If you are struggling to lose weight, you are in good company; billions of people around the globe are fighting an uphill battle in the weight loss war as well. Yes, billions.
Studies show that two out of three Americans are overweight or obese. According to the World Health Organization, 1.6 BILLION people worldwide are overweight.
Interestingly, however, in some parts of the world, there are societies of people who stay trim and healthy well into old age and beyond.
They are not plagued by many of the diseases that affect people in industrialized areas of the world, and they do not suffer many of the aging related dis-eases that people in Western countries suffer as they age.
Scientists have studied the diets and lifestyle of these cultures, and diet is believed to play a hugely important role in their longevity and physical health.
Before we talk about the dietary selections made by these people, how-ever, let us look at how our bodies developed over the course of millions of years of evolution, and why the current dietary choices that are avail-able to us are contributing to the challenges we face when attempting to lose weight.
A large portion of the foods that are available today in grocery stores are presented to us in a form that was never available to our ancestors: re-fined carbohydrates that have been stripped of any nutritional benefits.
The breads, cereals, cakes, rolls, muffins and donuts that are stacked on the grocery store shelves and piled high in display cases are made from refined flours. When this flour is processed, any health benefits that existed in the original grain is gone: these foods are all sugar and no fiber.
Our bodies did not evolve to consume foods like this.
