A very interesting article

[velvetpage]

About a very old study that nevertheless proves something most fat people would love to believe: obesity is mostly genetically determined and cannot be controlled by willpower as it is applied to diet or exercise.

http://junkfoodscience.blogspot.com/2008/02/how-weve-came-to-believe-that.html

Comments

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

I've often thought that we have a need to change our diets here in North America rather than go on a diet. There's also a set of behaviors that seem to lead to consuming too much. Things like plate and bowl size affect our perception of quantity a great deal. And eating fast really messes with portion sense. I fall into this trap once a week when I have to grab a sandwich for dinner. The smaller sandwich would suffice, but I always think I'm hungrier than that and that it's a long day,etc. So I invariably get the mondo sized one. Another real problem I see here in Philly a whole lot is that people, especially poor people, eat reasonable portions of very unreasonable foods. These are goods that have buttloads of calories with relatively little nutrition. I love a good cheesesteak, but I kind of get hangover after eating one. I really wish the Korean lunch shack down the street didn't use oyster sauce on everything. Other than the fact that their meals are borderline lethal, they'd provide me with the ideal dinner.