{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"259 Food, Metabolism, Weight Gain: Why Calorie Counts, Willpower and Diets Keep Failing Us as We Age","description":"Why does weight loss feel harder with age\u2014even when we \u201cdo everything right\u201d? In this episode, award-winning health journalist Julia Belluz challenges the calorie-centric narrative of weight control and explains how metabolism, hormones, food environments, and ultra-processed foods shape how\u2014and why\u2014we eat. This conversation reframes weight, aging, and health through evidence rather than diet dogma.For decades, we\u2019ve been told that weight control is simply a matter of discipline: eat less, move more, and the scale will comply. Yet for many people\u2014especially as they age\u2014this advice fails repeatedly, leading to frustration, guilt, and confusion. Midlife and beyond bring hormonal shifts, metabolic adaptation, and increasing exposure to highly engineered food environments. Understanding why our bodies resist weight loss\u2014and how our environment pushes us toward overeating\u2014is essential for protecting healthspan rather than blaming ourselves for biology. My guest, Julia Belluz, is an award-winning health and science journalist, New York Times opinion contributor, and co-author of Food Intelligence, written with metabolic researcher Kevin Hall. Together, they unpack decades of misunderstood nutrition science and explain what actually drives hunger, metabolism, and eating behavior.Listeners will learn why metabolism slows as a response\u2014not a cause\u2014of weight loss, what The Biggest Loser study revealed about long-term metabolic adaptation, how hormones interact with ultra-processed foods, and why environment often overrides conscious food choices. Episode Timeline: 00:00 \u2014 Why weight loss feels harder with age  03:50 \u2014 Julia\u2019s path into nutrition journalism   07:45 \u2014 The Biggest Loser metabolism findings   11:10 \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s not metabolism, stupid\u201d    15:55 \u2014 Hormones, hunger, and eating behavior     22:15 \u2014 Food environments and ultra-processed foods     27:30 \u2014 Nutrition studies: signal vs noise      30:40 \u2014 Supplements, misinformation, and risks       32:55 \u2014 What is hopeful moving forward ? Connect with Julia Belluz https:\/\/www.juliabelluz.com\/ Find the Book "Food Intelligence" by Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall PhD.  Call to Action:  Order the book Growing Older Living Younger: The Science of Aging Gracefully and the Art of Retiring Comfortably  (North America only ) or find it on kindle Subscribe to Growing Older Living Younger on your favorite podcast platform and leave a review to help others discover the show.  Join the Growing Older Living Younger Community Website: https:\/\/www.askdrgill.com\/ ","author_name":"Growing Older Living Younger: About longevity, wellness, healthspan,","author_url":"https:\/\/askdrgill.com","html":"