Philip J. Goscienski, M.D.
May 2008
Morbid obesity is a term that physicians learn in medical school. Most readers are becoming familiar with it these days because it's no longer a rarity. More than a third of Americans are obese and about 6 million of us are morbidly obese, meaning that we're carrying around at least 100 pounds of extra fat. Doctors, even pediatricians, are getting used to seeing patients that weigh 400 pounds or more. During the decade 1990 to 2000 morbid obesity tripled, and recent figures show no signs that it is declining.
A few thousand years ago it wasn't likely that any individual could gain so much excess weight. It's not because they didn't have the genes for becoming obese; their diet and lifestyle didn't allow them to do so. Most of early humans' calories came from vegetables, fruits, roots and nuts. Plant foods in the wild have lots of fiber, so that anyone eating them would feel full before they got too many calories. Only 10 percent of our daily calories come from these healthy foods. What you find in the produce section of your local supermarket now has lots of starch and sugar, with very little fiber.
Occasionally someone will argue that people who lived in the Stone Age ate lots of animal fat along with meat. That just isn't so. Man didn't become a very skilled hunter until about 100,000 years go when he developed stone-tipped spears. Before that he captured small animals and birds, scavenged other predators' leftovers and enjoyed insects and grubs. These creatures had little fat, especially the saturated type.
There aren't any chubby animals in the wild. Or at least, not for long. Leanness and speed go together, which is why wild game has only 4 to 7 percent body fat. Domestic cattle, sheep and hogs have more than 4 times as much. Of course, there's nothing to escape from in a pen or corral.
How about all that extra fat that hibernating animals accumulate before they begin their winter snooze? Wouldn't early hunters have sought them out as abundant sources of energy, possibly to excess? Good point, but irrelevant. Animals in Africa, where humans emerged as a species, don't hibernate. Even in cold climates that extra store of fat is only present for a few months. By the time the average bear emerges from its den in the spring it looks like a furry anorexic.
Until the time of the Agricultural Revolution humans existed in small bands, always on the move. With no junk food, no vehicles and no laborsaving devices, it's not likely that any of them became obese. They probably couldn't even imagine the enormous bodies that are becoming so common in our world.
Is there any hope for the morbidly obese short of a gastric bypass? Absolutely, and with no pills, potions or gimmicks. Just ask best-selling author Dr. Nick Yphantides who lost 220 pounds the old-fashioned way: he worked for it.
Philip J. Goscienski, M.D. is the author of Health Secrets of the Stone Age, Better Life Publishers 2005. Contact him at drphil@stoneagedoc.com.