Eating may substitute for other forbidden indulgences :: MSNBC.com
File under: substitution possibilities; people respond to incentives

Quote:

OREM, Utah - Mormons on average weigh 4.6 pounds more than other Utahans, a study by a Brigham Young University professor concluded. The study also found that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were 14 percent more likely than nonmembers to be obese. That was 18 percent for men, and 9 percent for women.
. . .
"For years, the church has focused on the don'ts -- don't smoke, don't drink, and all the other things that you shouldn't do that are heavily enforced," said Steve Aldana, a BYU professor who presented some of the study's findings at a recent heart conference at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center.

"There has been little emphasis on the do's -- eat good foods and exercise," he said. "In the church, we have a lot of don'ts, and now finally here's a do -- go ahead and do eat -- and boy, do we eat."

I wonder if there is a parallel explanation to the obesity problem in the GCC.