Normalization of Consumption

I was reading a debate about what is really going on with “us” as a society, in terms of our weight and health, and the one thing on which the debaters could agree was that we are, indeed, still on average getting heavier, in the nearly 20 years since these numbers were published:

“Far more people in the past, say pre-1980, seemed to be able to deal with these phenomena and avoid obesity. ‘The average weight for men rose “dramatically,” in the CDC’s words, from 166.3 pounds in 1960 to 191 pounds in 2002. Women went from 140.2 pounds in 1960 to 164.3 pounds in 2002.’”

So, what about now in 2021?

One person said, “The existence of exceptional willpower is a mark of exceptional self-discipline, a level not practical to achieve for most.”

Another person said, “People don’t avoid obesity by exceptional willpower. They just have healthy eating habits, usually ones formed during childhood.”

But then something that really resonated with me was, “My non-scientific observation is that the normalization of consumption of huge portions of calorie-dense ‘foods’ is directly correlated with increases in obesity.”

Having just read about the Asch Conformity Experiments here, my non-scientific conclusion is yes, if something is normalized in society, according to the experiment, “75% of participants gave at least one incorrect answer out of the 12 critical trials.” We like to conform.

But “Only 5 percent of participants were always swayed by the crowd.”

That means there exists the ability, in 95% of us, to resist what has been normalized, and take a tough look at our health. And if our health is being affected by food choices that have been “going with the flow,” for example, the increase in prepared foods via meal delivery during the pandemic, where calories and portions are determined by someone other than ourselves, then we maybe we have to make some tough choices. We have to start trying harder.

The whole reason I came across this information today was because on a bit of a whim, I googled my current weight, (164.3 pounds), and this information came up, because my weight today was the average weight of women (according to the CDC) in the year 2002.

I am by no means perfect, and I am going to keep trying to get to a weight that is healthiest for me.