I presented today at a conference where the theme of our section was body weight and economics. I had an interesting conversation with a lady about snacking. She remarked how she grew up in the Middle East, and that her family ate three meals a day but no there was no snacking in between. She remarked that there wasn't any snack food available then as there is today.
I've got a post coming up on snacking, as I think it is a major factor in the obesity epidemic. In my view, a lot of snacking is simply eating in the absence of hunger, and therefore the extra calories from snacking should correlate with weight gain.
Matt,
Good point.
It reminded me of something I saw posted here: http://www.nosdiet.com/
According to an analysis of USDA food consumption data by David Cutler at Harvard University, 90 percent of the increase in calorie consumption in men in the United States since 1977 has come from between-meal eating. For women, it’s 112 percent — calories from meals have actually gone down. (Journal of Economic Perspectives “Why have Americans Become More Obese?” Page 101 http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:2640583)
I’ll be happy to read this upcoming article, as i think likewise. I’m currently eating very low carb, borderline ketogenic, but i think carbs are not bad per se… and can generaly agree with your “prescription”. If you don’t chronically overload calories, and if your glucose disposal is OK (emptying of glycogen stores, good insuline sensitivity…) high carb can be fine. You’d be running most of the time on a mix of glucose (mostly postprandialy) and fat from lipogenesis and stores. Burned fuel profile would match closely one of a high fat eater, even if the main fuel source is carbs. My point is that we have two way to get the good fuel mix : eat it directly, or convert something else to it (if metabolism can handle it).
But snacking, like a defect in insuline signaling, cause a chronicaly elevated insuline, a perpetual postprandial state. Nights, which are often shorter and shorter, are not enough periprandial time. I’m very eager to read your take on the subject.