I agree with everything you said, EXCEPT I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, and there WAS such a thing as a TV dinner sold to do exactly that, eat in front of the TV.
I’d include the invention of the microwave as a contributor to our overeating habits. And the office seemed to always carry the scent of microwave popcorn - or someone’s lunch. We never had a cafeteria, we had a kitchen on every floor of our workplace, complete with a full-sized refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave oven, and “snack cupboard” that was kept stocked by some nurturing admin. In my friend’s workplace, they also had an air fryer and pizza oven.
You're right, Donna, but I remember how dreadful they tasted! And I'd guess only people who lived alone (e.g. my bachelor years) ever did it regularly. Did I mention how dreadful they tasted?
They were dreadful. We used to walk home for lunch from elementary school and that’s what my mother served sometimes. We never had them for evening dinner with the family.
This is so accurate, In the magical 70's we'd be starving but there was NO ACCESS to food or snacks. We got food at home or at a store. A 6oz coke and some chips after school was not daily as parents didn't give us money for that very often.
There was certainly far less snacking in the 1970s. My school had a 'tuck shop' but most kids had no money to spend in it. There were no complicated snacks-found-on-Pinterest when we got home from school. You might have a piece of bread and butter. Rarely jam as Mum couldn't afford it. she told us a tale many years later about going to a neighbour pleading for half a jar of jam for us.
My personal 'automatic' weight loss - catching the gut-related Covid in 2023 before doctors knew what that was. 50lbs in three months and a whole load of tests and everyone telling me I was going to die. I actually had a spreadsheet of my anticipated death date based on weight loss. It's what accountants do...
I’m willing to bet that 80% of middle class and above America does not know what hunger pangs actually feel like. Our constant snacking is related to seeking comfort, not nutrition. In many families snacks are the focus when packing for an outing, sports event or anything expected to take longer than 2 hours.
Good luck with this. I tried to get similar changes at my prior job in a medical clinic. They refused. Sodas, hot dogs, doughnuts, chips, cookies all day every day in the break room, every day at lunch. Cake and ice cream at birthdays. It was insane for a medical clinic. And, yes, there were staff members who were overweight and claiming they wanted to lose weight, but still eating all day these things. I did not understand.
Just because food is always available doesn't mean you always have to eat. Eat when you're truly hungry. Snack if you need to. Stop punishing yourself if you have a doughnut.
Its not animal fat (saturated fat) that we have eaten for millions of years.
Its not carbohydrate, though that is totally bad to eat, causing insulin resistance then T2D.
We have eaten it for thousands of years and could not make the difference since 1980,
Its not seed oils, they have been eaten in a slow eating excess since 1913 courtesy of Crisco, that started with the omega making normal LDL sticky, causing plaque then heart attacks.
It however does stop satiety in processed, so it contributes.
But snacking was introduced by the tobacco companies when they were found to manipulate the ingredients in cigarettes, to make smoking addictive, then when they bought the big food companies, they made processed food addictive, and introduced snacking.
But snacking is subtle and most people dont realise has happened over the last 40 years, and the highly processed food is also addictive.
I have followed low carb/keto for 6 years, and initially I though I would waste away as my weight was dropping steadily, relentlessly, without changing, then I started snacking and my weight slowly went up, not realising I was my problem.
Now 73kg (160 lbs for the 3 countries still using imperial measure) with my target is 67kg (147 lbs).
I should get there within 2 months, just taking my time, eating window 4 hours, one meal a day and occasionally fasting for 1-3 days, and plenty of boiled eggs.
Asking people to follow rules around eating is not “automatic weight loss”.
Automatic weight loss is when unhelpful conditioned responses that result in automatic thoughts, feelings, and behaviour that results in overweight, are systematically extinguished so that the person no longer has any desire to engage in non-hungry eating, or eating of energy rich, nutrient deficient, foods or beverages.
We already know, with decades of data, that willpower does not work, and that this kind of change does not happen via cognitive approaches or rules.
It is true. I've moved to a community where there is food ((and by that I mean (not food) cakes, muffins, cupcakes, sugar, sugar, sugar etc)) at EVERY darn thing. They think it's not hospitable to only offer a glass of water or cup of coffee. I never had this in the past and it was so much easier to manage my weight. It's in my face everywhere I go and it feels like I'm being a snob to say no thanks when it's placed right in front of me! My health has suffered for it. I keep thinking about how I can change this system but I think I have to change myself and just be a snob until someone else picks it up and joins me and maybe the whole system will change.
And hasn’t much of our food - takeout or bought in the store - been bioengineered to trigger cravings for more food?
In restaurants, alcohol beverages and sugary drinks are the operation’s loss leaders. A liquor license is expensive but worth the resulting profits. A overpriced cocktail, glass/bottle of wine, beer or soda with meals is now expected rather than “special.” So are desserts. Wasn’t always that way.
I grew up in the 70's--we snacked. It is not the habits that have changed so much as the food quality. You have to have a chemistry degree to know what is listed, and as I have found out, even those ingredient lists are not always accurate. Take the cheese almost all us eat--90% Pfizer bioengineered and no one knows what this actually does to us.
I agree with everything you said, EXCEPT I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, and there WAS such a thing as a TV dinner sold to do exactly that, eat in front of the TV.
You also had to cook them in the oven...for a hour...no instant gratification. You planned, You sat, you ate.
There are a lot of better things I could conjure up to eat if I had an hour. Scrambled eggs are better and take no time at all.
True! But I got them when my parents were going out for the evening and I was not allowed to eat them in front of the tv…such abuse🤭
lol
I’d include the invention of the microwave as a contributor to our overeating habits. And the office seemed to always carry the scent of microwave popcorn - or someone’s lunch. We never had a cafeteria, we had a kitchen on every floor of our workplace, complete with a full-sized refrigerator, dishwasher, microwave oven, and “snack cupboard” that was kept stocked by some nurturing admin. In my friend’s workplace, they also had an air fryer and pizza oven.
I only use my microwave for extra storage space.
Good observation... But that's when TV dinners were introduced... That is just an example of why it was downhill from there.
True.
You're right, Donna, but I remember how dreadful they tasted! And I'd guess only people who lived alone (e.g. my bachelor years) ever did it regularly. Did I mention how dreadful they tasted?
They were dreadful. We used to walk home for lunch from elementary school and that’s what my mother served sometimes. We never had them for evening dinner with the family.
My mom refused to buy them. Decades later, after her passing, Hungryman Dinners were all my dad ate. To the detriment of his overall health, I’ll add.
Sorry about that.
It was one of the ways he tried to maintain independence, as he never learned how to cook.
This is so accurate, In the magical 70's we'd be starving but there was NO ACCESS to food or snacks. We got food at home or at a store. A 6oz coke and some chips after school was not daily as parents didn't give us money for that very often.
The Subaru Ascent is a “carfeteria”, a cafe on wheels!
Thankyou for reminding us of how common sense is so powerful.
What’s powerful, is UNcommon sense.
There was certainly far less snacking in the 1970s. My school had a 'tuck shop' but most kids had no money to spend in it. There were no complicated snacks-found-on-Pinterest when we got home from school. You might have a piece of bread and butter. Rarely jam as Mum couldn't afford it. she told us a tale many years later about going to a neighbour pleading for half a jar of jam for us.
My personal 'automatic' weight loss - catching the gut-related Covid in 2023 before doctors knew what that was. 50lbs in three months and a whole load of tests and everyone telling me I was going to die. I actually had a spreadsheet of my anticipated death date based on weight loss. It's what accountants do...
So much snacking is because of boredom
I’m willing to bet that 80% of middle class and above America does not know what hunger pangs actually feel like. Our constant snacking is related to seeking comfort, not nutrition. In many families snacks are the focus when packing for an outing, sports event or anything expected to take longer than 2 hours.
Good luck with this. I tried to get similar changes at my prior job in a medical clinic. They refused. Sodas, hot dogs, doughnuts, chips, cookies all day every day in the break room, every day at lunch. Cake and ice cream at birthdays. It was insane for a medical clinic. And, yes, there were staff members who were overweight and claiming they wanted to lose weight, but still eating all day these things. I did not understand.
Just because food is always available doesn't mean you always have to eat. Eat when you're truly hungry. Snack if you need to. Stop punishing yourself if you have a doughnut.
I totally agree.
Its not animal fat (saturated fat) that we have eaten for millions of years.
Its not carbohydrate, though that is totally bad to eat, causing insulin resistance then T2D.
We have eaten it for thousands of years and could not make the difference since 1980,
Its not seed oils, they have been eaten in a slow eating excess since 1913 courtesy of Crisco, that started with the omega making normal LDL sticky, causing plaque then heart attacks.
It however does stop satiety in processed, so it contributes.
But snacking was introduced by the tobacco companies when they were found to manipulate the ingredients in cigarettes, to make smoking addictive, then when they bought the big food companies, they made processed food addictive, and introduced snacking.
But snacking is subtle and most people dont realise has happened over the last 40 years, and the highly processed food is also addictive.
I have followed low carb/keto for 6 years, and initially I though I would waste away as my weight was dropping steadily, relentlessly, without changing, then I started snacking and my weight slowly went up, not realising I was my problem.
Now 73kg (160 lbs for the 3 countries still using imperial measure) with my target is 67kg (147 lbs).
I should get there within 2 months, just taking my time, eating window 4 hours, one meal a day and occasionally fasting for 1-3 days, and plenty of boiled eggs.
Thank you Jason.
Asking people to follow rules around eating is not “automatic weight loss”.
Automatic weight loss is when unhelpful conditioned responses that result in automatic thoughts, feelings, and behaviour that results in overweight, are systematically extinguished so that the person no longer has any desire to engage in non-hungry eating, or eating of energy rich, nutrient deficient, foods or beverages.
We already know, with decades of data, that willpower does not work, and that this kind of change does not happen via cognitive approaches or rules.
This would never fly in my office, but i wish it were possible.
It is true. I've moved to a community where there is food ((and by that I mean (not food) cakes, muffins, cupcakes, sugar, sugar, sugar etc)) at EVERY darn thing. They think it's not hospitable to only offer a glass of water or cup of coffee. I never had this in the past and it was so much easier to manage my weight. It's in my face everywhere I go and it feels like I'm being a snob to say no thanks when it's placed right in front of me! My health has suffered for it. I keep thinking about how I can change this system but I think I have to change myself and just be a snob until someone else picks it up and joins me and maybe the whole system will change.
And hasn’t much of our food - takeout or bought in the store - been bioengineered to trigger cravings for more food?
In restaurants, alcohol beverages and sugary drinks are the operation’s loss leaders. A liquor license is expensive but worth the resulting profits. A overpriced cocktail, glass/bottle of wine, beer or soda with meals is now expected rather than “special.” So are desserts. Wasn’t always that way.
I grew up in the 70's--we snacked. It is not the habits that have changed so much as the food quality. You have to have a chemistry degree to know what is listed, and as I have found out, even those ingredient lists are not always accurate. Take the cheese almost all us eat--90% Pfizer bioengineered and no one knows what this actually does to us.
Some good ideas here, thank you!