The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite

by David A. Kessler MD | Audiobooks |
ISBN: 074359679x Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingbooklady331wing of Cape Coral, Florida USA on 1/27/2010
Buy from one of these Booksellers:
Amazon.com | Amazon UK | Amazon CA | Amazon DE | Amazon FR | Amazon IT | Bol.com
6 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by wingbooklady331wing from Cape Coral, Florida USA on Wednesday, January 27, 2010
If you are new to BookCrossing and found this book and this site, Welcome!

You have in your hands a free gift. This book is yours to do with as you wish...read it, share it, keep it, pass it on!
I've registered this at BookCrossing.com so that I can keep up on where it goes, who reads it, and what they thought of it. If you like the BookCrossing concept, you might want to register yourself with a screen name, so that you can keep up on this book, and maybe release others also! It’s all confidential (you’re known only by your screen name and no one is ever given your e-mail address), fascinating, and fun!

Thank you for picking up this book. I'd love to see an entry letting me know it is safe with you. Do with it as you please... read it (or not!), give it to a friend, keep it, leave it in the wild - it's up to you! Enjoy! If you like you can mention me, booklady331, as the one who referred you.



Journal Entry 2 by wingbooklady331wing from Cape Coral, Florida USA on Tuesday, March 16, 2010
From Booklist
Kessler surveys the world of modern industrial food production and distribution as reflected in both restaurants and grocery stores. To his chagrin, he finds that the system foists on the American public foods overloaded with fats, sugars, and salt. Each of these elements, consumed in excess, has been linked to serious long-term health problems. Kessler examines iconic foods such as Cinnabon and Big Macs, all of which have skilled marketing machines promoting consumption. Such nutritionally unbalanced foods propel people who already tend to eat more than mere physical need might otherwise warrant into uncontrolled behavior patterns of irrational eating. These persistent psychological and sensory stimuli lead to what Kessler terms “conditioned hypereating,” which he believes is a disease rather than a failure of willpower. There is hope, however. Kessler identifies the cues that lead to overeating and offers some simple, practical tools to help control one’s impulses.

352 pages

Journal Entry 3 by wingbooklady331wing from Cape Coral, Florida USA on Tuesday, March 30, 2010
I have read many explanations for the so-called "obesity epidemic" in the U.S. Overeating, however, is clearly key.

Unfortunately Kessler's proposed solution -- essentially behavior modification based on a perceptual shift combined with showing the food industry the error of its ways -- is less compelling than his analysis of the problem. Kessler, you may recall, devoted much of his career as FDA Commissioner to exposing the tobacco industry's malevolence, which he documented in a book tellingly entitled A Question Of Intent: A Great American Battle With A Deadly Industry.

There is nothing particularly wrong about the content of the book, but the title is extremely misleading. Only one short chapter at the end of the book even discusses the subject (ending overeating), and then Dr. Kessler's suggestion is "eat sensibly" and "avoid temptation". Gee, my mom could have told me that. Come to think of it, she did.

9/10s of the book consist of information and interviews that Kessler has strung together about the food and restaurant industries, and they certainly are interesting. But does anyone really DOUBT that restaurants serve fattening foods? And that people overeat? Dr. Kessler tends to repeat himself.

How often do people eat there? 1-2 times a week, maybe. I don't think you can really place the blame on them, or MacDonald's (as in "Supersize Me"), because only a small minority of people have the money to eat every meal out. Do we eat out more than before? Yes -- but that's because women now work full time, and nobody is at home to cook nutritious mealsor they are too tired to cook.

I love food, but honestly many of the things he describes do not appeal to me in the way they clearly do to him, or the individuals he interviews. I think there is a LOT more individual variation than he acknowledges. In one example, he interviews four people, showing them various "irresistible foods" like Snicker bars. 2 are fat women, struggling with their overwhelming desire to eat. 1 is a thin woman, but who is in a constant struggle between eating what she likes and compulsive dieting to stay thin. The last is a thin man who exhibits no desire towards the food on display. Yet Kessler never questions for a second why it is a MALE who is not "turned on" by the chocolate-y treats, and females who are, nor does he analyze the ages of the women (are they menopausal? on hormones or birth control pills?) or their responsibilities (do they have to buy food for a family, cook, etc.?) or other ways in which the female body (metabolism, hormones, age, socialization, media imagery, former dieting) might play a role. For a doctor and researcher, he seems oddly incurious -- which again, makes me wonder how much is about HIS OWN struggles with resisting certain foods and how little is about real scientific research.

If the only solution is the old saw "eat less...eat sensibly...exercise more", then I am afraid this book has added nearly zero to the obesity debate. Everybody over the age of four knows this, and the vast majority of obese people (even those with serious medical issues) have failed at it. And if the changes are meant for the food industry, well, every restaurant from Applebees to Mickey D to the fanciest French eatery has a "lite" menu and diet selections...fast food places all now serve salads, grilled chicken and yogurt. And most customers don't order the lo-cal selections.

Sorry, but Dr. Kessler's advice has been tried -- and been found a total failure.

I am concerned about Dr. Kessler's solution to have the government mandate the restrauant business. This is scary. The three things we MUST have to live is air, water, and food. Do we really want the govenment controlling all three? If they do, they control the population.

Journal Entry 4 by wingbooklady331wing at audio bookbox in Audio Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Released 13 yrs ago (11/10/2010 UTC) at audio bookbox in Audio Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

Enjoy! For The THE release challenge 2010 into Carlissa's CD Only Bookbox

Journal Entry 5 by wingAzukiwing at Miami, Florida USA on Sunday, December 12, 2010
Taking this out of the box.

Journal Entry 6 by wingAzukiwing at Miami, Florida USA on Tuesday, November 29, 2011
This is an interesting take on the obesity epidemic. The research is quite fascinating, though at times it feels repetitive. I did gain new insights into how some people seems to resist food better than others, though I am not sure his rational approach to resisting food is doable by everybody. I also find it quite silly for him to approach the food manufacturers: so you tell them that their food, a combination of fat, salt and sugar, is so successful that people can't stop eating them. While I think some additives are harmful, and they sure can make healthier options, what do you expect these companies to do? Make something that people won't want more than a bite?

Also, the day I heard about how manufacturers hide their ingredients, I looked at my tub of ice cream, and sure enough - organic milk, organic cream, sugar, condensed skim milk, organic cane sugar! And this is a supposedly healthier brand!

Journal Entry 7 by wingAzukiwing at Audio Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases on Saturday, May 19, 2012

Released 11 yrs ago (5/19/2012 UTC) at Audio Bookbox, A Bookbox -- Controlled Releases

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Putting into BigJohnLefty's Another CD-Only Bookbox.

Journal Entry 8 by k00kaburra at San Jose, California USA on Wednesday, July 4, 2012
This book enjoyed a brief visit in San Jose, CA before continuing its journey in BigJohnLefty's "Another CD Only Bookbox!"

Journal Entry 9 by BigJohnLefty at Des Moines, Iowa USA on Sunday, August 12, 2012
This came back to me yesterday in my AudioBookBox. Will listen to soon.....

Journal Entry 10 by BigJohnLefty at Des Moines, Iowa USA on Thursday, September 13, 2012
With all the fiction I listen to, this was a good respite, and definitely much more interesting than the last non-fiction title I heard.....
Being already familiar with much of the material didn't stop me from getting a lot out of this, and I was particularly impressed with the author's solid grip on neuroscience as it relates to eating, despite what I would call an overt bias towards behavioral psychology (my least favorite branch of the discipline), so yeah, I concur at least in spirit with comments by others who've listened to the book. I was not shocked by the information about the role that chemistry plays in the production of what we eat, having read Fast Food Nation within the last year.
The only criticism I have of the author is that he missed the point (albeit an extrememly minor one in the grand scheme of the book's premise) entirely when discussing the "french paradox" - quite simply, the fact that many europeans are much healthier because it is more common for them to go to the market everyday and therefore always cook fresh food, even if many of them do things like slather brie with butter......

I recommend this book highly for anyone who wants to have a deep understanding of nutrition in America.
.... and the fact that there are far longer journal entries on it here (on my part and that of others) is testimony to the fact that, well, it at least makes you think.



will release into a box soon.....

Journal Entry 11 by BigJohnLefty at Des Moines, Iowa USA on Tuesday, September 18, 2012
am putting into the VBB on BookObsessed.....

Journal Entry 12 by BigJohnLefty at Des Moines, Iowa USA on Thursday, December 20, 2012

Released 11 yrs ago (12/20/2012 UTC) at Des Moines, Iowa USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

putting this into booklady331's audiobookbox.
hope it finds a good home....

Journal Entry 13 by k00kaburra at San Jose, California USA on Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Might be keeping this one.

Journal Entry 14 by k00kaburra at San Jose, California USA on Tuesday, March 5, 2013
Started listening the day before yesterday.

Journal Entry 15 by k00kaburra at San Jose, California USA on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Finished yesterday.

I pretty much agree with booklady331's analysis, so rather than repeat her I'll just point you in the general direction of her comments above.

Journal Entry 16 by k00kaburra at -- Bookbox, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA on Thursday, March 14, 2013

Released 11 yrs ago (3/14/2013 UTC) at -- Bookbox, -- By post or by hand/ in person -- USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

adding to BigJohnLefty's Bookbox!

Journal Entry 17 by rebekkila at Lansing, Michigan USA on Friday, September 13, 2013
I pulled this from BigJohnLefty's audio bookbox.

Journal Entry 18 by rebekkila at Lansing, Michigan USA on Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Released 9 yrs ago (4/30/2014 UTC) at Lansing, Michigan USA

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This is going into BigJohnLefty's audio bookbox.

Journal Entry 19 by weiterferne at Houston, Texas USA on Saturday, May 10, 2014
I am taking out this one. Good that it is more about 'facts' than miracle therapies for overeating. We all know that, but I am curious about the food industry part. (When I moved from Europe to the US I gained 14 pound in about 3 months. Being shocked when the scale arrived in the container I really had to learn how to eat properly in this challenging environment again.)

Journal Entry 20 by weiterferne at Houston, Texas USA on Wednesday, July 9, 2014
I enjoyed all the facts about animal experiments and how the food industry works with ingredients. It explains human behaviours well. As already said, the tips to stop overeating are not new nor overly helpful.

Are you sure you want to delete this item? It cannot be undone.