Guest guest Posted October 7, 2003 Report Share Posted October 7, 2003 > IMHO wild animals aren't fat because they eat til they're not > hungry and then stop. When they aren't hungry they don't hunt (or > eat). Overimbibing just isn't done. Also their food is not > loaded with salt, sugar, corn sweetners etc. and all the garbage > that processed food has. From what I know of wild animals, e.g., lions, when they are able to bring down a kill, they will - if there is sufficient food on the carcass - gorge themsevles on it. This is similar to what paleolithic hominids did: usually it was feast or famine. As well, life " in the wild " required significant amounts of energy just to stay warm, dry, and fed. Achieving those ends burned mucho calories. Even a mere 150 years ago, life in America, especially on the plains, required a great expenditure of energy just to survive (see the PBS special " Frontier House " for an up-close and personal look at just how demanding life was in the mid-eighteen hundreds on the US plains - even when living in a log cabin!). Sure, some people are obese due to biochemcial imbalances. But I suspect they are the exception, rather than the rule. Most of the obesity and overfat problems in America today are due to a constellation of causes; primary among them are a lifestyle which encourages sloth and a dietary consumption which encourages over- eating (primarily because of the TYPES of foods that are consumed). Both of these " causes " are strongly encouraged by " Madison Aveue " which " sells " both " escapist " activities (which do not require much energy output) and dietary inclinations (foods which are highly sugared or salted or loaded with fat, encouraging one to overeat). How does one " wean " oneself off such a diet to a more healthful one? There are many methods and some work with some of the people some of the time. But none work with all the people all of the time. It seems to be something of a crap shoot! It all boils down to the primary question: How Does Change Happen? And we don't know (if we did, we could " can " it, sell it, and be zillionaires! Hahaha!!). I know, personally, that my eating habits changed from a very unhealthy diet to an optimal one in a period of exactly three days. I literally trashed all my junk foods in a single evening: out went all the cookies, candy, chips, ice cream, cakes -- virtually all refined foods except for hard, dense, chewy bread, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, etc......And I had been consuming the crappy food for nearly 25 years (I have a notorious sweet tooth). So " change " did happen here. But how? A decision was reached (in the brain) and it contained a strong enough impulse to be carried through into action. And that action (dispensing with the junk food entirely) persists, up to today. Tomorrow? I have no idea! I may revert back. I say that because there is no understanding of the mechanism by which the decision (to change my diet) occurred. I KNEW, for 25 years, that " supplementing " my healthy diet with all that junk was not good for me. I *knew* it. However, regardless of that knowing, I still continued to eat unhealthful foods. Why? Why does one do something that one *knows* - intellectually - is not in one's best interest? (Since I was an exercise junky also, I didn't gain any weight, always burning off the " bad " calories, but of course, they were doing damage internally even before being burned up). My behavior pattern of 25 years of unhealthful eating was also an apparent decision (made each time I popped something " naughty " in my mouth). How did *that* happen? And how did it change? How does any change happen? ~ andy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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