Admit it, you want to so badly to lose the unwanted pounds but since you find it so difficult and taxing to do, you want to blame the whole âwhy in the world am I so fatâ thing to other possible factors. You knowâŚstress (the gym is three blocks away and Iâm so tired after 8 hours of doing nothing at work!), media and creative advertising (damn those people behind the chocolatey goodness of Cadbury!), lack of peer pressure (if your friends arenât too âbody consciousâ then who would ridicule you until you finally slave yourself at the treadmill?) and even on the weird conspiracy theory âhow do we know that obesity is not the next step in human evolution?â So come on, stop sipping that Starbucks blended coffee and stop chewing on that greasy cheeseburger. We have some serious crunchdown to do.
Itâs not just America thatâs getting bigger by the minute, people. Obesity is present in many parts of the world. Thereâs actually a very simple explanation for all of this: people consume more calories than they burn. Yes, itâs the glaring fact that most of us want to avoid.
Here are other so-called **modern theories **as to why people are getting fatter faster than one could say, âWho moved my cheese?â
Maybe weâre too stressed
Chronic stress leads to weight gain. Chronic stress, on the other hand, is at epidemic levels (just like obesity). Studies have shown that obese people are less likely than others to be drug addicts or alcoholics - âthe thought being that if you use food to âsoothe your mood,â you will be less likely to need to use alcohol or drugs to âsoothe your mood.â â Would you rather spend your days in the gym or battling addiction in rehab?
Maybe a virus is to be blamed
Certain viruses may put people at greater risk of becoming obese⌠NOT! Experts like Nikhil Dhurandhar of Louisiana State University says that not all obesity is due to viral infection.
Maybe the temperature is just right
If youâre thinking that you can lose the weight only when itâs too hot or itâs too cold, then maybe youâre on to something because experts say that temperature affects energy intake and output - so the more the temperature varies, the more a personâs energy balance may bounce around.
Maybe itâs all that high-fructose corn syrup
High fructose corn syrup does not affect weight gain, according to Barry Popkin of the University of North Carolina. Hence, you canât make your use of corn syrup an excuse!
Maybe we take too many drugs
People who need to take a few drugs/medicines everyday think that their intake may have an impact on their weight. Nope, experts say. While the consensus is that these drugs may cause weight gain, the effect isnât that prominent. Apparently, they donât necessarily pack much of a punch in the population as a whole. James Hill of the University of Colorado says that this is a contribution to the obesity epidemic, but again, itâs not a big contributor.
How many modern theories do we still need to hear before we finally get up and move our butt to the gym and eat wisely?
