"One might think that people would stop eating and drinking these gargantuan portions as soon as they felt full, but it turns out hunger doesn’t work that way. Researchers have found that people (and animals) presented with large portions will eat up to 30 percent more than they would otherwise. Human appetite, it turns out, is surprisingly elastic, which makes excellent evolutionary sense: It behooved our hunter-gatherer ancestors to feast whenever the opportunity presented itself, allowing them to build up reserves of fat against future famine. Obesity researchers call this trait the "thrifty gene." And while the gene represents a useful adaptation in an environment of food scarcity and unpredictability, it’s a disaster in an environment of fast food abundance, when the opportunity to feast presents itself 24/7. Our bodies are storing reserves of fat against a famine that never comes."
This just makes me wonder, and in all seriousness, not at all trying to come across crass or morbid: Couldn't we just engineer a famine? Governments are already working on engineering natural disasters as weapons of war...wouldn't a famine fall under that? I don't mean for this to be a sustainable or even plausible solution, but if we want a band-aid fix so bad, couldn't we just make everyone hungry and expect the "lesson" to be learned?
I don't know. Just a thought from reading that line.
More seriously, I think the solution is again, education. Everyone doesn't have access to all information regarding nutrition, laws, farming policies, etc. All of the stuff we're leaning in this class some people are learning for the first time. I'm not saying that just because people know they'll immediately change their practices and vote differently, and be more cautious. What I am saying however, is that once people know/see/hear something that can't be undone. Plus they'll at least be aware. They'll think about it. And that's a step.
No comments:
Post a Comment