General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Modern wheat a "perfect, chronic poison," doctor says [View all]Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)Why did we start eating more?
One theory postulates that restaurant profits were responsible. Once upon a time, when you ordered a drink, you picked a size, and they handed it to you. If you ran out and wanted more, you had to buy another drink. Then they came up with free refills. This happened because it was cheaper to let the customer get their drink, than to waste time having the counter help fill the cup. So, they hand you an empty cup, and you got your own drink. Of course, they knew you could now get free refills, so, they raised the price of the drink, then trumpeted "FREE REFILLS" and suddenly you are now consuming twice as much soda as you had previously done. The practice then moved to traditional restaurants, who saw it as an excuse to double the price ( quadruple the profits) of soft drink sales.
Then came "super-sizing".
In Europe, which has far less obesity, drinks are still sold individually in most eateries. My aunt from Ireland comes to visit on occasion and she is shocked at the portion sizes in his country. They are easily 2-3 times what she is used to at home.
Of course, this is just one theory, there are others.