New research suggests poverty is good for a nation:
Cuba's economic crisis of 1989–2000 resulted in reduced energy intake, increased physical activity, and sustained population-wide weight loss. The authors evaluated the possible association of these factors with mortality trends. Data on per capita daily energy intake, physical activity, weight loss, and smoking were systematically retrieved from national and local surveys. National vital statistics from 1980–2005 were used to assess trends in mortality from diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, cancer, and all causes. The crisis reduced per capita daily energy intake from 2,899 calories to 1,863 calories. During the crisis period, the proportion of physically active adults increased from 30% to 67%, and a 1.5-unit shift in the body mass index distribution was observed, along with a change in the distribution of body mass index categories. The prevalence of obesity declined from 14% to 7%, the prevalence of overweight increased 1%, and the prevalence of normal weight increased 4%. During 1997–2002, there were declines in deaths attributed to diabetes (51%), coronary heart disease (35%), stroke (20%), and all causes (18%). An outbreak of neuropathy and a modest increase in the all-cause death rate among the elderly were also observed. These results suggest that population-wide measures designed to reduce energy stores, without affecting nutritional sufficiency, may lead to declines in diabetes and cardiovascular disease prevalence and mortality.
There you have it. Communism keeps you slim—and very, very hungry.
I learned some interesting things watching documentary shows about 'primitive' cultures on TV in places like Indonesia and the Amazon. And one thing I more fully realized is that these people from these cultures are not thin just because they aren't interested in over-eating food like we are in the West, since we are bombarded with fast food and food advertisements. On the contrary, the interest in food for these people is as great or greater. I suppose I didn't realize how close they were to hunger at all times and thought that the forest would provide more than enough food for them.
I saw on the shows that food is constantly their main topic of conversation - how to get more of it mostly. They talk about good meals they used to have. They usually equate being happy and modern with having better food - and that they would like to be more modern. They talk about how growing up means being more interested in food than fighting. Every conversation seems to lead back to food. So it's not just us that are obsessesed with food. Unfortunately, we have the food here to make our dreams a reality, to the detriment to our waistlines. And it seems to show me that we are primed to want food and center our life around food, and that dieting is probably useless, and the only way we will become skinny as a society again is by the forced absence of food, as we just saw in Cuba.