1. diet and thermogenesis (2)
  2. EVOLUTIONARY-FITNESS Digest - 16 Apr 2001 to 18 Apr 2001 (#2001-48)

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Date:    Thu, 19 Apr 2001 14:05:59 -0700
From:    Arthur De Vany <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: diet and thermogenesis

<snip>

It is true that small variations in energy expenditure bring large effects
on a long time scale.  Most people creep up on obesity over the course of
years.  Once there, losing the fat can be difficult and dieting is sure to
fail in all but a handful of individuals.

It is better never to become fat, which is easy.>>

What nonsense.

How on earth can you say it's "easy" never to become fat?  Go visit Turkey.
Large country.  Bigger than Texas.  Everywhere in the Western part (I
haven't been to the East) you see women, girls and old women tilling the
field--excruciating hand labor, from sunup to sundown.

All the old ladies are fat.  It's a pattern that one cannot fail to
note--thin little elfin girls, who grow to slender young women, who turn
into stocky, heavy old ladies.

Dear Professor, you may know a lot about econometric models, but you've
never been pregnant even once, much less repeatedly for most of your adult
life.

Now, Chinese peasant women are very thin, so I've heard (never been there).
Perhaps less pregnancies, different diet.  Obviously, different gene pool.

My point is, saying that it's easy not to become fat is just silly,
unscientific and unproveable.  For some people, it's the easiest thing in
the world.

What about all those paleolithic venuses?  Maybe those sculptors were
describing what they saw around them.

Diane
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