Hacker News Reader

Comment by nicoburns | Hacker News Reader

> It turns out we don't actually need to never be hungry; our society just pushes us to assume that even the tiniest pang of hunger is a negative health issue that is to be instantly eradicated.

Huh, is that really something you feel like your society teaches you? In my upbringing (UK), snacking was very much discouraged (you won't eat your dinner) and although eating meals was encouraged, going without one was never seen as a health issue and would be seen as preferable to giving me other food if I didn't like what had been cooked for me.

View on HN

Yes, that's what I got. Fast food everywhere, snacks constantly available, cookies and cakes in break rooms, vending machines, junk food, snack bars in offices, coffee milkshakes, kiosks in airports... everywhere you look in the USA there are people trying to sell you stuff to spike your blood sugar between meals. As opposed to Europe, there are entire aisles in the grocery stores here that are stocked solely with non-meal foods. This extends even to drugstores! CVS and Walgreens have a seasonal candy aisle!

I eat very low carb (I target <10g per day, with 20-30g as a hard limit) and it's sort of freaky how prevalent it is, because despite a million food options in some circumstances, precisely 0 of them are without carbs. I've been in airports when I haven't eaten for 18-24h with multiple places vending food and there has been approximately nothing available that would fit my diet.

I notice this difference with my US friends. They do seem to think hunger is a genuine problem that must be resolved immediately. A sort of health risk. I've occasionally tried to press in on what the unspecified danger is meant to be but it's hard to do so without being obnoxious.

Obviously hunger where there is food insecurity is terrible. But the first pangs of hunger in an otherwise well fed and, in my case, well padded person? It doesn't seem like it's a big deal to me.

Snacking does seem to have become established in the UK now though for children at least. (I also remember being told not to spoil my appetite as a child.) The children I know now often have some kind of tiny packet of something on the go in between meals.

Definitely. Just go look for the official line on how to eat for losing weight. They actually recommend lots of small meals as often as possible. It's ridiculuous.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com