What is so complicated about it? Now, it obviously is hard for those who like to indulge themselves too much, but it is pretty much the exact opposite of complicated.
It's complicated because it's generally a symptom of deeper issues related to circumstance e.g. mental health, price, time, availability etc.
Solving poverty is also not very complicated when reduced down to "just have more money". That might be a useful starting point but it's worthless in practical terms.
> I disagree that leading with "reduce consumption, if possible" is impractical when we're trying to address the results of calorie intake
We do lead with "Reduce consumption, if possible". The point isn't that it's impractical but rather that stopping there is woefully ineffective. We've never had more visibility into calories consumed; yet we're still seeing rising levels of obesity.
If we actually want to reduce obesity then we need to identify and address the reasons that cause people to overeat. That's what makes the reductive view of "calories in, calories out" counter-productive.
