On today’s show Dr Fitness and the Fat Guy had on one of Dr Fitness’ favorite authors. Dr. David Kessler. He is the 
former Commissioner of the FDA (the same guy who changed food labels and took on the tobacco industry) and author of the bestselling book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite. This book will change the way you look at food. In the book Dr Kessler cracks the code to why you overeat. He explains that the food industry has literally made it a science to figure out exactly what makes food so delicious and addicting. He calls these foods hyper palatable. These hyper-palatable foods have been engineered in food labs to actually change your brain chemistry so that you crave and want to eat more. Restaurants and food manufacturers combine fat, sugar and salt in cleverly delicious ways to make you want it more and more. They have come up with foods that have never existed before and that humans desire with such demand that many of these companies are multi-billion dollar money machines. Dr Kessler explains why you overeat and gives you some ways to stop. And stopping is not as simple as trying harder and having willpower because these foods change your brain chemistry much like drugs or nicotine does. In order to stop you have to treat your favorite trigger foods much like an alcoholic treats liquor. You have to avoid it and avoid the places it is served. And you can’t connect the food with emotional memories. Try to reward yourself and celebrate in other ways rather than eating and going out to restaurants. To learn more please go to his website www.theendofovereatingbook.com
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Tags: author, book, david kessler, end of overeating, expert, fat, fda, food, food labels, hyper palatable foods, restaurant, salt, sugar
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See (or listen to Taubes interview).
I loved Kessler’s book until I read “Good Calories, Bad Calories.” Kessler is so worried about the manipulation of food by processors that he misses the real issue. People overeat, because they are hungry. The are hungry BECAUSE they are obese. They are obese because their chronically high insulin levels convert sugar into fat and push it into the adippose tissues. Food has no power. Hormones control weight. Nobody binges on eggs and cheese. If you weren’t hungry, you wouldn’t be tempted by the bombardment of stimuli. We are not powerless, we are simply misinformed. His suggestion to lay off processed foods is the only important idea in the book.
If you’re looking for a villian, the USDA’s suggestion to eat six to eleven servings of grain per day is the place to start.