More thoughts on The End of Overeating (David Kessler's book)

[supernova]

I bought this book last weekend and have slowly been reading it over breakfast every day. I'm about 1/2 way through it now. Still stuck at what he's uncovered talking to food industry consultants.

Dayum! Kessler hits the food industry right between the eyes!

It's one thing to be suspicious of the food that we have on offer now and try to adjust my eating accordingly. Over the years, I've increasingly gone organic, and local when possible. And eating whole foods as opposed to processed stuff. I'm lucky since I live in an agricultural area with lots of great local farmers and farmers markets. Especially fun now that it's summer and great produce is coming in.

And I love his "it's happening to me too" sympathy that runs through the book. It's just adorable. At the same time, he never loses sight of the science of *why* those chocolate chip cookies have such a strong pull.

But I did not realize the extent to which we are deliberately being overfed. Every processed product is designed to be drug-like in its qualities, guaranteeing we will purchase that product again and again and again.

It's positively diabolical! :evilfrown:

While I realized chain restaurants used prepared food as a time-saver, I a didn't realize that restaurants also engage in this behavior of deliberately ramping up flavors and ingredients that make foods addicting.

:wow:

I will not look at food the same way, ever.

[hedgehog]

1. I think Dr. Kessler has an interesting theory, but no real proof.

Anecdotal evidence from an expert is still anecdote.

I am of the opinion that the real problem is that people aren't eating real food. For example, the meat from corn fed cattle has a different nutrient profile from the meat from grass fed cattle. The fact that organic foods taste different from non-organics is to me evidence that the nutrients are missing from most of our food.

Compare typical sliced white bread to an actual loaf of home made bread and you wouldn't believe the two items are both called bread.

The ingredient list on store bought cookies or store bought cakes have nothing to do with the recipes in a typical cook book.

It's not just that people are eating too much, but that they can't get hold of actual food, IMO.

He has probably pointed out part of a complex picture, but only part.

Dr. Kessler needs to instigate real long range experiments to investigate this problem.

[supernova]

2. You're not disagreeing with him

He does address the fact that so many products are made from taste-alike chemicals, rather than the real food ingredients anymore.

Those chemicals mean they can make more product more cheaply. That's the obvious part. The obscure part is that they can add in more flavoring, making the tasting/eating/consuming experience more complex. And in the case of solid food, making it less bulky so that you need to chew less, therefore you can consume more product.

[Tobin S.]

3. Scientific evidence is quoted extensively throughout the book

Also, I was already doing a lot of what he says before I read the book. I've lost 92 pounds. That's enough proof for me.

[Big Blue Marble]

4. Have you read the book?

Everything he claims is backed by scientific research. Research that the food industry uses everyday to bamboozle us.

[supernova]

5. He does a great job

of reviewing the existing literature on the research about stimuli and response, cues in the environment and so on. How the brain lights up in response to stimuli and the consumption of a very desirable food. He also delves into studies that weren't designed for this phenomenon, but finds it there too. There was one heart study that was following subjects for the possibility of acquiring heart disease. As part of that study, people were asked about their attitudes and habits about food. There too, about 1/3 of people reported that they had a hard time controlling what they ate.

[hedgehog]

6. I hadn't picked up the book because all the interviews make

it sound like a series of anecdotes. It sounded as if he had a new way of saying that people are overweight because they don't have the will power to eat less. Now that I've heard he has some science in there, I'll be sure to take a look.

[MountainLaurel]

7. Listening to it on CD

Everyday I tell my husband something else I've learned. (He accidentally listened to about 10 minutes of it in the car, because he thought it was an NPR piece on the radio.) One of the more interesting bits for me so far was the section on the role of dopamine in the pleasure response and food cravings. It made me realize that in all likelihood I've been self-medicating my depression with cake and chocolate and a million other sugary, fat products. Also, I will never think about restaurant meals without looking at how the fat, sugar, and salt layer up.

I can't wait for whatever I will learn next!

[supernova]

8. How far along are you now?

I really enjoyed that aspect of it, learning about the neural pathways and how similar food addiction can be to drug addiction, even at a very low level.

It made me very much more watchful of what I eat because now I know what's happening in my brain when I say, I LOVE a food and MUST HAVE IT.

[hedgehog]

9. I read the book and find myself questioning a lot of the conclusions.

For example, it seems to me that the assumptions that rat behaviors transfer so directly to human behavior are too facile.

He documents how chain restaurants manipulate food with chemicals to maximize appeal and profit. Oddly enough, although I am overweight, I find most restaurant food unappetizing because I am aware of all the artificial ingredients and extra sugar. I bake my own bread and pastries. My kitchen has never smelled like a Cinnobon store.

So, while Dr. Kessler explains what's going on for some people, and offers good advice to everyone, he leaves a lot of questions on the table. In the opening chapters, he describes an overweight woman, a normal weight woman and a normal weight man and their reaction to M&M's. Both women crave the candy, but only one is overweight. What is the difference? Why do both women find themselves obsessively thinking of food? Why isn't the man obsessive about food?

The glaring question that goes unanswered is this: Dr. Kessler states that c. 1980, not only did obesity rates rise precipitously, but that overweight people were even more overweight than they had been in prior years. So what happened c.1980? Was it a general life style change so more people were eating out more often? Was it a change in what people ate? Was it a change in the amount and/or make-up of hidden sugar content (HFCS)?


All in all, I think Dr. Kessler's book raises more questions than it answers.