Another reader writes:
I always wondered why then peoples like the Italian or French tend to be a lot slimmer than Americans though their diet is definitely a lot higher on Carbs that most of the studies you are using recommend.
What is your take on this?
There are a number of factors that are potentially relevant here, but the big one is this: The traditional European diet–like the traditional American diet–is not as high in carbs (and particularly in refined carbs) as the one Americans now eat. People over there might be eating pasta, but in much, MUCH smaller portions.
But things are changing in Europe. Fast. The high-carb, high-sugar diet that Americans eat is now sweeping Europe, particularly among the young. The European overweight and obesity rates are spiking, and it has European health authorities very worried. They’re rapidly catching up to us.
A hundred years ago there wasn’t this difference, but America modernized its diet in the mid 20th century in order to maximize profits of the food industry, and Europe simply lagged behind doing so by a few decades. Now their diet is changing in the same way due to the same pressures (i.e., financial ones), and Europeans are starting to lose the battle of the bulge.
Here’s an article that explains it well.
Jimmy,
I have had to travel to Mexico for work for the past several years, and have noticed that Mexicans are also becoming overweight.
What the article forgot to mention is that at least here in Madrid is the timing of a meal. Lunch where I work starts at 2pm and ends around 5pm. Dinner is also quite late, and again lasts a lot longer. That doesn´t mean that u´r stuffing ur face the entire time, but the meals do stretch out.
Smaller portions of food, or smaller portions of refined starches in pasta? If the former, how did they survive physically in the pre-cubical days? If the latter, then it fits with the rejection of the food pyramid as a major cause of obesity.
OTOH, if you are seeing a global increase in obesity, one cannot rule out a viral pandemic. Five virii are already known to cause obesity.
As to maximizing the profits of the food industry, that seems to be the argument regarding the D of A here. But that doesn’t quite make sense, as cattle eat more grain per pound of meat for human consumption, so you would think that the Atkins diet, or the Mayo DASH low-glycemic diet would -help- agriculture. Wheat farmers might have to grow more oats and barley, but that is certainly do-able.
Here I go again. . . I think the real culprit in the food pyramid is not enhancing farm incomes to something approaching break-even, but the spread of hindu beliefs (usually debased into western, optimistic forms) causing dieticians, and those who play them on TV to promote vegetable starches over animal proteins, because animals are sacred to them.