The End of Overeating

I just finished reading The End of Overeating by David Kessler, M.D. The author says we are preconditioned for hypereating. It's a brain thing, not a willpower thing. The fat, sugar, and salt that we consume in processed foods and restaurants makes us want more even though we don't want to eat more. If that makes any sense. It does to me. Like alcoholics who don't want to drink because they know the consequences, but they drink anyway. One drink sets up the phenomenon of craving. He writes about the cue-urge-reward. See the candy bar, want the candy bar, eat the candy bar even though you are not hungry. And then come the self-recriminations.

He has a rehab plan that I need to reread. Awareness of the cues, right-size meals, support, and pretty much total abstinence from the trigger foods. Easier said than done with TV commercials, billboards, and fast food places on every corner. Ever vigilant.

He feels that eventually a piece of something with fat, sugar, and salt will be safe to eat. I am not so sure. Once in the body, the brain tells you to have another. And another. You deserve it. You have been so "good," worked so hard, blah, blah, blah.

The brain is sometimes our worst enemy.