[nonameslob]

The real issue is that we’re eating too much overall

My cousin is a registered dietician and shared this article on Facebook this morning. Curious of your thoughts?

One big takeaway from this article:

There’s no good evidence that the food industry ever replaced fat with sugar.

My first question to him was, if there's less fat in low-fat foods, and not any more sugar (if that's factual), what exactly did they put into low fat foods to make up for the decreased fat? Or do I not want to know? I mean, the calorie difference between low fat and regular fat foods is negligible in most things, so they had to add something...right?

I'm interested to see his response, but wanted to share and see what your thoughts are, too.

[PatLib]

I think why our nation is fatter is extremely complex based on numerous factors. The non-fat movement played a part but so has the move from an industrial economy to a knowledge based one. We have a lot more desk jobs than we use and the desk jobs involve a lot more sitting. I mean I am a librarian and it use to be librarian got up a lot more, used the card catalog, went and got books. Now I sit at a reference desk and show people how to download books to an e-reader or teach Google Scholar. I sit for almost 8 hours day without moving. People use to move a lot more at work than they do now.

Also, I think food is has just gotten weird in today's society. I mean we have ridiculous arguments about carbs, paleo, gluten and while for some people these diets are absolutely necessary for a lot they are a fad in some desperate attempt to lose weight and usually have no understanding on these topics past reading some blog.

We also have this weird mixed culture of fat shaming AND denying any responsibility for our own health AND overindulgence with food. I don't think we can point to any one thing!

[Arctic Mama]

The article is wrong and misses the point, all at once. The question isn't that we're overeating but the why of it.

There is demonstrable shifts in the composition of our diets, not the least of which has been a dramatic reduction in animal fat and huge increases in hydrogenated and trans fats, sugar, and bleached starchy products. It's not the entire story but a notable part of it,especially when we can easily isolate dietary factors in studies and observe the various differences composition makes on both animals and humans. Hydrogenated peanut oil and casein, for example, are going to kill you faster than just about anything when it comes to diet.