What? I ate that much?

Reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink was entertaining yet educational. As much as we (and I) hate to admit it, I very much agree with the fact that we all overeat based on unknown cues, which Wansink provides some solid evidence for. In his writing, he explains a study which showed that the size of the food container can have a profound effect on how much we eat; the larger the popcorn bucket, the more the movie-goers ate, despite the fact that it was stale popcorn. The name of the brand of food can even psychologically affect our eating habits. If we predict food to be bad, it is very likely that we will eat less as we predispose ourselves to do so; this is backed by the fact that the people who drank "California" wine ate more food and spent more time eating than the people who drank "North Dakota" wine. As unbelievable as it may sound, what we drink can ruin the food we eat! Wansink then precedes to explain to us the "Mindless Margin" which is the amount of food we can overeat or under-eat without noticing any side effects. He suggests that the problem with many diets is that people are too impatient and have unrealistic expectations - cutting out your favorite food is never a good idea. If everyone ate 20% less food, then within 10 month period, people could lose up to 10 pounds. The secret to dieting is patience and cutting down the amount of food you eat rather than the type of food.

On another note,one important factor which I feel Wansick fails to discuss in depth is the biological influences of eating. I learned in my NS 1150 course that contemporary science is still unable to find a biological mechanism which controls our dietary decisions - in other words, "a feeding center". The closest thing scientists have discovered has been the hormone leptin, which is produced from adipose tissue. They found that the more people ate, the more leptin was produced which signals to the brain that the body is full. However, recently, there has been evidence against leptin, as it had been found that obese people had more leptin than non-obese people, which is contradictory. As a result, science is back on the search for a biological mechanism which controls eating. One thing is certain however: whoever makes this discovery is going to be a very rich person.


Another thing which is saddening is the percent of American children who are obese. Nowadays, many children are being raised in an unhealthy manner by their parents, who give them the freedom to gulp down gallons of sodas or fatty foods. The government needs to inject funds into educating parents to become more conscious about healthy parenting. Yes, the failing economy does have a role to play in this "pandemic" as with less disposable income, the only food people can afford to feed their families with is "fast food". Nevertheless, a possible solution is for the government to subsidize fruits and vegetables to make them more affordable.

What particularly intrigues me is why some people are able to maintain a thin BMI and cannot gain weight, despite overfeeding themselves. What are some possible explanations to why this occurs? I'm one of these people and so, it has also intrigued me why I don't become more fat, even if I overloaded myself with calories.
Other questions which I have include:

- Can obesity be hereditary?
- What has been the most "successful"/popular diet to date?