A Survival Guide For The Culture Of Overeating

Certain foods are powerful.

They cast a spell over the most well-meaning dieter and cause logical people to overeat unhealthy foods until their sides hurt.

They occupy your thoughts to the point of obsession as you try to ignore a plate of cookies.

When it’s all said and done, they accumulate on your body in the most obtrusive way as a result of dozens of unused calories.

Why does food hold such power? Most importantly, how can you control your eating and survive?

The End of Overeating 

David A. Kessler, MD set out to answer these pressing questions in his instant bestseller, The End of Overeating. Despite being a pediatrician, a former FDA commissioner, and former dean of the medical schools at Yale and the University of California, San Francisco, Dr. Kessler struggles with his weight.

Observing the current obesity epidemic, he knew that he wasn’t alone.

Dr. Kessler, with the insight of some of the brightest minds in medicine and science, discovered the following three reasons that most of us are compelled to overeat.

1. An Irresistible Combination Rewires Your Brain
   Think of your favorite treat. Most likely it can be broken down into the basic building blocks of sugar, fat and salt. This combination is known of as the “three points of the compass,” a combination that has been shown to literally alter the biological circuitry of your brain.
 Sugar, fat and salt give food a high hedonic value which gives you pleasure. This pleasure reinforces you to return to your favorite foods time and time again.
2. The Food Industry Targets You
   Everywhere you go you’ll see the clever work of the food industry, tempting you with highly palatable creations. Food has become a science and your taste preferences the guiding light.

The food industry has one goal: to get you hooked. By constructing unhealthy food items that are high in sugar, fat and salt they know that you will come back time and time again.
3. 

   • Pinterest
   Conditioned Hyper-eating Becomes a Way of Life
   Humans are conditioned to seek more reward. When readily available, hyper palatable food become our reward a pattern of hyper-eating quickly emerges. Dr. Kessler describes the cycle: 

”Foods high in sugar, fat, and salt, and the cues that signal them, promote more of everything: more arousal…more thoughts of food…more urge to pursue food…more dopamine-stimulated approach behavior…more consumption…more opioid-driven reward…more overeating to feel better…more delay in feeling full…more loss of control…more preoccupation with food…more habit-driven behavior…and ultimately, more and more weight gain.”

Breaking the Cycle

The good news is that you don’t have to remain trapped in a cycle of overeating. The following three survival tips will put you back in control.

Set Your Rules

In order to resist overeating in today’s tempting food environment, you must eat by a set of self-imposed rules. Predetermined rules take away the need to make food decisions in vulnerable moments.

Dr. Kessler thinks these rules should be, “Simple enough to fit with your busy life, but specific enough to remove uncertainty from the food equation.” 

For suggestions as to what rules you should adopt, let’s turn to another authority on eating, bestselling author of In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan:

• Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
• Pay more, eat less. Look for quality of food over quantity.
• Eat meals. Cut out snacking, stick with structured meals.
• Don’t get your fuel from the same place your car does. Gas stations are great for fueling your car, but the foods they sell are not suited to fuel you.
• Try not to eat alone. Eating can become mindless when alone, leading to overeating.
• Eat slowly. Eat foods that have been prepared slowly – that mean no fast food.

Make Negative Associations

When was the last time you peeled a lemon and ate it whole? Probably never. That’s because your taste buds have a negative association with the sour taste. 

Our taste buds have traditionally been our guide when it comes to food selection, but this must change for you to successfully avoid overeating. Since the food industry purposely crafts food items to please your taste buds (not waistline) what tastes good can no longer dictate what you eat.

It’s up to you to create negative associations with unhealthy food to survive — despite their pleasing taste. Here are some negatives to focus on:

• Those extra calories will accumulate around your waist.
• Your health will suffer.
• You will become more disappointed with your appearance.
• You’ll feel sluggish.

Give Yourself a Real Reward

The bottom line is that we eat unhealthy food as a reward, even though it causes more harm that good. It’s time to give yourself a truly beneficial reward – exercise. 

Exercise is a healthy reward that will not only release endorphins into your system, but will also give you the benefit of weight loss and improved health.

I truly believe that you can overcome your pattern of overeating with healthy eating and regular exercise. I also believe that although the physical aspect of losing weight is important, one could not sustain and survive a healthy and fit lifestyle without a holistic and healthy balance of the three expressions of life, mind, body and spirit.

What tips would you like to share about how to avoid overeating?

 

 

Nordine Zouareg is a former Mr. Universe, an International Fitness Coach, Speaker and Author of the book Mind Over Body: The Key to Lasting Weight Loss is All in Your Head! He offers world-class advice on health and fitness, inner balance and stress management, and achieving one’s full potential the inner keys to extraordinary performance. An inspiring message of hope and achievement, based on his own extraordinary story. For more information, visit: www.NordineZ.com