Well duh! I’ve been saying this ever since I started this blog. People eat too 
much with the super sized meals and ridiculous portion sizes served in most restaurants. Wonder how much money was spent on this study? They could have saved it and listened to me.
(Reuters Health) – The major reason for the obesity epidemic that has gripped the United States in the past three decades is increased food intake, not reduced physical activity, according to a study released Friday at the European Congress on Obesity in Amsterdam.
The study is the first to quantify the relative contributions of food and exercise habits to the growing number of Americans with bulging waistlines.
“In the U.S., over the last 30 years, it seems that the food side of the equation has changed much more than the physical activity side,”
Overeating to blame for U.S. obesity epidemic | Health | Reuters
Suzy and I split meals because the portions are so large. My dad will order nothing at a restaurant and end up with more food from others than he can eat. It really is an education thing.
This is very interesting to me, because it disagrees with a report I read just a couple of years ago out of my alma mater, the Mayo Clinic. I am referring to an entire issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings which was devoted to obesity. The lead article gave a very academic opinion of just this question, “Is the current obesity epidemic a result of overeating or underexercising.” The answer was underexercising!
Personally, I think obesity is due to BOTH factors. I think we need to BOTH eat well and to be active in order to remain at a healthy weight, and more importantly, to feel well.
While I would agree that we need to exercise, with the sheer volume of calories offered in many, many foods, its so easy to go well beyond the calorie intake that we could effectively eliminate with exercise. If you run 5km and only burn the calories of a can of coke, imagine what is required to bring the calorie level to a sustaining level when you consider both the bacon cheese burger itself and the fries.
That sort of exercise level would be well outside the realm of reality for all but die hard exercise fans. While both are necessary, my view points highly at the consumption part of the equation.
it really is simple
EAT LESS & MOVE MORE!
I agree to a point that over-eating is a cause of obesity. However, as always, I see some shades of gray here. Most of our jobs are sedentary and in order to get the exercise to work off even a ‘normal’ days worth of calories we have to somehow make time, in already crowded schedules, for what I call make-work exercise. That is something I absolutely hate. I also have been intrigued lately with the studies on high fructose corn syrup which has found its way into almost everything. It provides not just empty calories but calories that actually stimulate our appetites making us eat more that we should. On the one hand we try to lower our caloric intake while, on the other, eating something that tricks our system into thinking we need more. The comment above about the volume of food served as restaurant meals (fast or otherwise) is also right on the money. We don’t go out to eat very often any more but when we do we always bring home half. I don’t know how many grew up as I did, encouraged to clean our plates. Do that at a restaurant and you will definitely be over eating. Most of us have lost any real notion of how much we are eating and we no longer pay much attention to the physical clues our body gives us that we are full. All of that is woven into a system that encourages obesity at the same time it condemns obese individuals for being obese.
I’ve always wondered why the portions at restaurants are so large. Surely they can’t make more money by using more food. Then people go home and cook food and think it’s supposed to be as big as what they were served when they dine out. Read an article last night about Kirstie Alley and her ballooning weight. The one who was the spokesperson for Jenny Craig and then passed the torch to Valerie Bertinelli and gained back eighty something pounds. She’s 58 now, and at 52 myself, I know it gets harder and harder to lose. I could stand to lose probably forty pounds, but I’ll settle for ten and be happy!
Brenda
I think every study I’ve read on obesity is not entirely accurate and misses the real root cause: stupidity. Stupidity = lack of discipline and foregoing taking the time to think BEFORE stuffing oneself. Stupidity also leads to underexercising.
I love it!
This was SO Keli-ish of you!
And you are 100% right!
That’s why I stopped dining out ages ago. If I we do eat outside, I make sure that we go somewhere healthy, and not those super-sized fast food restaurants.
And this is news how exactly? I mean you eat big you get big, you eat small you get small. Didn’t think they had to conduct scientific research to prove that…
Grandalfe – Yeah we do the same here, or bring half home if we do not split.
Ferd – I agree both factors play a role, what it really comes down to is BALANCE.
Wellescent – You make an excellent point, and the huge portions contribute to the sheer volume of calories IMO
Emmick – I couldn’t agree more.
Mary - You make several good points. To me it still comes down to, eating the wrong foods, eating too much, and too little exercise.
Brenda – I’ve wondered about that too, why do restaurants serve such huge portion sizes? Did it all start with the McDonalds supersizing and restaurants followed suit? Good luck with those 10 lbs!
Keli – LOL well that’s definitely a no nonsense way of looking at it.
Mercola – Good idea!
Stancje – Love your quote, ‘eat big get big’ ‘eat small get small’ easy simple words but so hard to follow for many people.