I was, and still am, tho much less, excited about the contamination theory – much easier to fix!
But I think I’m back to thinking basically along the lines you outlined.
I’m currently losing weight and my model of why is:
I’m less stressed, and depressed, than recently, and I’ve been able to better stop eating when I’m satiated.
I’m exercising regularly and intensely; mainly rock climbing and walking (with lots of decent elevation changes). It being sunnier and warmer with spring/summer has made this much more appealing.
I’m maybe (hypo)manic (or ‘in that direction’, i.e. ‘hypohypomanic’; or maybe even ‘euthymic’). I’m guessing recent sunlight-in-my-home changes triggered this (as well as the big recent drop in stress/depression).
I would love to see a study of weight gain in modern hunter-gatherer people that provides an experimental group with ‘very palatable’ food. I think I would be willing to bet that they would gain some weight.
I do also suspect that hunter-gatherers engage in a LOT of fairly strenuous physical activity. Walking – and living in a dense urban walkable city (in my case NYC) – does seem like maybe one of the most feasible ways to try to match that much higher level of overall physical activity. (Rock climbing is also pretty strenuous!)
I was, and still am, tho much less, excited about the contamination theory – much easier to fix!
But I think I’m back to thinking basically along the lines you outlined.
I’m currently losing weight and my model of why is:
I’m less stressed, and depressed, than recently, and I’ve been able to better stop eating when I’m satiated.
I’m exercising regularly and intensely; mainly rock climbing and walking (with lots of decent elevation changes). It being sunnier and warmer with spring/summer has made this much more appealing.
I’m maybe (hypo)manic (or ‘in that direction’, i.e. ‘hypohypomanic’; or maybe even ‘euthymic’). I’m guessing recent sunlight-in-my-home changes triggered this (as well as the big recent drop in stress/depression).
I would love to see a study of weight gain in modern hunter-gatherer people that provides an experimental group with ‘very palatable’ food. I think I would be willing to bet that they would gain some weight.
I do also suspect that hunter-gatherers engage in a LOT of fairly strenuous physical activity. Walking – and living in a dense urban walkable city (in my case NYC) – does seem like maybe one of the most feasible ways to try to match that much higher level of overall physical activity. (Rock climbing is also pretty strenuous!)