In past issues, I’ve written about how diet trumps exercise for fat loss and how a poor diet can’t be “outworked” by exercise. But over the next few issues, I’m going to get into the nitty-gritty of it. By way of introduction, let’s go to the grocery store…
Grocery stores today are a far cry from what they were in the mid-20th century, shaped by changes in technology, consumer habits, and global supply chains. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, stores were smaller, with a more limited selection. You’d find basic staples — meat, flour, sugar, eggs and dairy, some canned goods, and fresh produce, but the variety was narrower and heavily tied to what was local or seasonal. Refrigeration was around, but not as advanced, so frozen foods were just starting to take off. Meat was usually cut to order by a butcher on-site, and processed foods were nowhere near as dominant as they are now.
Today, the scale’s completely different. Modern grocery stores are often massive supercenters — think Walmart or Kroger — stocking tens of thousands of items. The food selection’s exploded: you’ve got exotic fruits year-round, thanks to global shipping, alongside aisles of organic, gluten-free, or plant-based options that cater to every dietary trend. Processed foods are a huge chunk of the inventory — snacks, sodas, and convenience meals dwarf the shelf space given to raw ingredients compared to back then.
Food-wise, the mid-20th century leaned hard into basics — canned soups, Jell-O, and TV dinners didn’t make an appearance until the ’50s. Fresh produce was simpler, like apples, potatoes, or carrots, and less likely to include, say, kale varieties or avocados unless you were in a specific region. Today, you’re swimming in choice: plant-based meats, international cuisines, and hyper-specialized products like keto-snacks or probiotic drinks. It’s less about basic survival cooking and more about lifestyle eating. The trade-off? Back then, you got fresher, less processed stuff but not as much variety; now, you’ve got endless options, but most of it’s engineered to last forever on a shelf.
And the obesity rate — not to mention a host of other health issues (including mental health) — has tracked upward right alongside these trends. Ironically, so has the fitness industry — by more than 10,000% overall since 1960, with gym memberships alone increasing by at least 1,300% in that time — which brings me back to my first point above:
Exercise alone isn’t cutting it.
Over the next couple issues, we’ll do a deep dive into how we got here and what to do about it.
