The Psychology, Biology and Politics of Food – Lecture One

Yale University has a series of lectures available from this course on food. The first lecture was an introductory lecture, so it covered a lot of material. It definitely promises what is sure to be an interesting course, and it is likely that the remainder of these blogs will be on this lecture series. A couple of things in this first lecture stood out to me. Professor Brownwell highlights a very interesting factor to this entire issue. He makes the point that our evolutionary development makes us seek out things like fat and sugar, because they provide a lot of energy. They were not always as common as they are, so it is our bodies natural defense against starvation to crave these foods. Today, the landscape of food available has completely changed that, and our bodies have not kept up with it. Another interesting point was how little exercise we get. With everythig becoming automated, we are not exerting ourselves as much as we should. It makes me wonder about all the technological and urban advancements we have made in recent years. Would we be as advance if we had more peope caring about agriculture and the food we eat? Are these technological advancements worth it? These are all interesting questions to ponder.