The End of Overeating by David Kessler

Have you ever read or heard something that resonated through you like a tuning fork?  I graduated from the University of Montevallo with a B.A. in English and all graduates (as far as I know) had to take a Senior Capstone Seminar in their major.  That is where I had a teacher who spoke of literature and the resonance it can have when the reader REALLY identifies with the material.  It is something that elicits a feeling in your bones, good or bad.  This is what this entire book was for me.  Every page was an aha-moment.

I first learned about this book when I heard Dr. Kessler's interview on NPR.  If you are interested, you can listen here and here.  Many of the comments on the website are negative, saying nothing about this is new.  The FDA and food industry has known about this for years.  People have written about it again and again.  Kessler is behind on his research, blah, blah, blah.  You know what, it's new and exciting and life changing for me.  I have never heard about this.  I don't care if it isn't cutting edge.  I don't care. 

So many times, I have felt like a failure.  I have felt like I have no willpower.  I have felt like I was too weak to resist the things I love.  Kessler's research proposes that what all this comes down to is conditioned hypereating.  Your brain chemistry wires itself to make you respond to food rewards, like a rat in a lab.  Super palative food does make you feel better, your brain remembers that it did, so when you are in a position to see, remember, or smell this food your brain cues up the anticipation of the award.  I know I'm rambling but I am just super excited by everything I read in this book about what pushes conditioned hypereaters to overeat.  The compulsion, the drive to eat is so well explained that I just said, "Aha! That is exactly what I feel like!"

I will be buying a copy of this book for my personal bookshelf ImMeDiAtElY.  I want to make notes and be able to browse through it whenever I want.  If you don't struggle with food, good for you.  But if you do, I firmly believe you should read this.