Blame Human Evolution for Gaining Weight!
A long, long time ago, actually about a century ago, obesity was rare. Now it is one of the main health concerns of our planet, as well as the United States.
Did you know 69% of adults in the U.S. are either obese or overweight?
Obesity links to many other health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Scientists are starting to wonder; is obesity just part of our genes, or is it tied to something in our history or environment?
So far, they’ve gathered enough data to say that the answer is actually both. Coded in our genes, there’s something that determines how easily we gain weight. This has been passed down through family generations since the beginning of time.
Although, with that being said, the rise in numbers of people with obesity has happened too quickly to be related to genes. According to scientists, over the course of generations, our diet has changed drastically. Scarcity of foods, surplus of foods, eating foods that are easy to digest, eating foods that make us want to continue eating – all of these determinants comes in to play with adaptation.
They think because of the scarcity of foods centuries ago, our ancestors had to exercise to find food and ate food that stored large amounts of fat. This ultimately means that although they were eating fatty foods, they were building muscle from exercising and were very fit for having a scare food supply.
Other factors of course come in to play, being in the 21st century and all.
We can now have food delivered to us without even getting up. Our desire to exercise is lower than past years. Processed foods and chemicals are huge in the food industry nowadays. And to top it all off, there are countless diets experts are telling us to go on, but we have no idea which is truly the right one.
As we continue to develop and adapt, we have faith in us humans finding the right way to eat and exercise more!
