The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler

The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The first two parts of this book were repeats of information that I already had. I skipped several chapters in these areas - "Sugar, Fat, Salt" and "The Food Industry". The author really enjoys repeating himself. It was almost as if he needed page filling. I learned a few new things in part 5, but the breaking of habits is better covered in the book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. This was the first time I heard the term conditioned hypereating. I assumed all overeating was based on the same kind of addictive mental processes as alcohol or other drugs. The problem is that you cannot stop eating. The author suggests making rules and sticking to them. If you know you cannot control yourself around french fries, stop eating them. Period. No excuses. Unfortunately, the human brain is really good at excuses. So the author does give a list of specific steps you can take to help you end your overeating. One of my favorites is probably "conditioning cues with negative associations" - this is like imagining your french fries are moldy disgusting sickness inducing sticks of rotten potatoes. That makes french fries a whole lot less appealing.

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