For Related Articles and More Information, Please Visit OCA’s Health Issues Page.

Today’s featured video is a lecture by obesity researcher and neurobiologist Dr. Stephan Guyenet. In it, he discusses some helpful and practical tips about the neurobiological underpinnings of our eating habits that can help you better understand why you gain weight.

He starts off by noting that the obesity epidemic closely parallels an increase in daily calorie consumption in the US. Compared to 1960, Americans eat an average of 363 calories more per day today. But
why do Americans eat so much more now compared to previous decades?

Guyenet goes on to review some of the alterations to the US food system that promote overeating, stating that the human “brain’s hardware may not be up to the task of constructively navigating the modern food environment.”