had an adaptive advantage, because prehistoric humans were often faced with periods of famine. This is not the case of modern humans, unless they are victims of war or natural disaster. In fact, even in many of the countries of Africa, obesity is becoming a serious problem. What many "experts" have discovered, is that the combination of plentiful sources of food, and a "more sedentary" lifestyle, humans are becoming on average more obese than ever before in history. Is this a problem? Not unless you are concerned about your health, ability to function on a physical level, and your physical appearance. But if you are, then you need to understand that "readily available" food sources can have just as many disadvantages and they do advantages. For example, it is great that we can buy such calorie dense cheap foods so easily, however these same foods can also cause obesity if consumed to the point of where calories "in" is greater than calories "out." These high calorie foods that are often cheap and easily available also lack the appropriate ratios of nutrients and fiber, things that are important to having a fully functional digestive system. Mass consumption of these highly processed foods seem to be causing all types of digestive issues for North Americans, resulting in more trips to doctors and purchasing of medications. Not to mention, send people in droves to other professionals such as naturists and health food stores looking for alternative medicines to solve their ailments.
After a lot internet research into this topic, I found one basic set of facts. Modern humans seem to be victims of the modern food industry. The food industry, which is a billion dollar industry has conducted extensive research into figuring out how to keep modern humans eating. And this all this eating is making a lot of money. There is plenty out their on the internet to explain it. From everything to adding addictive substances to using marketing to stimulate hunger, even when one is not hungry. Everything from selling an atmosphere to make you feel good about eating, to stacking food with chemicals and added fat/sugar that triggers our "binge" mechanisms to prep us for the times of famine, which in modern society will never come. It seems almost like a set of dirty tricks, getting humans to acquire body fat has become a goal of the North American food industry! In fact I have found nothing to refute the fact that weight gain is inevitable in the modern world. Even people who have managed to lose a lot of weight, eventually will return to the "weight gain" mode, even if it is so subtle that it creeps back slowly over 10-15yrs. So what do we do if we don't want to gain weight to the point of where we are identified as being overweight? It seems there are only a few choices in the modern world. Here they are:
1. Become a yo-yo dieter, where every 5-10 years, you go on an extreme diet and lose a lot of weight, and then try to maintain it for as long as you can before you have to diet again.
2. Watch what you eat and weigh just a bit less than the average person in your age group and no one will notice when you start putting on the extra lbs (ie. because most people are fatter than you anyways)
3. Become an athlete or develop a very active lifestyle. Your weight gain will be slower over time, and others in your age group will always have more body fat than you.
4. Fight hard against the inevitable weight gain of modern society and education yourself on all aspects of the food industry, fitness industry, cultural food traditions and wise up to what is going on.
Just because our world is telling us to "eat," that doesn't mean we have to. Remember that people profit from us over-eating and putting on body fat. But one thing we have to realize is that if you choose #4 above, then it won't be an easy battle. I have actually experimented with numbers 1-3 and the easiest of the three choices above is #3. Followed by #2 and then #1. Right now I have decided to move on to #4, because I want take on the challenge. My experience with #4 will become the fuel for this blog, I hope you enjoy reading it.
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