I would like to suggest that
one aspect of obesity in our society is that people do not adjust their diet for their age and level of activity.
As one who has bred and worked with performance athletes in the canine and equine world, genetics are an important consideration when breeding. Humans, for the most part, are indiscriminate breeders and each of us is stuck with our genetic inheritence which will impact our body type and the weight we are predisposed to carry. An awareness of our actual caloric and nutrient needs at various stages of our life would appear to be lacking.
As example, growing horses require more protein and calories in their first year of life and these are supplied by the mare's milk and forage. During their early years, most young horses are gangly and thin in the wild as they grow quickly and have to compete for forage. Since domestication and intense management by humans, many horses suffer from developmental orthopedic disease which in my opinion arises predominantly from our management and intervention as in nature, these individuals would not survive/breed but that is another debate. My point is that genetic selection, diet and management all contribute significantly.
Feeding Young Horses for Sound Growth
Humans. like horses, do not require the same nutrient intake for their entire life yet many do not seem to be aware of this. When young and
active, most can wolf down calories in any form and stay thin. As we become more sedentary, most of us lose this luxury of self-indulgence. (When I was training and racing in the Yukon Quest, I was feeding my dogs, each around 50 lbs, up to 6000 calories a day. In summer maintenance, they only required 1200. Likewise, I could consume 6000 calories a day and remain at my same weight because I needed most of those calories to stay warm.)
My observations from working in a grocery store for eight years now, is the generalization that people really do look like what they have in their shopping carts so you will be hard pressed to convince me that our modern food is not part of the problem but the actual problem is the people themselves, in the developed world. They have the option of choice, yet those choices may be constrained by financial concerns and the least expensive foods are often calorie rich yet nutritionally poor.
In conclusion, I think that most people eat more calories than they need and that most are quite unaware of this fact. Food is worshipped in our culture and every celebration and event has foods that we specifically promote and indulge in at those times of year. Food is comparatively inexpensive and readily available and our fast-paced lifestyle is addicted to convenience. The path of least resistance is the one most species will take, in order to conserve energy.
We are now consuming and conserving far more energy than most of us need.
Thank you for providing me with job security, lol.
