h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

People talk about fast and slow metabolisms. They should think of it in terms of efficient and inefficient. Our genetic makeup goes back hundreds of thousands of years. Those of us who put on weight easily are the ones who would have survived famine, because our metabolisms are working exactly the way they should be for crisis situations.

The tricky part is that in the west we have a situation where food is cheap and plentiful. So, it is easy for the body to find the calories necessary to produce fat and store it against times of famine. Combine this with the overuse of grains and sugars in our diets - something again that is relatively recent on an evolutionary scale and that will convert to fat on the body quickly and easily - and the fact that we no longer have to do strenuous physical labor just to survive, and you have a recipe for obesity.

This may be the 21st century, but our bodies still think it's 200,000 years ago. So when we try to lose excess weight, our efficient fat cells say "are you crazy, you're going to need us someday" and they hold on for dear life.

I wish they would do genetic studies with people who are naturally thin and can't gain weight and people who are easy gainers. I'll bet they'd find genetic variations. We can trace a common ancestery back to Lucy or Eve or whoever is the newest find. I bet there is a branch there someplace where they could find a mutation that caused a certain branch of the human family to be naturally thin?

Scientists are asking the wrong question. Instead of asking, "Why are some people easy gainers?" they should ask "Why isn't everyone an easy gainer?"

That is my totally unaccepted scientific theory and I'm sticking to it.

Also, natural plumpness used to be considered sexy and desirable. And isn't that why most overweight people want to lose? To be considered attractive and attract a sexual partner? That isn't as much an issue when you reach my age, but for young people it is extremely important. I think it's time to reeducate society and stop letting Hollywood and Paris dictate what is attractive and what isn't. Because women can be beautiful and men can be handsome whether they are underweight, overweight or anything in between.

Fatkelli: so not. It was just a suggested method for taking some of the pain out of what you said you were doing anyway. But since it doesn't apply, I take it back.

Hyp: I read somewhere that there was this island that underwent severe famine for a few decades before McDonalds discovered them. Natural selection selected those with the ability to preserve the most body fat, and now they have a scary rate of obesity.

>>Because women can be beautiful and men can be handsome whether they are underweight, overweight or anything in between.<<

It's funny you mention that - I have a friend who's fat and gorgeous. She's also dieting like crazy and thinks I'm crazy for worrying that she'll become an ugly thin person instead of a pretty, fat one.

Interesting reading, this one. I have been thinking about those issues a lot. Dieting isn't really anything I could fancy. I tried it once (after I gained a lot after my first child was born), lost what I wanted to and gained it back in double speed. Then I realised there are advantages in being fat. As much as I dislike being judged by the ooks I also dislike being valued by the looks.
I admit being fat had some disadvantages too but for me those doesn't matter enough to start worrying or to do something about it. Balancing on the edge of type 2 diabetes made me cut down on but then again, I don't crave for it either. Luckily enough I don't like junk food. And slow metabolism seems to run in the family.
Umm, what I actually wanted to say was that normal usually is the opinion of majority and I don't care that much about all those "normal" people out there. I guess I could get very worried if people I care about would reject me because of my looks but so far I haven't noticed anything like this happening.
*looks around*
Well, Tartaronne - did you feel much differently about me after meeting me?

I know I didn't!

Santra

ness is fun!

I'm

(but so skinny I fit in clothes apparently designed for people 6 years younger)

>>Well, Tartaronne - did you feel much differently about me after meeting me?<<

Of course I did. Not because of how you looked, but because I got a more nuanced knowledge of you as a person. (But you do have the most gorgeous hair to envy immensely )

I liked you much better after I'd met you.

I'll never forget how difficult it was to say goodbye that evening in Tallinn. Even though I was so tired I could have slept against the nearest wall.

So loads of extra weight didn't really impress you? Didn't make you wanna ?

Hati said something interesting. As much as she dislikes being judged by her looks, she also dislikes being valued by her looks.

I had thoughts in two directions when I read that. First I thought of the 'trophy' relationships where a partner is selected for no other reason than that they are exceptionally attractive and someone wants to show them off. How can that person have any self respect or ever be sure if their dates/partners/friends want them for purely superficial reasons? It would be like the very rich person not knowing if friends are truly friends or just want something.

The other thing this statement called to mind is how many things go into creating a compatible, successful realtionship whether it is a friendship, a family relationship or a romantic relationship. Good realtionships have to contain a lot more than physical attraction. If someone doesn't want to be my friend because of a factor like weight, then they are displaying how shallow they are and this reflects worse on them than it does on me.

NH, I don't know whether to sympathize with you or be jealous. From living with some underweight people, I know that they have a poor self-image also. The difference is that the rest of 'normal'
society doesn't blame them for their condition.

Not only the "trophy relationships" are the side effect. Looks can cause bad things, violence and such. I have a bad experience which I don't think could have happened that easily if I looked then like I look now.

I'm not underweight. Just small, in all directions. I like the way my body is, but I have quite a lot of difficulty finding clothes. (mind you i'd not mind a couple of extra pounds)

"I'm not underweight. Just small in every direction....." Not him, I remember when I could make the same statement. Be careful what you wish for (a couple of extra pounds), you might just get it a few years down the road.

Some of us are greyhounds, some are St Bernards, whatcha gonna do?

*woof*

Nice way of putting it--greyhounds and St. Bernards. I'll bet a St. Bernard would keep you warmer than a greyhound.

Word.

My favorite thing about greyhound races is at the end when they fold the rabbit against the rail and all the dogs crowd around trying to find it, all wagging their little tails.

What do you think Lady C? We're too short to be St. Bernards. Bassets? And that goes with our Hillbilly background.

Nope, not a Bassett--they smell bad. I would like to be a sheep dog--the one with the hair in its eyes.