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We Keep Overeating and What We Can Do About It (theatlantic.com)
4 points by paulpauper on Oct 18, 2022 | hide | past | favorite | 2 comments



The "solutions" are all about using willpower, of which we each have a limited amount. It's not clear whether exercising it strengthens it or weakens it. Same old same old. "It's your fault, because of your character defects." Yeah, whatever. Not helpful.

A few days ago someone posted here a link to a study about new weight loss drugs that actually work: up to 30% weight reduction in "severely obese" people, iirc.


I agree. Willpower requires rational thinking. If you are able to think nationally regarding food then you won’t need any of tricks suggested in the article. In my case, my reason is blinded during overeating and I become aware of it only afterward. Even I try to be aware of overeating I can’t. None of the suggestions in the article will work in practice.

In other animals, like cats, what to eat is decided by smell only. An algorithm inside evalutes the smell and sends feedback: eat or do not eat. Another algorithm stops the eating process. But for humans reason must enter to choose food. There is packaged food for instance and our judgment is influenced by marketing. For humans eating has become too complex.




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