Managing and Preventing Obesity

The chan ging diet of humans through our history is subject to a great deal of conten-
tion. However, what is not in dispute is that our diet has changed signi fic antly in both

a qual it at ive and quant it at ive sense as we have moved through periods as hunter-
gather ers or subsist ence farmers to a situ ation today where we are now consumers

of highly processed and ready- prepared foods. At the same time our patterns of
phys ical activ ity have also changed from the demands of high activ ity neces sary for
survival and strenu ous occu pa tions to those of limited phys ical burdens and sedent ary
occu pa tions or leisure pursuits. For most of history, humans have exper i enced food
short ages, hunger and under- nutri tion as they struggled each day to secure suffi cient

food to meet their needs. However,