I once walked by a sign that read, The Buffet of Buffets, 5 Buffets in 24 Hours. Who would want to eat that much? Yet gorging ourselves with food seems to be an American pastime. According to the Pew Research Center, the average American eats 23 percent more than he did in the 1970s. Certainly, some people are emotional eaters, and this helps them cope with stress or negative moods. If we feel bad about ourselves, we might eat to feel better, and this can become a habit.
Diet and nutrition researchers are now on a mission to cut our portions because we are terrible at portion control. If we visit a roadside service area, the largest beverage container holds 32 ounces. In contrast, a large cup in Europe contains about 8.4 ounces, and a small cup is around half that size. Of course, Europeans are thinner, and this may be one of the many reasons why.
Our biology comes with a built-in problem, however: The human body has been instructed by evolution to store food. We are wired to eat. For ancient humans, lean times were always just ahead, food was not always plentiful, and they had to efficiently gather food and fight off predators. Our caveman ancestors didn’t need to count calories, nor did they have to battle with processed foods, preservatives, and heavy carbs. While exercising caution about what and how much we eat is a modern-day necessity, this action is in direct opposition to our prehistoric instincts, or evolutionary mismatch. We are supposed to eat a lot whenever we can and store that fat.
It’s also a cruel trick that our bodies crave the sugary, fatty, and salty—exactly what processed foods contain—not to mention ingredients we cannot pronounce like sodium nitrite and sodium benzoate. Is it even a surprise that more processed food is consumed in the US than in any other nation? Frozen dinners, microwave pizzas, and packaged cookies are convenient and filled with things that are bad for us, and yet very hard to pass up. Processed food may taste good, but we have higher rates of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes because of it.
In addition, the body is pre-programmed not to squander energy and keep its fat reserves. Certainly, the couch looks good compared with the gym. Why get up and move? The body does not want to waste the energy.
A person may be better off defying their evolutionary instincts and stepping back to ask: “Will eating this giant fudge sundae help me reach my goal weight?” “Will drinking this fifth can of beer be consistent with living a long life?” If we value well-being, then no, that sundae or that beer is at odds with our goals. The way we interact with our emotions and behaviors matters.
Countless studies have been done on healthy behaviors. The Harvard Medical School’s landmark Grant Study of Adult Development, for example, has followed hundreds of men over many decades. (Women were not part of the study when it began in 1938, as Harvard was still an all-male institution.) This ongoing study now covers new generations of the original participants, with wives and children included. It has examined important aspects of well-being. (Plus, a fun fact, some of its early subjects went on to careers in the public sector—including President John F. Kennedy and Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.) Findings from this ongoing study and others consistently note that the typical American diet is loaded with ultra-processed foods, added sugar, sodium, and red processed meats, all of which are not conducive to healthy living and longer lives.
