What drives us to desire a milkshake?
Why is it so hard to control our overeating?
How can we gain control back?
Dr. David Kessler is famous for passionately taking on the tobacco industry. In the following inspiring presentation on Fora TV Dr Kessler takes on the food industry and advertising industry and shows how we have been manipulated into overeating. We have also provided a summary transcript below.
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We all suffer from loss of control in the sight of highly palatable foods (sugar, fat) to varying degrees. Even though in many cases it’s not nutritional and never satisfies us. Despite this junk food somehow captures us. Dr. Kessler explains why.
How our attention gets captured.
We are conditioned to over eat.
If you want to live longer and stay alive what can you do ?
Research has shown that 75% of people die from the following big three causes:
- Cardiovascular Disease
- Cancer
- Stroke
If you look at these diseases and ask what is preventable, then obesity ranks high as one of the biggest factors.
Scientists have shown that animals eat excessively when given an unlimited supply of food. They also found that three foods in particular drive food intake more than any others:
- Sugar
- Fat
- Salt
Individually sugar rather than fat or salt makes animals work harder to get more. Fat plus sugar even more so. Sugar, fat and salt together stimulate food intake the most.
Advertising adds an extra layer. The emotional aspect e.g. happiness, desire. Also the more multi-sensory (packaging, texture, color) you make food, the more we want it.
Food is powerful (more so than tobacco) because it is rewarding – it changes how we feel. We anticipate it based on past memories and the reward center of our brains.
Repeat exposure to highly palatable foods (sugar,fat,salt) changes the circuitry of our brains so it is no longer a matter of will power. We become conditioned.
We have always eaten highly palatable foods, but in the past they were not as available or as socially acceptable. For example people didn’t walk around drinking cola, chocolates or potato crisps. Also set meal times were adhered to.
Why Don’t Diets Work
What changed to make smoking less socially acceptable? We changed the perception of it being cool and socially acceptable to smoke. It’s no longer glamorous and sexy. But food is harder, since we need food to live. Deprivation only stimulates the reward mechanism more so and when faced with stimuli we will revert back.
We need to be careful. Conditioned and driven behaviors have enabled the human race to survive over the millennia. Learning and reward pathways are what makes us human. It’s what drives us. We need to work with them not against them.
Exercise is critical i.e. it’s a substitute reward but it’s not enough. We must realize when we are stimulated and manipulated and what is going on in our minds. This is the first step.
Next time you eat something. Ask what the trigger was that made you hungry. People who stay thin learn how to make good substitute rewards. This is the key.
For more information your can read Dr Kessler’s new book – “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite”
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Interesting post. I try to avoid the artificial sugar rush by only consuming natural sugars and lost of vegetables. A cherished small dessert I consume once a day.