Obesity is often characterised as nothing more than greed and lack of willpower. The truth is far more complex.
Obesity is often characterised as nothing more than greed and lack of willpower. The truth is far more complex.
Britain has seen a dramatic transformation in recent years in its attitude towards food. We have gone from being a country ridiculed for its bland, carb-heavy cuisine, for whom the chicken tikka masala was the height of exoticness, to becoming a nation obsessed with food.
But alongside this obsession with food has come a growing understanding of the impact that our diet has on our bodies – not only on our waistlines, but also on conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and even dementia.
This relationship between our diet and our weight is simple: you eat too much, you get fat. Hence, some would argue, the solution should be equally simple: you eat less, you lose weight.
If only it were this easy. Anyone who has tried to shed a few pounds – and, crucially, to keep them off – knows that the answer is rarely so straightforward. In fact, even the food – and volume – that we ‘choose’ to eat is influenced by a surprising number of factors.
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