BOOK REVIEWS: The End of Overeating

The End of Overeating

Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite
By David A. Kessler, M.D. Rodale Press, 2009; 320 pg, $25.95

The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler, M.D. is both an enlightening and disturbing book. Kessler is former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, a pediatrician, a professor of Pediatrics, Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California/San Francisco, and a confessed recovering foodaholic, which makes his book poignant and readable.

His theory about eating and weight is that "constant access to sugar plus fat plus salt pushes up" what he terms "our settling point," or what we used to call our set point, the range within which our weight is alleged to fall naturally. Excess sugar, fat and salt, he claims, is doing nothing less than dangerously altering our biochemistry. As if that"s not disturbing enough, he interviews food industry representatives who readily acknowledge trying to seduce our brains and bodies into eating junk because they want to make a buck. They make food "hyper palatable" by: packaging that says food will make you happier/feel better/more hip/have fun; balancing sugar, fat and salt to generate a release of dopamine (the feel good neurotransmitter) in your brain"s reward center so you"ll crave more food; developing food that"s irresistibly multi-sensory by adding and balancing exciting flavors and textures; and by mega-sizing portions to trick your brain into thinking you"re not satiated.

Kessler advocates fighting back by assigning "big food" negative associations rather than swallowing the positive spin the industry puts on it. He wants restaurant menus to list calories, fat, and added sugar; public education campaigns to tackle the issue of "big food" head on; and government to monitor and regulate food marketing. To his credit, he says that the goal for most people is to be able to eat all foods at some point.

A decade ago I would have ranted against his restrictive approach, but now I"m not so sure. I"ve had clients who"ve gone from excessive unwanted eating to "normal" eating, but I"ve had others who simply could not make this leap and chose to refrain from eating sugar without feeling deprived. Kessler insists that to permanently change eating habits, we have to avoid hyper-palatable foods until unhealthy behaviors are extinguished. There is excellent science behind staying away until the hot spots of our brains cool down, as long as we don"t feel deprived or rebel against the "shoulds" of not being "allowed" to eat them. I don"t need to agree with every word Kessler writes to appreciate the many fine points he makes in this ground-breaking book.