alt Hacker NewsConstant and plentiful supplies of food are, on an evolutionary scale, a somewhat recent thing. Agriculture itself is what, around 12k years old - a few hundred generations?
We're all experts at eating food but having an instinctual understanding of exactly when to stop eating was probably much less important historically.
Cavemen could tell the difference between feast and famine and so can we. It doesn't mean we can control ourselves. I don't believe the crux of the problem is related to the information on the nutrition label, or how accurately we read it.
My theory is counting calories offers a convenient apparatus with which to perform some mental gymnastics when rationalizing why one is not actually eating too much when deep down one knows they eating too much.
All the emotional reasons for eating too much are messy and we would rather not deal with them. The connection between mood and gut can be quite strong, and can vary wildly from one person to another.