[martythemaniak]

It is definitely not common knowledge amongst the general population.

I believe low-carb diets (low carb, slow carb, paleo, etc) are well understood and praised amongst people with interest in nutrition and fitness, but it's still slowly making it's way into the general population.

[mertd]

> It is definitely not common knowledge amongst the general population.

For a good reason. First and foremost, general population just needs to eat less, a lot less. Once we get past that point, macro-nutrient composition can be the next level of diet optimization.

[scdc]

But why do they eat too much? Two things to consider: higher fat meals can make you feel sated sooner, so you eat fewer calories. Also, there is evidence that carbohydrates trigger an insulin release which activates a hunger response.

[mertd]

I never understood the satiety argument. Fat also packs more than twice the calories of carbs. It needs to fill you up twice as fast or keep you full twice as long for this argument to work.

Besides, the body takes about 20 minutes to send the first "I am full" signal anyway. I can go through the majority of a large pizza within that time with my "normal" eating pace.

[bad_user]

I like meat and meat keeps me full for longer periods of time, while at the same time whenever I eat rice, or potatoes, or pasta (without any meat) I feel hunger in 2 hours tops.

I don't know if this is a property of high-fat versus high-carb diets, but either way it's a mistake to think in absolute terms.

I also disagree that we have a weight problem because "we eat too much". I lost more than 40 pounds by cutting all the sugars from my diet, while still eating plenty of food.

[mertd]

I meant eating less in terms of calories.

[bad_user]

I know what you meant, but I don't think this strategy works, mostly because "eating less calories" has to be a side-effect of a healthy diet not the goal, otherwise it isn't sustainable.

I tried it myself and it didn't work. The mental pressure, the guilt when you go wrong, the bad moods you have when you can't satisfy some urge - all of these are culminating with depression, until finally you give up because being overweight suddenly doesn't seem so bad.

Besides I've seen some statistics with the growth of the average caloric intake in the past couple of decades, compared with the growth of sugar intake and the growth of sugar in our daily diet has a much, much better correlation with the rise of obesity and diabetes.

People should be encouraged to stop eating crap that they don't even like and start eating good and healthy food.