Why the Obesity and Metabolic Disease Crisis Keeps Getting Worse—Despite All the Advice

It feels like we’ve never had more information about weight loss. Every week brings a new diet book, social media “hack,” or expert podcast. Millions of people are trying intermittent fasting, cutting calories, following the paleo diet, adopting a plant-based lifestyle, or something in between. Yet despite this, the rates of obesity and metabolic diseases such as insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, and others continue to rise.

So what’s missing? Why are we diving deeper into a hole instead of finding our way out?

The Problem We All Know

There’s no real mystery about the basics: we need to eat less overall, and particularly less ultra-processed, sugar-packed junk food. On paper, the equation looks simple. But in practice, most people can’t sustain it. The challenge isn’t knowing what to do—it’s how to actually live this way without constant hunger, cravings, or deprivation.

Why Hunger and Cravings Derail Us

One of the biggest blind spots in traditional nutrition advice is hunger. Too many diets assume  weight loss is just about discipline. But hunger isn’t weakness, it’s biology. If your diet leaves you unsatisfied, your body will fight back, driving you to overconsume tempting, overly calorie-dense foods. 

Highly processed foods only make it worse. They’re designed to be energy-dense, quickly digested, and often low in protein and fiber, which means they don’t keep us full for long. A bowl of sugary cereal leaves you hungry hours later, while an egg-cheese-and-vegetable omelet might keep you going all morning. Unless we address hunger and cravings biologically, advice to simply “eat less” will keep failing.

Diets That Leave Us Deprived

The other problem is deprivation. When dietary guidelines insist we cut fat, red meat, and salt, we end up with diets that are bland and less filling. Low-fat diets, in particular, have left generations of people hungry, frustrated, and more likely to resort to processed foods, which are easier to access.

Sustainable eating patterns need to be satisfying, enjoyable, and nourishing—not a daily battle against your own appetite.

We’ve also been told for decades that fat is dangerous, salt is harmful, and red meat is bad. This message is so ingrained that it shapes everything from government guidelines to food labeling. Yet the science behind many of these blanket recommendations is weak, and it ignores the complexity of human metabolism.

I have to chuckle every time I hear someone say they hate broccoli or cauliflower. How do they eat it? Steamed. Plain. Try adding salt and butter, and all of a sudden, “eating your veggies” isn’t such a chore.

Or someone who misses steak ever since they learned it was “bad for them.” Bad for whom? For you as an individual? How do you know? Since steak is one of the most protein-packed, nutrient-dense foods, it’s foolhardy to claim it is inherently harmful for us all. 

We need to let go of outdated one-size-fits-all rules and focus on the outcomes that truly matter: whether your diet improves your metabolic health.

The Buzzword of Personalization

That can often lead to the trendy term, “personalized nutrition.” And in theory, it’s exactly right. Each person’s metabolic health, genetics, and lifestyle influence how they respond to food. But in practice, most people don’t have access to advanced labs, continuous glucose monitors, or private coaches. We hope a stronger national policy focus on metabolic health may change that.

But while personalization is the future, we also need a clear principle everyone can use right now. 

A Principle That Works

Here’s the key: It isn’t about the food—it’s about the end result.

Instead of obsessing over “plant-based,” “low fat,” or “no red meat,” the real question is: Does this way of eating improve metabolic health in a sustainable way?

That means:

• Healthy weight and body composition.
  
• Normal blood pressure.
  
• Better blood tests: lower fasting insulin and glucose, lower triglycerides, higher HDL cholesterol.
  

Different diets can get you there in different ways. What matters isn’t adherence to dogma—it’s whether your health actually improves.

Changing the Food Environment

Even if we know the goal, there’s still another barrier: the environment we live in. The cheapest, most accessible foods are often the least supportive of metabolic health. Whole foods are often more expensive, less convenient, and harder to find.

We are emotional beings, not robots. We can’t expect people to resist temptation all day when unhealthy options are everywhere, cheap, and aggressively marketed. A healthier population doesn’t come from willpower alone; it comes from reshaping the environment so the healthy choice is easier to make

That means making whole, nutrient-dense foods, including protein and fat-rich ones, more affordable and accessible, and reducing the dominance of high-carb and processed foods that drive hunger, cravings, and metabolic dysfunction.

Rethinking the Approach

So, why has the crisis worsened despite all the books, experts, and podcasts? Because we’ve been missing the deeper truths:

• Hunger and cravings must be addressed, not ignored.
  
• Deprivation isn’t sustainable—people need food that satisfies.
  
• Dietary dogma has held us back without strong science.
  
• Personalization is important but hard to scale—we need to focus on metabolic outcomes.
  
• The environment shapes behavior—access and affordability of healthy foods matter as much as advice.
  

The Bottom Line

The problem isn’t that people don’t hear the message. The problem is that it’s the wrong message. The obesity and metabolic disease crisis continues because the way we frame nutrition ignores biology, psychology, and environment.

It’s time to reframe the conversation. Forget rigid rules about fat, salt, or meat. Forget the idea that everyone must follow the same diet. Instead, focus on the end result: better metabolic health.

If we can create an environment where whole, nutrient-dense foods are more available and satisfying, while processed, addictive foods are less dominant, we won’t just know what to do—we’ll finally be able to do it.