Old photographs and drawings from the 19th Century, however, show them to be tall, but slender. The general conclusion is the modern diet is the culprit. In Territorial days, they didn’t have the refined flours and sugars we have now.

I don’t know what the answer is. I do know, from my own experience, that when my kid was a baby I didn’t start him om solid foods until he was a year old. Back in the 70s there was a theory that you could keep the baby from developing fat cells that way.

I’ve always had a weight problem, even as a kid, so I wanted to avoid that with Sean if I could. Thirty years later, he doesn’t have a weight problem, and never has.

But then I’ve always cooked from scratch, and only recently started using convenience foods. My mother, OTOH, hated to cook, and if it came in a can or a box we had it for dinner. ;>)

Lotsa, lotsa factors in this issue…

Breathing, I’ll agree.

But sex as a basic need that can’t be controlled? No way.

Are you 13 years old?

Just like those damn depressed people who mope around. Brain-receptor-schmain-receptor. Bunch of gobbleygook for whiny people not getting what they want.

And don’t get me started on those paraplegics who can’t walk….

/sarcasm

Now, to the real story.

In a decade we have moved from an industrial agrarian society to an informational and service society. Our need for calories has dimished, but our appetite has not. Couple that with cheap calories and you get an obese society.

Until you turn off the brain receptors for appetite, nothing is going to stop this problem. It’s a basic need (like breathing, sex, etc) that cannot be easily controlled.