The Omnivore's Dilemma (Michael Pollan) goes into more detail on the history of the food boom in the 1970s and its link to obesity. Its a great read for anyone interested. Essentially we got hit with a one-two punch of food price paranoia and the high fructose corn syrup innovation.
I'd also recommend The End of Overeating (David Kessler) which posits that the obesity explosion is due to recent advances in food science re: foods engineered (precise ratios of fat, sugar and salt) to make you want to eat more ("conditioned hypereating").
If you want to lose weight, stop eating packaged food, cut out fast-food and cut back on restaurants/take-out.
Make your own food (like everyone did 40 years ago for most meals) and you'll find yourself controlling your portion intake by default.
I second that. In April I tried an experiment: home-cooked meals at least twice a day, and nothing with a human-boosted glycemic load. E.g., nothing with added sugar, no refined carbs, no fruit juice.
Portion control was much, much easier. I still ate until I felt full; I just felt full a lot sooner, and experienced a big drop in between-meal cravings.
