Complex Numbers

Trust Your Gut

Like many people, I struggle with weight issues.

It is a source of endless frustration to me, knowing that the things that I want to eat are generally unhealthy. We all know this, of course, and yet some people are better at eating healthy foods. I am not one of them.

I waver. Sometimes, this is because I am basically lazy. It is easier to eat premade food than it is to make my own. Sometimes, even something as simple as cooking up a serving or two of broccoli (a vegetable that I actually like) seems like a monumental task, especially when factoring in having to clean up afterward.

The ideal "healthy" food, to me, is carrots. Minimal preparation, great when eaten raw (in my opinion anyway), and little to no cleanup. But when I'm hungry, do I think of grabbing a handful of "baby" carrots, a conveniently prepackaged serving of bite-sized root vegetables? No, of course not. I end up going to Taco Hell.

So yes, I'm one of those people who would rather have a pill to take to get and/or keep my weight down, something that would enable me to eat whatever the hell I want. I desire this even more than flying cars, jetpacks, or warp drive. Maybe not more than holodecks though. A fully programmable holodeck would be ideal.

But I digress.

Almost every article I've seen about Western obesity makes some version of the following observation: "We live sedentary lifestyles and eat junk food."

This observation is usually unsupported by evidence - at least, when comparing the people of today to the people of, say, the early 70s. It's an assertion that implies that the reader will agree with the writer. And, usually, because so many such articles have been written, it tends to be taken as fact.

But I remember the early 70s. One thing I remember clearly is the news reporting on this new "jogging" trend. People actually went outside and ran! This was unheard of! It's preposterous, and look what they're wearing!

As a group, we are more aware of the benefits of exercise than ever before. Office jobs have existed for over half a century, and even back then, people would come home and plop themselves in front of the TV. And yet, as a group, we're far heavier than we used to be.

Even accounting for the proliferation of "junk food" (which, I can assure you, existed in vast quantities 50 years ago), I've always felt that something else must be at work. That something else, I hypothesized, was that, at about the same time as the obesity "epidemic" began, there had been great advances made in the creation of antibiotics. And these antibiotics (again, according to my amateur hypothesis) might have attacked certain beneficial gut microbes, ones that assist in digestion and help us keep from becoming too fat.

I'm not a scientist, of course, and as I said, I'm lazy. So I never really followed up on it. Something at the back of my mind, that part of me I rarely pay attention to, also said, "Come on, Waltz. That's just an excuse. Eat more carrots and fewer cheeseburgers, and exercise." And, indeed, I'd never seen any legitimate scientists explore that area of research.

Not that they would. There's a pernicious streak of puritanism lurking in American society. The idea that there might be an easy answer is anathema. Rather than working on ways to reduce the bad effects of alcohol, for example, we urge people not to drink. Instead of concentrating on a cure for lung cancer, we tell people not to smoke. Anything perceived of as a "vice" has to be rooted out and destroyed, rather than mitigated by the awesome power of science - because we just have to ensure that anything remotely enjoyable has to have consequences.

And if we're fat, this puritanical streak insists that it's our fault. A moral failing.

Now, look, I admit to many moral failings, including laziness and apathy. Maybe even gluttony sometimes. But that's no excuse not to pursue avenues of research that could lead to some solution other than "if you don't follow our dietary and exercise advice, you're worthless." Especially when, as I've noted repeatedly, nutritional science is rife with bias and bad data - and extremely questionable conclusions.

Anyway, enough. Turns out I might have been onto something.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/how-the-western-diet-has-derailed-our-evoluti...

I'm not taking this as the absolute truth either, of course. But it's worth studying further. That is, by people who aren't lazy.