It’s now 50 years since Stanford first left a five-year-old alone with a marshmallow. In the years since, studies of the famous ‘marshmallow test’ have shown that the ability to resist the siren song of a single marshmallow for 15 minutes is one of the most reliable indicators for both health and success in adult life. However, with obesity in American adults up from 13% to 42% in those same 50 years, and a new weight loss medication called Ozempic now advertising effortless results, is it time to admit the limitations of will power for dieting, and finally give up on the idea of self-restraint?
I’m 95% sure self-restraint is hard. Oscar Wilde once said he could resist everything except temptation. One hundred and thirty years later, we live in a world where unhealthy food and drink has been engineered to addict us, and the temptation to consume is all around. I still believe that between stimulus and response there can be choice, but finding the self-restraint to constantly resist temptation is far from easy, and that’s why it’s hardly surprising so many of us often take the easy way out.
I’m 44% sure obesity is a disease. While obesity meets the technical definition of a disease, I don’t think it’s unfair to also describe it as a preventable side effect of the overconsumption of calories. Whether the overconsumption of those calories is habit, addiction, or somewhere in between, I can’t help thinking that the categorisation of obesity as a disease serves to recast it from a challenge to an impossibility, and I’m pretty sure that disempowers individuals, which is exactly what Big Pharma wants.
I’m 72% sure Ozempic is too good to be true. Nausea. Cramping. Diarrhea. Vomiting. These are just some of the things I experienced reading the side effects of Ozempic. And yet, despite the hype, the average user will lose just five percent of their body weight and – quelle surprise – the weight goes back on as soon as the medication is stopped. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure Ozempic might be worth considering as an alternative to bariatric surgery, but for most everything else, I fail to see how losing a few pounds is worth the cost of becoming a customer for life.
I’m 80% sure self-restraint is a muscle. Studies have shown self-restraint is a finite resource, akin to a muscle that can and will tire. But if obesity is a side effect of an addictive behavior, maybe we just need stronger muscles to resist the pull of food? Twelve step programs use community, accountability, and education to help their members build the muscles of self-restraint, so maybe it’s time to stop thinking food doesn’t qualify as an addiction, and set about building the muscles we need to resist?
I’m 95% sure self-restraint is a vital life skill. Perhaps knowing that an ability to stare down a marshmallow increases our chances of success in life should give us all pause for thought. Maybe it could help us see that it’s not just food where we lack the power to resist. Temptation is all around us because capitalism always needs consumers who consume. But I’m pretty sure that’s not a reason for us to give up on self-restraint. I’m almost certain it’s the reason we need it more than we ever have before.
Adding that up with more art than science, I’m 60% sure self-restraint holds the key to fighting obesity, 40% sure self-restraint needs help, and as certain as I can be that medication should only be used as an absolute last resort. I may be wrong – I often am – but as always, you’re more than welcome to disagree in the comments below.
I don't entirely disagree with you (maybe 20%) but I think possibly what it boils down to is you think it's a question of restraint and discipline and I suggest its more nuanced that that. Yes, if you eat your veggies, exercise daily, meditate, avoid vices like alcohol and recreational drugs, have a great relationship with your friends / family and then you'll probably have a great body and mind.
However I think the odds are stacked against some people for many, complicated reasons. Do you know how weird vegetables used to look a hundred years ago? We've cultivated and altered them so much to suit our tastes (more on that later). We have more food than ever before, but nutritionally a lot of it is garbage. Add in financial incentives for food companies to make sweet tasting, fatty, shitty food, and poor food education, and you get bigger, unhealthier people.
There are obviously myriad reasons why people suffer from depression, I would suggest one possible fundamental reason is societal. A couple of thousand years ago (no time at all evolutionarily) humans were hunting animals for food and had just started living in settlements. Now we live in cities, sourcing food is no longer the biggest problem we face. We're supposed to move. We're supposed to be sociable creatures. We're not supposed to do a 9-5. We're not supposed to have unlimited calories. But our brains are little changed in evolutionary terms. When we see a chocolate cake, our old monkey brain freaks out and thinks GET THIS IN ME
One thing I do find very odd, is how just in my lifetime, things have changed beyond measure in terms of just talking about being obese. The word 'fat' has become loaded with subtext, in a way that hasn't happened with 'short' . It's OK to joke about a man being short, but heaven forbid you suggest an obese woman is unhealthy.