Ok folks, here is the bad news: there is no single cause or cure for obesity.
Ok, now the good news: there is no single cause or cure for obesity.
Sometimes it’s easy to get bogged down in arguments and theories about the importance of single macronutrients and how fats are bad or carbs are bad, etc., etc. This type of debate was actually played out a bit at the recent Ancestral Health Symposium by Gary Taubes and Stephan Guyenet.
So why is this bad news? Well, it suggests that there is no single treatment for obesity, or put another way, there is no single prescription for good health. That is to say that we cannot give the same magical piece of advice to every single person and expect success. People are different, environments are different, and results may vary.
Why is this good news? Because you can (and should) customize your solutions to fit your needs, beliefs, and lifestyle. Everyone does not have to follow the same diet or engage in the same fitness routine. That doesn’t mean that we should ignore the evidence that some approaches are more effective than others, but we should also not ignore the fact that we are different people living in different types of communities with different responsibilities and obligations. It would be silly to think that we should all be following the exact same pathway like a group of robots.
So, think about what is important to you regarding your health. How does food, movement, and sleep fit within your lifestyle - and how do they not quite fit? Would you make any changes to achieve better health? How would you sustain the activities that are important for living at your healthiest and best?