Seed oils. Sedentary lifestyles. A plant-based shift. Lower protein intake. Refined carbs and sugar. Screen time. Endocrine disruptors. Office jobs. Fewer daily steps.
Obesity isn’t just a cosmetic issue—it’s a flashing red light from the body that something is wrong. It doubles the risk of cancer, triples the risk of heart disease, and increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by seven to tenfold. Today, over 60% of Americans live with at least one chronic disease. That didn’t happen by accident.
So what changed?
Let’s rewind the clock and see where it all went wrong—and how we can reclaim our health by going back to what worked.
1. People in the 1970s vs. People in 2025: What Happened to Our Health?
Flip through a photo album from the 1970s and you’ll see something striking: fewer people were overweight. Kids played outside. Adults looked lean without trying. Fast-forward to today, and public spaces look dramatically different. We’ve normalized bloating, lethargy, and inflammation as just “part of getting older.”
But the truth? The human body didn’t change. Our environment did. Ultra-processed food replaced real meals. Marketing hijacked our hunger cues. And we’ve built a world where movement is optional and screen time is constant. The rise in obesity didn’t just happen—it was engineered.
2. Before vs. After (Beach Edition)
Vintage beach photos show something you rarely see today: a sea of healthy, energetic people enjoying the sun. No phones. No snacks with 42 ingredients. Just pure play. Contrast that with today’s beach scenes, where processed snacks dominate the cooler, and half the crowd is hiding under umbrellas with tech in hand.
This shift wasn’t driven by laziness—it was driven by misinformation. We were told to fear the sun, fat, and salt. We replaced steak with cereal. And the result? We got sicker, slower, and more inflamed.
3. We Swapped Animal Fats for Seed Oils
One of the most catastrophic swaps in modern food history: replacing traditional fats like butter, tallow, and lard with industrial seed oils. These so-called “heart healthy” oils—canola, soybean, corn—are chemically extracted, highly unstable, and loaded with omega-6 fatty acids that fuel chronic inflammation.
Traditional societies thrived on saturated animal fats. They were robust, fertile, and free from modern metabolic disease. Today, we drown our meals in cheap, refined oils that were never meant for human consumption. The rise of seed oils parallels the explosion of obesity and chronic illness—and it’s no coincidence.
4. We Swapped the Outdoors for Indoors (and Steps Declined)
In the 1970s, most people walked to school, did chores by hand, and played outside until dark. The average American took over 10,000 steps a day—without counting them. Now, thanks to remote work, streaming, and on-demand everything, most people don’t even hit 4,000 steps.
Sunlight exposure is down. Vitamin D levels are plummeting. Daily movement is practically extinct. We traded a naturally active lifestyle for ergonomic chairs, blue light, and sedentary comfort. But comfort is a trap—and our waistlines show it.
5. We Swapped Health for Convenience
Fast food. Microwave dinners. Energy bars. “Just grab something quick.” We’ve created an entire food culture around speed and shelf life, not nourishment. Our grandparents ate nose-to-tail. We eat from drive-thrus and vending machines.
It’s not about willpower—it’s about access. The modern food system is built on convenience, not quality. Cheap fillers, flavor enhancers, and preservatives dominate the ingredient list. You’re not eating food—you’re eating food-like products. And they’re keeping you hungry, tired, and overweight by design.
6. Obesity Began to Rise When We…
…trusted the experts who told us to fear fat. When we swapped eggs for cereal. When we were told to move less and eat less. When we traded steak for soy and real butter for margarine. When we started counting calories instead of reading ingredients.
The obesity epidemic didn’t begin in a vacuum. It started with policy. With subsidies for corn syrup. With food pyramids stacked upside down. With marketing that sold sickness as health. And it continues because we’ve forgotten how to eat and live like humans.
Closing: Back to the Basics
We don’t need more diet apps, food labels, or wearable trackers. We need real food. Real movement. Real sleep. Real connection.
It’s time to reclaim what our ancestors knew: health isn’t complicated. It’s foundational. Prioritize animal-based nutrition. Move your body daily. Get sunlight. Cut out the processed junk designed to keep you addicted and inflamed. Obesity isn’t your fault—but it is your opportunity. The choice to return to health starts with going back to the basics.
And it starts with a single bite—of real food.
Like… maybe a Carnivore Bar?
References
- Flegal, Katherine M., et al. “Prevalence of Obesity and Trends in the Distribution of Body Mass Index among US Adults, 1999-2010.” JAMA, vol. 307, no. 5, 2012, pp. 491–497. doi:10.1001/jama.2012.39.
- Mozaffarian, Dariush, et al. “Changes in Diet and Lifestyle and Long-Term Weight Gain in Women and Men.” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 364, no. 25, 2011, pp. 2392–2404. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1014296.
- Monteiro, Carlos A., et al. “The UN Decade of Nutrition, the NOVA Food Classification and the Trouble with Ultra-Processing.” Public Health Nutrition, vol. 21, no. 1, 2018, pp. 5–17. doi:10.1017/S1368980017000234.
- Ramsden, Christopher E., et al. “Use of Dietary Linoleic Acid for Secondary Prevention of Coronary Heart Disease and Death.” BMJ, vol. 346, 2013, f26. doi:10.1136/bmj.f26.