I was watching the Discovery Channel this weekend, you know because I am geek like that sometimes and there was no porn on. So they have an interesting program on the human body. It really was amazing and I was very intrigued. It appears that a man was able to lift 1200 pounds of rock in a crisis situation, A police officer was able to out run a flash fire and the best way to swim the English Channel is to pack on about 16 pounds of fat. All very interesting and worthy of the Mr. Spock eye raise from the old Star Trek.
Yet, I am disturbed. Disturbed how you ask? Well it seems that over the course of human history food has been scarce, much like in most of the developing world. Over that time period of thousands of years, humans have become hard wired in particular ways. The one that is troubling to me is that due to this scarcity of food through human history our ancestors gorged themselves when they did have a chance to eat and then when they didn't their bodies would just cannibalize the fat created by the gorging. Sweet. So not only do I have to fight against increasing portion sizes where the average coke was only 10 oz or 12 oz when I was a kid to now where 20 oz seems to be the minimum but now I have to deal with thousands of years of pre-programing. So because some Cro-Magnon couldn't figure out how to salt and dry his woolly mammoth he decided to eat as much as he could right then, much like a cheetah on a gazelle. So today because Fred Flintstone couldn't stop after the 12th serving I have something else to worry about at the dinner table. Great another obsession. Hmmm, am I eating this because I am hungry or is it just a hard wire response to a lack of food in 4000 b.c.e.
It was interesting to learn; however, it was not something that someone who is food obsessed needs to hear. Just great! That's my rant.
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5 comments:
I just finished a whole book on this very subject..."Waistland" by Deirdre Barrett. The book addresses the causes of the obesity epidemic we are facing with the premise that the root causes are based on evolution and the way are bodies are designed to work.
I hear ya on this subject. But what a great show! It's a little freaky, but it makes you think.
Did they talk about women being even better at storing it up than men? for child bearing.
sucks, doesn't it?
Chief: Thanks for the book info, always looking for something new.
David: Yes, freaky.
Jeff: Ditto
Nancy: I just finished reading "Heart of the Sea" about some whalers in the early 1800's whose ship was rammed by a whale(inspiration for Moby Dick). Then they spent 90+ days in small boats. They made the point that in the Donner Party women lived longer than the men due to the fat issue. Good book, but creepy.
Sure Scott, we all know we shouldn't eat as much. I was just amazed at the gorge factor that we are hard wired with. I hadn't run into that data before.
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