This bugs me. Why is it that the large numbers of people in society being overweight or obese is down to some modern individual moral failing?
People never used to be this fat, they say. But people historically were not living with hyper-palatable foods, huge ranges, flavour varieties, 24/7 access to shops, people bringing you high fat high sugar meals to your home at the click of a button, or constant advertising. We live in an unprecedented world, especially those of us raised in the 80s and onwards. The set up of our pace of life, towns, workplaces, and living spaces makes the car more essential and walking less possible.
But everything is put down to the failings of the individual compared to how people used to be. Ignoring, of course, that people in the past did not have these same challenges. Humans are always going to be wired towards finding and consuming high fat, high calorie foods incase of famine. The difference is that until the mid-20th century the access to processed high calorie foods was very little. Even the super rich 100+years ago, who had more access to food than the poor, were still eating whole food/natural diets.
So, what drives this push to blame the individuals entirely, rather than accepting that the modern world is a landscape that challenges people in ways they have not been challenged in the past?
What societal changes would you like to see?
What differences would have made a difference to your journey?
Or do you feel that actually the set up we have makes no difference at all?
Is the key balance between societal change and individual resistance to temptation?
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from loseit - Lose the Fat https://www.reddit.com/r/loseit/comments/vl013y/why_is_being_overweight_presented_as_a_moral/
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