Did we start loosing willpower in the late 1970's?

If you, or someone you know, have become obese, you may have received "friendly" advice that it is all about will power. Somehow, if you just will it, you can loose weight. After all, the problem is with you. You are either eating too much, or not exercising enough. You will likely also hear the same message from your doctor. Our food producers love this answer. Hey, if you are obese, it is not their fault. It's the lack of willpower.

As the chart above suggests, many of us must have lost our willpower in the late 1970's. That's when obesity started going up.

Although willpower is a factor in many human activities, this view of obesity simply does not ring true. The increase in the average weight of the population since the late '70s is not due to lack of willpower. It is due to the increased availability, and marking, of increasingly low-quality food and its effect on the brain. 

Thus, the solution is not more willpower, although it always helps. The solution is knowledge. The more we understand that low-quality food is becoming the overwhelming component of the typical modern diet, and, the more we understand this diet increases the likelihood of chronic diseases, the more we recognize we must make our own nutritional decisions instead allowing our culture to lead us astray.

But, how do we begin? Especially when there are so many, often contradictory, diets being recommended. We can start by trying to reproduce the diet of our ancestors. After all, those living before agriculture and animal husbandry were often taller and healthier than we are. As best as can be determined, they did not suffer from the modern chronic preventable diseases that the CDC reports currently accounts for about ¾ of healthcare spending - hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution can’t be discarded without consequences.

Its time to learn about ancestral human nutrition on our own: not an easy task. Fortunately, there are many guides to help us along the way. For those new to the ancestral diet, the next post will provide links to resources to help you get started. For those already enjoying its benefits, there is still more to learn.

Addendum: Ancestral Health Resources coming later this week.

PlosBLOGS: "The Anthropology of Obesity"

Evolutionary analysis can prove indispensable when considering endemic obesity rates – obesity can be viewed as a problem resulting from the contrast between Paleolithic genetic programming and the present-day obesogenic environment.

PlosBLOGS: Neuroanthropology just posted a bibliography on obesity arranged in the following topics: 

• Evolution and Obesity
• Biocultural Perspectives
• Social Determinants of Health
• Change in Diet
• Obesity Culture
• Health Behaviors
• Economic Influences
• Neuroanthropology Posts

Diets changed from Paleolithic times through the agricultural and industrial revolutions. With the advent of globalization it is of no surprise that change is being observed in food acquisition, consumption, and preparation patterns. Obesogenic environments are on the rise with the homogenization of diet that occurs initially with an increase in consumption of traditional food items, and the subsequent introduction of fast foods, convenience foods, and industrialized food items that are nutritionally devoid.

 This is a great post and resource. Check it out.