The urge to eat more than we need to can be powerful, even overwhelming, and it’s easy to blame ourselves for a lack of willpower. But what may seem at first glance like personal failure is really, in many ways, simply a physiological misfire — the body’s natural processes hijacked by a decidedly unnatural modern environment.
All of us overeat from time to time, and many do so on a regular basis. Obesity rates have soared over the past few decades and continue to rise, from 30 percent of adults in 2000 to more than 40 percent in 2020. That trend goes hand in hand with increased heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and various cancers, all driven in part by overconsumption of energy-dense foods.
This epidemic can, of course, be viewed as the product of a complex interplay of economic, social, and cultural factors. But those influences all converge at, and rely upon, a single point: human biology.
Why Do People Overeat?
From an evolutionary perspective, we overeat because our ancestors often had to endure famine. They couldn’t always predict their next meal, so when a feast came along they guzzled it down and stored the excess as body fat, to tide them over through times of scarcity.
