Totally agree! I stumbled upon the SMTM link 6 months ago or so and it was a big view-changer for me. I’d previously thought calories-in-calories-out was the main thing to be focusing on but, uh, yeah, I was super wrong.
I do think you’re too critical of the high-palatability theory. The SMTM page finds the theory reasonable:
“Palatable human food is the most effective way to cause a normal rat to spontaneously overeat and become obese,” says neuroscientist Stephan Guyenet in The Hungry Brain, “and its fattening effect cannot be attributed solely to its fat or sugar content.”
Rodents eating diets that are only high in fat or only high in carbohydrates don’t gain nearly as much weight as rodents eating the cafeteria diet. And this isn’t limited to lab rats. Raccoons and monkeys quickly grow fat on human food as well.
We see a similar pattern of results in humans. With access to lots of calorie-dense, tasty foods, people reliably overeat and rapidlygain weight. But again, it’s not just the contents. For some reason, eating more fat or sugar by itself isn’t as fattening as the cafeteria diet. Why is “palatable human food” so much worse for your waistline than its fat and sugar alone would suggest?
So I wouldn’t call the SMTM link evidence that obesity being partially caused by high-palatability foods is obviously wrong. The gluttony theory of, like, self-control being the main important thing, or calories-in-calories-out being the main thing, I do think is obviously wrong; but I personally see the high-palatability theory as very different than the gluttony theory.
Totally agree! I stumbled upon the SMTM link 6 months ago or so and it was a big view-changer for me. I’d previously thought calories-in-calories-out was the main thing to be focusing on but, uh, yeah, I was super wrong.
I do think you’re too critical of the high-palatability theory. The SMTM page finds the theory reasonable:
So I wouldn’t call the SMTM link evidence that obesity being partially caused by high-palatability foods is obviously wrong. The gluttony theory of, like, self-control being the main important thing, or calories-in-calories-out being the main thing, I do think is obviously wrong; but I personally see the high-palatability theory as very different than the gluttony theory.