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

Posted on July 6th, 2009 by Weight Loss Reviews

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

Most of us know what it feels like to fall under the spell of food—when one slice of pizza turns into half a pie, or a handful of chips leads to an empty bag. But it’s harder to understand why we can’t seem to stop eating—even when we know better. When we want so badly to say “no,” why do we continue to reach for food?

Dr. David Kessler, the dynamic former FDA commissioner who reinvented the food label and tackled the tobacco industry, now reveals how the food industry has hijacked the brains of millions of Americans. The result? America’s number-one public health issue. Dr. Kessler cracks the code of overeating by explaining how our bodies and minds are changed when we consume foods that contain sugar, fat, and salt. Food manufacturers create products by manipulating these ingredients to stimulate our appetites, setting in motion a cycle of desire and consumption that ends with a nation of overeaters. The End of Overeating explains for the first time why it is exceptionally difficult to resist certain foods and why it’s so easy to overindulge.

Dr. Kessler met with top scientists, physicians, and food industry insiders. The End of Overeating uncovers the shocking facts about how we lost control over our eating habits—and how we can get it back. Dr. Kessler presents groundbreaking research, along with what is sure to be a controversial view inside the industry that continues to feed a nation of overeaters—from popular brand manufacturers to advertisers, chain restaurants, and fast food franchises.

For the millions of people struggling with weight as well as for those of us who simply don’t understand why we can’t seem to stop eating our favorite foods, Dr. Kessler’s cutting-edge investigation offers new insights and helpful tools to help us find a solution.

There has never been a more thorough, compelling, or in-depth analysis of why we eat the way we do.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars no excuses after reading this book….
If you’re a diet junkie (like most Americans) whose attempts to keep the weight off have proved futile, read this book, and you’ll know beyond a doubt just WHY you’re such a failure. The facts Kessler presents about the brain-body collusion on the one hand, along with the unscruplous U.S. food industry’s role in keeping our brains coked up on the other, are as clear as the fat, salt, and sugar layered in your Cheesecake Factory appetizer. Once you’ve been debriefed this thoroughly about the consequences of food-as-megadrug, there’s really no way to pretend that you’re defenseless against insatiable hunger. This should be the only “diet book” you’ll ever need.

3 Stars Not terribly insightful . . .
I found this book only marginally insightful. The basic premise is that foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt are virtually addictive, and the food industry works hard to create and market these foods. Some may find this surprising, but this seems like old news to me. The chief problem I found with the book is that, at least to my mind, Dr. Kessler did not focus sufficiently on the extreme unhealthfulness of these foods and how over-consumption of modern foods sets people up for truly dreadful diseases, including diabetes. Kessler’s idea of controlling one’s intake of these foods was more focused on changing one’s thought process to something like “I won’t have that food because I know I will feel terrible about myself afterwards.” For me at least, knowing I won’t feel good about myself after eating certain foods was not enough for me to stop eating them. I stopped only after I genuinely understood, from other sources, how terribly unhealthy many of the foods in the Western diet are for us (including sugary foods, and foods made with refined flours and high-fructose corn syrup). I am not only longer attracted to these foods, but I actually find them disgusting and repellant. I would spend my money on books like Real Foods (Nina Planck), Omnivore’s Dilemma, and In Defense of Food. I found these books far more helpful in thinking about food choices. Also, I found the format of the book somewhat scattered and unfocused.

5 Stars Good Information To Uplift
I can’t enough of the insightful information. I’d like to see more tips and tools that have been clinically used with long term success for the CURE. Check out Not Your Mother’s Diet on Amazon as a companion book to this one.

5 Stars Awareness breaks the addiction.
Like others, I believe this book is well-written and an easy read. However, for me the value lies in the awareness of how I’ve been led into overeating. That awareness now allows (helps) me break the addiction to sugar, fats and salt. Some of the edible substances (it’s difficult to call them food anymore, since they provide “pleasure” rather than proper nourishment) I’ve been addicted to: chocolate bars, ice cream, potato and corn chips.

It seems so much easier to keep the mindset that I just do not need such things anymore.

5 Stars This book will make you mad!!!
There have been many accurate reviews here but I had to add my own. I love this book, but it will make you so mad at how the food industry has taken advantage of you and ruined your health. One of my favorite points in the book was that non-American cultures take good food and combine it in interesting ways. In America, we take cheap food, salt it, roll it in fat, smother it in sugar, roll it in fat a few more times and then serve it as food. This is a must read for anyone who cares about their health.

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