I am in complete control of my own behavior... or am I?

I was reading the Yale Rudd Center blog today and read an interesting post about a new study. This study found that the amount of food that people consumed was influenced by the amount of food another person in their company consumed, but these people were completely oblivious to the impact the other person's intake had on their own intake. My comment to the post:


I think this is the core problem that public health advocates seeking to prevent obesity are facing. The U.S. is highly individualistic, and as a result individuals are assumed to have sole responsibility for their choices. This is why so many people object vehemently to proposals for changing the food environment (e.g. menu labeling laws, trans fat bans, even school food policies that limit the sale of junk food). They don't want anyone "telling them what to eat." They want to be able to choose to eat themselves to death if they want to.

What no one seems to understand is that allowing the "toxic environment" to exist unchanged is also limiting choice and controlling behavior. The ubiquity of unhealthful foods and the scarcity of healthful (and convenient) foods encourages a certain type of eating pattern, and not one that we want to encourage. This type of environment greatly limits choices for those of us who want to eat anything other than a traditional Western diet. When I go to a restaurant, I may have 3 options to choose from, whereas someone who isn't concerned with the nutritional value of their meal may have 50+. Is that fair?

Mara brings up an interesting point about people influencing others to restrict consumption. I believe there is some evidence to support that, but I think people more frequently encourage each other to eat MORE, simply because more people are eating too much than eating too little, so we are more likely to be around someone who is overeating than someone who is undereating. And for every time I've seen women competing to show restraint, there have been at least 20 times where I've seen one women egg another on to cheat on her diet or indulge in something she doesn't think she should have. "Oh go ahead! Have a cookie! Be BAD! I'll have one if you do!" Or my favorite: "Live a little!" I'd rather live long, thanks.