I notice I have burdened myself with a considerable fat reserve this winter. I showed very little restraint in terms of beer and junk food consumption.

It happens every winter, and I am forced to ask myself: why did I do it? Every spring I face the same dilemma as I huff and puff a few short feet in a futile attempt at exercise.

Still and all, nature seems to have selected for the high fat diet. Eating fat is a pleasurable experience that we are often powerless to resist (as all potato chip manufacturers are well aware) even though we know full well that it may affect our health to do it.

It’s just so darn good. Like sex. Something that drives people to behave so irrationally must have some biological importance.

Fat consumption has its evolutionary benefits. It is known that fat makes women more fertile. Reproductively speaking, that is a bonus. Of course, at some point Darwinian fitness and unbridled sloth must reach an equilibrium.

For early humans, spare tires and robust buttocks were probably good. Fat contains the most calories per unit mass of any food. That’s why getting rid of it is so hard. It burns really slowly.

If you could get your hands on a fatty side of mastodon during the ice-age, you were probably wise to eat your fill. In the winter, food must have been a little scarce.

In addition, a nice layer of lard was probably good insulation against the cold. Maybe that’s why most of the holidays which celebrate food are in the winter.

Early humans probably didn’t have much problem with obesity and heart disease.

For one thing, I imagine they got a lot of exercise. Without TV, they were probably more active recreationally. If you got too fat, you might have a hard time chasing your meals, and you probably looked mighty appealing to a saber-tooth tiger.

Of course, the more sedentary humans of today are stuck with the legacy of their ancestors – love handles. For a while I tried jogging to Burger King to simulate the lifestyle of my ancestral brethren, but then I said, what do my genes care?

As long as I can procreate before my heart explodes, I have fulfilled my evolutionary obligations.