My Food Revolution: 'The End of Overeating'

When I first started on becoming healthier I had heard why eating out was a bad idea but the author's focus was more on eating healthier overall and he didn't delve into the science behind it. I had decided to limit going out to eat as it was harder to do when I was spending more on fresh produce as that food has an expiration date. So I focused instead on making homecooked meals and changing my diet towards eating healthy. I found that eating healthier was not as hard financially as many claim it is, when you go out to eat more often the food you have in the fridge that expires and then you have to buy more, wasting food and money. When I stopped throwing away food, I noticed there wasn't that big of a difference in terms of how much money I spent. I still occasionally went out to eat with friends, but felt somewhat guilty for doing so.

So when a friend recommended The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler, MD. I decided to read it. Finding it was only $2.99 prompted a quick buy and immediate reading. While I'm only halfway through the book here's my first impression.

1. The food that's super bad for you actually changes your neural pathways to reinforce the action of you eating it. This is essentially making food a drug but without the abundance of warnings and access to food at every corner on every street.
2. Some people literally cannot stop thinking about food. I have never understood this as I am not one of those people but to see how people describe their suffering is very similar to what an alcoholic goes through, it's fascinating and frustrating at the same time.
3. Chain restaurants are basically fast food places where you sit down and pay more. There's practically as much frying and processed food on your plate as there is when you eat from McDonald's. Your food isn't being cooked, it's being manufactured, so can we really call it food anymore?
4. Scientist are finding interesting studies showing how 'highly palatable' food is changing the pathways in animals and food manufacturers are using this information for a profit at the expense of our health.
5. We need to stop using food to reward good behavior or soothe us when we are stressed as it reinforces the 'desire' for food and forms habits that soon become automatic.

If this isn't enough to entice you to read the book then I don't know what is. The fact that the food industry not only puts so much fat, sugar and salt in their food to make us unhealthy but do it because it's addictive is a sign that we all need to educate ourselves. If after reading books on these topics we choose to eat the same way many currently do then that's a decision, it's a choice that was made after finding out all the facts. Because if we were to be honest, we know very little about what we're putting in our bodies, why we crave it and how to break the habits.