The Instinct for Getting Fat!

I've always liked Ross Gittins' column as published in The SMH and The Age, not just because he seems to be most true to his economist background (rather than being ideologically bound to defend one particular side of politics' economic policies regardless of their implications), but because every so often he delves into the more human side of economics (although you might argue that economics at its root is a social science anyway in that it studies human behaviour in order to predict policy outcomes).

One of his recent articles is about our instinct towards food consumption -- more precisely, to eat as much as what's in front of us. It goes a long way towards explaining society's journey towards gross obesity. I know that when I eat out at restaurants, I feel compelled to finish off everything on the plate, as much from an aversion to waste than anything else. At least some establishments are recognising this and offering smaller portions, but the notion of getting 'value for money' will still seem darned attractive to most people.

It seems somewhat immoral not to say illogical that we live in a world in which the majority of whom suffer from food scarcity, that we in the West need to be concerned with the psychology of having too much food... I'm not saying I have the answers, or that I'm going on a hunger strike in a show of solidarity with my hungry brethren; just that something as fundamental as the food we eat probably deserves more thought and attention than it currently does. I may also be subject to the influence of the book that's currently occupying my bedside table: The Omnivore's Dilemma... (Coincidentally, the author Michael Pollan might be visiting Microsoft soon -- yay!) Highly recommended, and gives an explanation as to why the standard sweetener seems to be High Fructose Corn Syrup rather than cane sugar (as we might expect in Australia).