Schatzker presents a hypothesis about why we are experiencing an obesity epidemic. His thesis is that the processed food industry has disconnected our ability to self-regulate our eating behaviour.
He places part of the blame on the emphasis, starting in the 1940’s, on government regulations to “improve” the food supply. Pellagra was a disease of poverty due to a lack of B-vitamins. Rules were put in place to enrich flour with added vitamins. This eliminated pellagra, but the book argues that this enrichment also dis-regulated the eating behaviour, leading to more obesity. The idea is that in our hunter/gatherer environment, humans needed to get those vitamins by eating a variety of foods. They could not over-eat carbs without also eating other foods.
Basic advice is to eat real food (unprocessed). Mediterranean diet, basically.