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I think this question is beyond important. Our inability to do what is best for us is the leading cause of death in the UK, with western diseases (diet and lifestyle related illness) and COVID-19 having a 1000% increase in mortality rate for the overweight and obese.

But, to start I think we need to answer “why should we do what’s good for us?”. The answer to this is that “it will pay off… eventually”

The key word here is “eventually” because it takes us from instant gratification to delayed gratification. Eating obesogenic foods is without a doubt, instant gratification. It pays off right there and then, and the more instant the better. Which is why we, as a nation or in the developed world have moved the origin of our meals from the kitchen, to the restaurant, to the delivery man. Apps like JustEat, really, shouldn’t even have taken off. You’re talking about saving 5mins ordering a meal from the same place you always get your Indian or Chinese from anyway. But it’s more instant

So now let’s explore delayed gratification and the benefits/ predispositions to the inability to delay gratification.

The marshmallow experiment (Mishcel et al 1970) involved a teacher who asked a group of children to sit in front of a marshmallow. The teacher said “if the marshmallow is there when I get back, I’ll give you another”

Those children who could resist the instant gratification they would receive when taking the marshmallow so that they could receive another marshmallow showed the following promise in later life:

less addictive behaviours (they could say no to drug use)
academically more successful
more likely to have a healthy BMI

Now, if this wasn’t put into context, we would have a random distribution of obesity, for example. Random children are born with randomised abilities to control their impulses. But unfortunately, we don’t.

The limitations of the study were later concluded to be that socioeconomic background significantly predisposed the outcome (Tyler et al)

i.e. kids with rich parents could delay their gratification

But this isn’t necessarily maladaptive for poor children to go for the instant gratification. When the future is uncertain (i.e. the marshmallow might disappear) it makes sense to grab it whilst you have the chance. “The early bird gets the worm” or “strike whilst the irons hot” are both sayings that promote the “getting whilst the getting is good”

I think this relays a far clearer picture of why we don’t do what’s good for us. Because for many people the future is so bleak or uncertain, why would we.

Predictors of obesity are: income

obesity (Emery et al 2015)
income (nuffield trust)

I.e. your home culture and your nation’s culture, significantly predispose obesity

The Solution
Anyone who has attempted to lose a significant amount of weight knows that it is simply too hard to ask the nation token their weight down out of free will alone. IMO, it needs a nationalised attempt

See full post at www.revitalizeclinic.co.uk/blog

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Ask Ell #ASKELLBy Elliott ReidDec 09, 2020