In his new book “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite” Dr Kessler explores the ways in which the food industry has combined and created foods that tap into our brain circuitry and stimulate our desire for more.
In a recent experiment, Dr Kessler bought chocolate chip cookies and simply stared at them before leaving the house. Feeling victorious at not opening the packet, he stopped to get some coffee and found himself gobbling down cookies at the store.
Dr Kessler explains that foods today are more than just a combination of ingredients. By combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, the food industry has essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a loop that stimulates our desire to eat more and more, even if we’re full. He warns that his book is not a diet book, but rather an exploration of us.
Dr Kessler shares his thoughts:
The fundamental question, when you look at food, is this: Is it real food, or is it food that is layered and loadedd It’s easy to look at food and see what else is being layered on top of protein. I don’t have a problem with a plain hamburger — its adding cheese and bacon. Also, you want a reasonable amount of food that you can control. Today if you put large amounts of food in front of me, I don’t want it. But I used to go through big portions in an instant. We each have to decide what we find rewarding, and then decide how we control it.
Everybody is different. For me it may be chocolate-covered pretzels. The one thing I can assure you: At the core, it’s fat, sugar and salt. Not everything activates each of us the same. Here’s the fundamental point: We are wired to focus on the most salient stimuli in our environment. If your kid is sick today, that’s what you think about.
For some people its sex, gambling, alcohol. For many of us it’s food. And within that category, different types of food are salient. You have to condition yourself to take the power out of the stimulus.
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