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hiricinee t1_ixzzrfn wrote

Reply to comment by nicholsz in Why do children with a higher bmi start puberty earlier? by -LoveMeMore

That's just it. The body is essentially made to survive, reproduce, and take care of offspring until they can do the same. Obesity from an evolutionary standpoint is a sign of success, or at least a sign that there's enough resources to go ahead reproducing. The biggest concern to the body reproducing until the last 120 years was not having enough calories to survive (or calorie proxies.)

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Ok-Development-8238 t1_iy11blo wrote

I tell my anthro students that all the time: there’s a reason it’s so goddamned hard to lose weight. For most of the past 3.8 billion years, your ancestors & their relatives were more likely to starve than have way too much

Still fascinating to me that the brain operates on 20 watts

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jduff1009 t1_iy15wzj wrote

It’s actually not hard to lose weight. Just consume less calories than you burn. Pretty basic math.

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Ok-Development-8238 t1_iy16jc5 wrote

“It’s not hard to get over depression…just stop having negative thoughts!” 🤣

I have no problem fasting for 48 hours if need be…other people get crazy dizzy after six hours. But I have empathy for people whose psychology & physiology are different than mine

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riotousgrowlz t1_iy1rglb wrote

It’s actually much more complex than CICO. Your metabolism shifts as you lose weight and at a certain point it gets harder and harder to lose each additional pound. If you gain weight back (as most people do) your metabolism doesn’t have a corresponding increase so weight cycling actually results in more weight gain over time than making no changes. The hormones that control hunger are also affected by weight cycling and you can get hungrier the more you crash diet and it is HARD to do anything else competently while experiencing hunger pains. So, it’s not really simple math, there are so many more variables at play than simply calories in and calories out.

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NightlyNate t1_iy1ryj2 wrote

However, without a healthy diet containing fiber and protein, which satiates hunger longer, people eat more unhealthy (ultra-processed) food which contains fats and sugars and calories, which is packed with fats and calories, which doesn't satiate hunger, which turns into a cycle. Especially if you buy nutrient deficient foods like microwavable dinners and processed products like those.

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I hope I make sense.

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TC9095 t1_iy0c9tm wrote

I'm pretty sure 120 years ago kids were not stuffing there face with McDonald's. I really doubt there were overweight kids in that time. They did not eat sugar like we live off of today

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Dr_dillerborg t1_iy0eyse wrote

Well Hamburger Charlie was selling fast food hamburgers in 1885 - so technically kids could stuff their faces 120 years ago.

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hiricinee t1_iy0dbvw wrote

It's not hard to imagine, going as far back as you can, a highly successful hunter/gatherer tribe where a kid indulged on berries and meat until they got big enough to start puberty early. It'd be a lot harder without calorie dense foods, but the idea that a body can overweight itself into early puberty was still a real thing.

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clullanc t1_iy0ufnl wrote

I really don’t think many children eat that way. Lack of exercise I can believe.

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julius_sphincter t1_iy0zhf1 wrote

It's almost certainly sugar drinks/sodas that get most kids fat. I mean kids will eat straight dessert if you let them, but most parents know better than that.

What I see way way way too often is kids pounding sodas/gatorades/juices etc that are have more sugar than a bag of candy

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Saxamaphooone t1_iy170ji wrote

Juice is a really insidious one. On the surface it can sound like a healthier choice, but when you look deeper it becomes quite clear that it can be just as bad as drinks that are well-known to be full of sugar. I know someone who works in a dental office and they have to have “the juice talk” with parents countless times every year.

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ExKnockaroundGuy t1_iy0cxzo wrote

Just look at the sugar content of modern packaged foods and the newer GMO wheat spikes insulin levels creating fat storage. Look at pics of crowds like young people pre 1980 compared to 2022.

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biguncutmonster t1_iy0ow55 wrote

Source on GMO wheat? There seems to always be some sort of fear mongering surrounding GMO

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