The End of Overeating

by KESSLER, DAVID A.

• ISBN13: 9781605294575
• ISBN10: 1605294578
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-09-14
• Publisher: PENGUIN

Summary

Most of us know what it feels like to fall under the spell of food---when one slice of pizza turns into half a pie, or a handful of chips leads to an empty bag. But it's harder to understand why we can't seem to stop eating even when we know better.

When we want so badly to say "no," why do we continue to reach for food? Dr. David Kessler, the dynamic former FDA commissioner who reinvented the food label and tackled the tobacco industry, now reveals how the food industry has hijacked the brains of millions of Americans. The result' America's number-one public health issue. Dr. Kessler cracks the code of overeating by explaining how our bodies and minds are changed when we consume foods that contain sugar, fat, and salt.

Food manufacturers create products by manipulating these ingredients to stimulate our appetites, setting in motion a cycle of desire and consumption that ends with a nation of overeaters. The End of Overeating explains for the first time why it is exceptionally difficult to resist certain foods and why it's so easy to overindulge. Dr. Kessler met with top scientists, physicians, and food industry insiders.

The End of Overeating uncovers the shocking facts about how we lost control over our eating habits and how we can get it back. Dr. Kessler presents groundbreaking research, along with what is sure to be a controversial view inside the industry that continues to feed a nation of overeaters from popular brand manufacturers to advertisers, chain restaurants, and fast food franchises.

For the millions of people struggling with weight as well as for those of us who simply don't understand why we can't seem to stop eating our favorite foods, Dr. Kessler's cutting-edge investigation offers new insights and helpful tools to help us find a solution. There has never been a more thorough, compelling, or in-depth analysis of why we eat the way we do.

"Dr. David Kessler has written a fascinating account of the science of human appetite, as well as its exploitation by the food industry. The End of Overeating is an invaluable contribution to the national conversation about the catastrophe that is the modern American diet." -Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food

"David A. Kessler, who led the battle against the tobacco industry, now joins the fight against obesity. His message is important: The problem is not only the behavior of profit-driven food companies, but also the daily choices that each one of us makes." -Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation

"A compelling book about overeating and the obesity pandemic. Dr. Kessler thoroughly examines the nature of our relationship with food and why it is critical to understand and modify our behavior to reverse this global threat to health and well-being." -David Satcher, former Surgeon General and director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Author Biography

DAVID A. KESSLER, MD, served as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration under presidents George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He is a pediatrician and has been the dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco. A graduate of Amherst College, the University of Chicago Law School, and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Kessler is the father of two and lives with his wife in California.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. xi
Introduction: You Are the Target	p. xv
Sugar, Fat, Salt
Something Changed … America Gained Weight	p. 3
Overriding the Wisdom of the Body	p. 7
Sugar, Fat, and Salt Make Us Eat More Sugar, Fat, and Salt	p. 12
The Business of Food: Creating Highly Rewarding Stimuli	p. 18
Pushing Up Our Settling Points	p. 22
Sugar, Fat, and Salt Are Reinforcing	p. 29
Amping Up the Neurons	p. 35
We Are Wired to Focus Attention on the Most Salient Stimuli	p. 41
Rewarding Foods Become Hot Stimuli	p. 46
Cues Activate Brain Circuits That Guide Behavior	p. 50
Emotions Make Food Memorable	p. 55
Rewarding Foods Rewire the Brain	p. 58
Eating Behavior Becomes a Habit	p. 61
The Food Industry
A Visit to Chili's	p. 67
Cinnabon: A Lesson in Irresistibility	p. 74
That's Entertainment	p. 78
The Era of the Monster Thickburger	p. 83
No Satisfaction	p. 94
Giving Them What They Like	p. 97
What Consumers Don't Know	p. 101
The Ladder of Irresistibility	p. 104
The World's Cuisine Becomes Americanized	p. 111
Nothing Is Real	p. 115
Optimize It!	p. 120
The Science of Selling	p. 125
Purple Cows	p. 132
Conditioned Hypereating Emerges
Overeating Becomes More Dangerous	p. 137
What Weight-Loss Drugs Can Teach Us	p. 142
Why We Don't Just Say No	p. 145
How We Become Trapped	p. 154
Conditioned Hypereating Emerges	p. 157
Tracing the Roots of Conditioned Hypereating	p. 163
Nature or Nurture?	p. 166
Warning Signs in Children	p. 169
The Culture of Overeating	p. 173
The Theory of Treatment
Invitations to the Brain	p. 181
Reversing the Habit	p. 184
Rules of Disengagement	p. 190
Emotional Learning	p. 196
Food Rehab
The Treatment Framework	p. 205
Planned Eating	p. 209
Letting Go of the Past	p. 217
Eating Is Personal	p. 226
Avoiding Traps: On Obsession and Relapse	p. 231
Making the Critical Perceptual Shift	p. 234
The End of Overeating
ôOur Success Is the Problemö	p. 239
Industry Cracks the Code	p. 242
Fighting Back	p. 245
A Final Word	p. 250
Q&A with Dr. Kessler	p. 253
Endnotes	p. 257
List Of Author Interviews	p. 311
Acknowledgments	p. 319
Index	p. 323
About The Author	p. 330
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