Is the Obesity Crisis Hiding a Bigger Problem?

Intro to Neuroscience
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Intro to Neuroscience
A Brief Summary of The Main Points of This TED Talk
In his TED Talk “Is the obesity crisis hiding a bigger problem,” Peter Attia MD points out that there is the general assumption that being fat is about eating too much and failing to exercise. In his opening, Attia uses the example of an obese woman and a 27-year-old with pancreatic cancer. Based on the two cases, Attia notes that he was more sympathetic to the cancer patient than the obese woman (Attia, 2013). His lack of empathy for the obese woman was based on the notion that had she cared enough, she would not be in her situation. In his argument, Attia purports that his notion is because of the general assumption that one becomes fat/obese because they have eaten too much, gotten unlucky, and developed diabetes.
Deep into his talk, Attia regrets his lack of sympathy for the obese woman since he had misjudged her. Roughly three years later, after his encounter with this woman, Attia realized he could not have been further from wrong. Despite being a regular exerciser and ardent follower of the food pyramid to the latter, he gained weight and developed metabolic syndrome. Based on this, the video suggests that being obese may not necessarily be what people think it is: eating too much and failing to exercise (Attia, 2013). Rather, it could be a reaction to underlying issues in the body. In his case, it was evident that he gained weight because his body had become insulin-resistant. Biologically, insulin is described as the master hormone that controls what the body does with the consumed food. The hormone is specifically responsible for determining whether food is burned or stored. Thus, if the body fails ...