I think the most straightforward way to prevent people from giving SMTM money is to stop questioning their motives and just answer the question (if it really is so easy): Why does the obesity rate curve look the way that it does?
And note that “because people are inexplicably eating more” doesn’t really answer the question, and an explanation like “Americans had substantially easier access to delicious food in 2018 (obesity rate 42%) than they did in 2008 (obesity rate 34%)” would be surprising and need evidence backing it up.
To be completely clear, I honestly want the answer to this question (and I like SMTM since they seem to understand why it’s an interesting question)..
There is nothing at all inexplicable about that. Access to very palatable and not-very-satiating (cal for cal) food will change behaviours over time, these behaviours are also inherited in familial environments, and compound since once someone is obese, it becomes increasingly hard to get not-obese. With micro-cultural behaviour change which favours obesity, we’re also seeing actual cultural changes toward acceptance and promotion of obesity-promoting behaviours, excessive eating among family and friends, increasingly sedentary lifestyles (lord knows the last two years will have accelerated that), forgetting how to cook, or deciding to not bother cooking the sorts of foods which are satiating and lower cal.
I think the most straightforward way to prevent people from giving SMTM money is to stop questioning their motives and just answer the question (if it really is so easy): Why does the obesity rate curve look the way that it does?
And note that “because people are inexplicably eating more” doesn’t really answer the question, and an explanation like “Americans had substantially easier access to delicious food in 2018 (obesity rate 42%) than they did in 2008 (obesity rate 34%)” would be surprising and need evidence backing it up.
To be completely clear, I honestly want the answer to this question (and I like SMTM since they seem to understand why it’s an interesting question)..
There is nothing at all inexplicable about that. Access to very palatable and not-very-satiating (cal for cal) food will change behaviours over time, these behaviours are also inherited in familial environments, and compound since once someone is obese, it becomes increasingly hard to get not-obese. With micro-cultural behaviour change which favours obesity, we’re also seeing actual cultural changes toward acceptance and promotion of obesity-promoting behaviours, excessive eating among family and friends, increasingly sedentary lifestyles (lord knows the last two years will have accelerated that), forgetting how to cook, or deciding to not bother cooking the sorts of foods which are satiating and lower cal.
For what it’s worth, I think https://www.livenowthrivelater.co.uk/2021/09/is-the-obesity-epidemic-a-mystery-part-1/ is a good response to SMTM arguing something similar (that the problem is hyperpalatable foods).