GLC
Head Chef
Bravo! We're fat because we eat too much. Plain and simple.
Don't worry about carbs or fats or proteins in your diet because they are carbs or fats or proteins. Worry about them all because they bring calories to the party.
And it's really just a matter of energy in and energy out. If you were to work every day like a 19th century farmer or a working cowboy, you'd have a hard time becoming obese if you tried. They had to pack in the fat just to get enough calories, pouring on the gravy and being lavish with the lard. Of course they were both pretty crippled up by work by middle age.
Or we could go back to hunted-gatherer routine, where to catch it and prep it burns up as many calories as the food.
But along the same line, people got a double whammy after the 1950's or so. At the time, you just didn't have much to keep you glued to the couch. Fast food, portion wars, and saturation television all began and increased along the same timeline.
I really think, though, that the most certain and realistic solution is to work at making small portions of good food the trendy thing, the thing that kids and adults want to emulate and the thing that a hostess wants to show off.
Some favor warning labels:
Or, I wonder what would happen if meal sellers had to serve food in packages or on plates color coded to the calorie range of the food in or on it. Let those "salads" be shown for what they really are when they have to be served on a bright yellow plate. I guess it would get pretty bad in Chili's, with all those meals coming out on plates striped dayglo orange and green with flashing warning lights and little sirens blaring.