Welcome back to ZigZag Nutrition.
Today, I’m going to discuss one of the often overlooked pieces of the puzzle related to the obesity epidemic. As I share in the audio, this is not the time for me to talk about BMI, body image, body positivity or the like. I am strictly sticking to the conversation of what is causing obesity around the world, but most specifically in America. What aspects of this equation are we not talking about enough? What are we missing? As you will soon find out, quite a lot actually.
They don’t teach you this in nutrition school.
Some of my community’s favorite posts related to today’s topic are linked below if you want to take a look around.
But without further ado, let’s dive in. 🎧
Theories of Obesity
Obesogens - chemicals that may promote obesity by interfering with your metabolism and hormones. Evidence shows that human exposure may start as early as in the womb. Their impact may even affect future generations. The most common contaminants found in food that are considered to be potential obesogens include estrogens, such as diethylstilboestrol and genistein; organotins, e.g., tributyltin; fluoro actanoates; bisphenol A and bisphenol S (BPA & BPS); diethylhexyl phthalate, and the growing concern for PFAS forever chemicals in drinking water.
Additionally, we have several other sources of obesogen exposure in our daily life from environmental pollutants to toxic cosmetic beauty products, pesticides and insecticides like Prallethrin, and much more.
We also can classify chemical compound obesogens under the umbrella of endocrine disrupting chemicals, otherwise known as EDC, which are in nearly every room of your house, car, and office.
This is just one of the reasons why understanding environmental medicine as part of functional systems biology is so important. We have to understand there are an infinite number of net negative effects by exposing ourselves to hundreds of these harmful chemicals on a daily basis whether it’s because we care about obesity or any other number of related diseases affected by these chemicals.
What they don’t teach you in nutrition school
Weight gain is about more than just calories in vs. calories out.
Historically, there are two major theories to describe the rise in obesity around the world: 1) the energy balance model (EBM) and 2) carbohydrate-insulin model (CIM).
We also have the REDOX theory that points to the oxidation-reduction processes within the body as the body adapts to environmental stimuli misaligned from optimal biology, such as the influence of sedentary lifestyles, processed foods, and certain substances can push communication signals in the body that drive pathways for obesity.
Lastly, there is a fourth model that takes a look at human exposure to environmental chemicals during critical developmental periods, but also across the lifespan, and their impact for altering metabolic pathways, hormonal regulation, inflammation, immune function and more that can play a significant role in driving obesity in human physiology.
As you can imagine there are several leading factors that are driving the obesity epidemic around the world, much of which can be reflective of diet and lifestyle changes but still there is more to this equation.
Beyond just food and substances, we also have to consider the particular influence these intakes have on different organ systems throughout the body and their various respective interdependent metabolic functions.
Next, if we go deeper still to consider how these influencers act at the cellular level, from disrupting the gut microbiome, driving insulin resistance, altered food-mood behaviors, inflammation and more, we can start to understand how the simplified model of obesity that solely focuses on Calories In vs. Calories Out is outdated and ignores the chance at critical thinking to better address etiology and outcomes of this disease process.
🧬 And despite what Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford of the Biden administration’s team for adapting the USDA’s 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee might tell you, you actually do have a lot of potential influence within your hands to positively improve your life, your health, and happiness. Obesity cannot be summed up and dismissed as primarily a “Genetic Disease,” as she consistently claims on public television.
She is a doctor specializing in obesity medicine (supposedly) and she comments that diet and lifestyle have little to do with weight gain at all.
🙄 Which I hope we can all unanimously roll our eyes to in unison. 🙄
In my opinion, this is just another sign of the corporatized capture of education, narrative, and financial influence of big pharmaceutical giants as Calley Means and others have been pointing out for quite some time, she has a significant conflict of interest when it comes to this topic of obesity. She is either ridiculously misinformed or a shill to promote a focused pharmaceutical approach to “treat” obesity with expensive drugs and costly side effects.
And yes, they are even trying to recommend this as the first-line treatment for children, along with surgery in some cases. What a message to share with young people… this is effectively what they are saying…
“Listen up, you have no power to improve your life.
Take these pills. Let’s drug you up as early and as often as possible while the ultra-processed food giants continue to feed you poison.
And don’t you worry, if this doesn’t work then there’s always the chance at surgery. We will take care of you.
Don’t worry your sweet head to make any changes, just sign the dotted line to be our lifelong customer and we’ll take good care of you.”
According to reports from the CDC and many others like OurWorldInData.org, the percentage of obese American adults only continues to climb, now at levels above 40% in some regions, a rapid rise from levels around 30% in 2017. The rates for childhood obesity have increased as well, obviously made worse through the pandemic.
My friends and readers of this community…
This is the time to stand up for truth, to not go quiet into that good night, not to be shy, but to be authentically genuine to speak truth openly and honestly in hopes to lead more people and wake up those who are sleeping or under a spell by those who capture the narrative and intend to rewrite history for themselves.
As always, I implore you to dig deeper, ask more questions, seek more answers, and continue to learn and grow in your communities and our connected community here as well.
If you haven’t already, go ahead and press play to listen to this week’s audio podcast as a complement and insightful addition to this week’s written story.
Today’s music is brought to you by, Music: Blue Dream Musician: Cheel
Ps. share this message with two people who could learn something from this story. Thank you!
What They Don't Teach You About Obesity - Part One