This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
"In recent years, this has become slightly less prevalent, as studies are more and more showing that insufficient diets and overexercise are almost as bad for you as insufficient exercise and overeating; coupled with increased recognition that diet and exercise have less impact on size than genetics do."
O RLY? Odd that genes (little bastards that they are) only decided to make to so many people so fat in the last 25 years. Odd too that only certain nationalities have the bad genes. Lucky skinny Africans!
Yes, there is a genetic factor in weight gain, any anthropologist would recognize this. People with ancestors who lived farther away from the equator put on weight easier to deal with colder temperatures, and people with ancestors who lived close to the equator gain weight less easier to deal with the extreme heat at those temperatures - especially Africans indeed. Compare an Inuit to an African, and you'll see a clear difference in build and metabolism. - Zeta
Yes, but I don't think the genes of Americans and Europeans have changed any in the past 25-50 years, though. We were thin back then because we ate less and expended more energy. We are fat now because we eat more and expend less energy. Also, "insufficient diets and overexercise" is not the only alternative to fatness.
