"Conditioned Hypereating" :a willpower-sapping drive to eat
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Phoenix_Rising
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Soliciting your opinion on the following article, please .
WHEN UNHEALTHY FOODS HIJACK OVEREATERS' BRAINS
WASHINGTON – Food hijacked Dr. David Kessler's brain. Not apples or carrots. The scientist who once led the government's attack on addictive cigarettes can't wander through part of San Francisco without craving a local shop's chocolate-covered pretzels. Stop at one cookie? Rarely.
It's not an addiction but it's similar, and he's far from alone. Kessler's research suggests millions share what he calls "conditioned hypereating" — a willpower-sapping drive to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods even when they're not hungry.
In a book being published next week, the former Food and Drug Administration chief brings to consumers the disturbing conclusion of numerous brain studies: Some people really do have a harder time resisting bad foods. It's a new way of looking at the obesity epidemic that could help spur fledgling movements to reveal calories on restaurant menus or rein in portion sizes.
"The food industry has figured out what works. They know what drives people to keep on eating," Kessler tells The Associated Press. "It's the next great public health campaign, of changing how we view food, and the food industry has to be part of it."
He calls the culprits foods "layered and loaded" with combinations of fat, sugar and salt — and often so processed that you don't even have to chew much.
Overeaters must take responsibility, too, and basically retrain their brains to resist the lure, he cautions.
"I have suits in every size," Kessler writes in "The End of Overeating." But, "once you know what's driving your behavior, you can put steps into place" to change it.
At issue is how the brain becomes primed by different stimuli. Neuroscientists increasingly report that fat-and-sugar combinations in particular light up the brain's dopamine pathway — its pleasure-sensing spot — the same pathway that conditions people to alcohol or drugs.
Where did you experience the yum factor? That's the cue, sparking the brain to say, "I want that again!" as you drive by a restaurant or plop before the TV.
"You're not even aware you've learned this," says Dr. Nora Volkow, chief of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a dopamine authority who has long studied similarities between drug addiction and obesity.
Volkow is a confessed chocoholic who salivates just walking past her laboratory's vending machine. "You have to fight it and fight it," she said.
Conditioning isn't always to blame. Numerous factors, including physical activity, metabolism and hormones, play a role in obesity.
And the food industry points out that increasingly stores and restaurants are giving consumers healthier choices, from allowing substitutions of fruit for french fries to selling packaged foods with less fat and salt.
But Kessler, now at the University of California, San Francisco, gathered colleagues to help build on that science and learn why some people have such a hard time choosing healthier:
_First, the team found that even well-fed rats will work increasingly hard for sips of a vanilla milkshake with the right fat-sugar combo but that adding sugar steadily increases consumption. Many low-fat foods substitute sugar for the removed fat, doing nothing to help dieters eat less, Kessler and University of Washington researchers concluded.
_Then Kessler culled data from a major study on food habits and health. Conditioned hypereaters reported feeling loss of control over food, a lack of satiety, and were preoccupied by food. Some 42 percent of them were obese compared to 18 percent without those behaviors, says Kessler, who estimates that up to 70 million people have some degree of conditioned hypereating.
_Finally, Yale University neuroscientist Dana Small had hypereaters smell chocolate and taste a chocolate milkshake inside a brain-scanning MRI machine. Rather than getting used to the aroma, as is normal, hypereaters found the smell more tantalizing with time. And drinking the milkshake didn't satisfy. The reward-anticipating region of their brains stayed switched on, so that another brain area couldn't say, "Enough!"
People who aren't overweight can be conditioned hypereaters, too, Kessler found — so it's possible to control.
Take Volkow, the chocolate-loving neuroscientist. She's lean, and a self-described compulsive exerciser. Physical activity targets the dopamine pathway, too, a healthy distraction.
Smoking didn't start to drop until society's view of it as glamorous and sexy started changing, to view the habit as deadly, Kessler notes.
Unhealthy food has changed in the other direction. Foods high in fat, sugar and salt tend to be cheap; they're widely sold; and advertising links them to good friends and good times, even as social norms changed to make snacking anytime, anywhere acceptable.
Retrain the brain to think, "I'll hate myself if I eat that," Kessler advises. Lay down new neural reward circuits by substituting something else you enjoy, like a bike ride or a healthier food.
Make rules to resist temptation: "I'm going to the mall but bypassing the food court."
And avoid cues for bad eating whenever possible. Always go for the nachos at your friends' weekend gathering spot? Start fresh at another restaurant.
"I've learned to eat things I like but things I can control," Kessler says. But he knows the old circuitry dies hard: "You stress me enough and I'll go pick up that bagel."
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_he_me/med_healthbeat_overeating)
WHEN UNHEALTHY FOODS HIJACK OVEREATERS' BRAINS
WASHINGTON – Food hijacked Dr. David Kessler's brain. Not apples or carrots. The scientist who once led the government's attack on addictive cigarettes can't wander through part of San Francisco without craving a local shop's chocolate-covered pretzels. Stop at one cookie? Rarely.
It's not an addiction but it's similar, and he's far from alone. Kessler's research suggests millions share what he calls "conditioned hypereating" — a willpower-sapping drive to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods even when they're not hungry.
In a book being published next week, the former Food and Drug Administration chief brings to consumers the disturbing conclusion of numerous brain studies: Some people really do have a harder time resisting bad foods. It's a new way of looking at the obesity epidemic that could help spur fledgling movements to reveal calories on restaurant menus or rein in portion sizes.
"The food industry has figured out what works. They know what drives people to keep on eating," Kessler tells The Associated Press. "It's the next great public health campaign, of changing how we view food, and the food industry has to be part of it."
He calls the culprits foods "layered and loaded" with combinations of fat, sugar and salt — and often so processed that you don't even have to chew much.
Overeaters must take responsibility, too, and basically retrain their brains to resist the lure, he cautions.
"I have suits in every size," Kessler writes in "The End of Overeating." But, "once you know what's driving your behavior, you can put steps into place" to change it.
At issue is how the brain becomes primed by different stimuli. Neuroscientists increasingly report that fat-and-sugar combinations in particular light up the brain's dopamine pathway — its pleasure-sensing spot — the same pathway that conditions people to alcohol or drugs.
Where did you experience the yum factor? That's the cue, sparking the brain to say, "I want that again!" as you drive by a restaurant or plop before the TV.
"You're not even aware you've learned this," says Dr. Nora Volkow, chief of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a dopamine authority who has long studied similarities between drug addiction and obesity.
Volkow is a confessed chocoholic who salivates just walking past her laboratory's vending machine. "You have to fight it and fight it," she said.
Conditioning isn't always to blame. Numerous factors, including physical activity, metabolism and hormones, play a role in obesity.
And the food industry points out that increasingly stores and restaurants are giving consumers healthier choices, from allowing substitutions of fruit for french fries to selling packaged foods with less fat and salt.
But Kessler, now at the University of California, San Francisco, gathered colleagues to help build on that science and learn why some people have such a hard time choosing healthier:
_First, the team found that even well-fed rats will work increasingly hard for sips of a vanilla milkshake with the right fat-sugar combo but that adding sugar steadily increases consumption. Many low-fat foods substitute sugar for the removed fat, doing nothing to help dieters eat less, Kessler and University of Washington researchers concluded.
_Then Kessler culled data from a major study on food habits and health. Conditioned hypereaters reported feeling loss of control over food, a lack of satiety, and were preoccupied by food. Some 42 percent of them were obese compared to 18 percent without those behaviors, says Kessler, who estimates that up to 70 million people have some degree of conditioned hypereating.
_Finally, Yale University neuroscientist Dana Small had hypereaters smell chocolate and taste a chocolate milkshake inside a brain-scanning MRI machine. Rather than getting used to the aroma, as is normal, hypereaters found the smell more tantalizing with time. And drinking the milkshake didn't satisfy. The reward-anticipating region of their brains stayed switched on, so that another brain area couldn't say, "Enough!"
People who aren't overweight can be conditioned hypereaters, too, Kessler found — so it's possible to control.
Take Volkow, the chocolate-loving neuroscientist. She's lean, and a self-described compulsive exerciser. Physical activity targets the dopamine pathway, too, a healthy distraction.
Smoking didn't start to drop until society's view of it as glamorous and sexy started changing, to view the habit as deadly, Kessler notes.
Unhealthy food has changed in the other direction. Foods high in fat, sugar and salt tend to be cheap; they're widely sold; and advertising links them to good friends and good times, even as social norms changed to make snacking anytime, anywhere acceptable.
Retrain the brain to think, "I'll hate myself if I eat that," Kessler advises. Lay down new neural reward circuits by substituting something else you enjoy, like a bike ride or a healthier food.
Make rules to resist temptation: "I'm going to the mall but bypassing the food court."
And avoid cues for bad eating whenever possible. Always go for the nachos at your friends' weekend gathering spot? Start fresh at another restaurant.
"I've learned to eat things I like but things I can control," Kessler says. But he knows the old circuitry dies hard: "You stress me enough and I'll go pick up that bagel."
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_he_me/med_healthbeat_overeating)
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Soliciting your opinion on the following article, please .
WHEN UNHEALTHY FOODS HIJACK OVEREATERS' BRAINS
WASHINGTON – Food hijacked Dr. David Kessler's brain. Not apples or carrots. The scientist who once led the government's attack on addictive cigarettes can't wander through part of San Francisco without craving a local shop's chocolate-covered pretzels. Stop at one cookie? Rarely.
It's not an addiction but it's similar, and he's far from alone. Kessler's research suggests millions share what he calls "conditioned hypereating" — a willpower-sapping drive to eat high-fat, high-sugar foods even when they're not hungry.
In a book being published next week, the former Food and Drug Administration chief brings to consumers the disturbing conclusion of numerous brain studies: Some people really do have a harder time resisting bad foods. It's a new way of looking at the obesity epidemic that could help spur fledgling movements to reveal calories on restaurant menus or rein in portion sizes.
"The food industry has figured out what works. They know what drives people to keep on eating," Kessler tells The Associated Press. "It's the next great public health campaign, of changing how we view food, and the food industry has to be part of it."
He calls the culprits foods "layered and loaded" with combinations of fat, sugar and salt — and often so processed that you don't even have to chew much.
Overeaters must take responsibility, too, and basically retrain their brains to resist the lure, he cautions.
"I have suits in every size," Kessler writes in "The End of Overeating." But, "once you know what's driving your behavior, you can put steps into place" to change it.
At issue is how the brain becomes primed by different stimuli. Neuroscientists increasingly report that fat-and-sugar combinations in particular light up the brain's dopamine pathway — its pleasure-sensing spot — the same pathway that conditions people to alcohol or drugs.
Where did you experience the yum factor? That's the cue, sparking the brain to say, "I want that again!" as you drive by a restaurant or plop before the TV.
"You're not even aware you've learned this," says Dr. Nora Volkow, chief of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a dopamine authority who has long studied similarities between drug addiction and obesity.
Volkow is a confessed chocoholic who salivates just walking past her laboratory's vending machine. "You have to fight it and fight it," she said.
Conditioning isn't always to blame. Numerous factors, including physical activity, metabolism and hormones, play a role in obesity.
And the food industry points out that increasingly stores and restaurants are giving consumers healthier choices, from allowing substitutions of fruit for french fries to selling packaged foods with less fat and salt.
But Kessler, now at the University of California, San Francisco, gathered colleagues to help build on that science and learn why some people have such a hard time choosing healthier:
_First, the team found that even well-fed rats will work increasingly hard for sips of a vanilla milkshake with the right fat-sugar combo but that adding sugar steadily increases consumption. Many low-fat foods substitute sugar for the removed fat, doing nothing to help dieters eat less, Kessler and University of Washington researchers concluded.
_Then Kessler culled data from a major study on food habits and health. Conditioned hypereaters reported feeling loss of control over food, a lack of satiety, and were preoccupied by food. Some 42 percent of them were obese compared to 18 percent without those behaviors, says Kessler, who estimates that up to 70 million people have some degree of conditioned hypereating.
_Finally, Yale University neuroscientist Dana Small had hypereaters smell chocolate and taste a chocolate milkshake inside a brain-scanning MRI machine. Rather than getting used to the aroma, as is normal, hypereaters found the smell more tantalizing with time. And drinking the milkshake didn't satisfy. The reward-anticipating region of their brains stayed switched on, so that another brain area couldn't say, "Enough!"
People who aren't overweight can be conditioned hypereaters, too, Kessler found — so it's possible to control.
Take Volkow, the chocolate-loving neuroscientist. She's lean, and a self-described compulsive exerciser. Physical activity targets the dopamine pathway, too, a healthy distraction.
Smoking didn't start to drop until society's view of it as glamorous and sexy started changing, to view the habit as deadly, Kessler notes.
Unhealthy food has changed in the other direction. Foods high in fat, sugar and salt tend to be cheap; they're widely sold; and advertising links them to good friends and good times, even as social norms changed to make snacking anytime, anywhere acceptable.
Retrain the brain to think, "I'll hate myself if I eat that," Kessler advises. Lay down new neural reward circuits by substituting something else you enjoy, like a bike ride or a healthier food.
Make rules to resist temptation: "I'm going to the mall but bypassing the food court."
And avoid cues for bad eating whenever possible. Always go for the nachos at your friends' weekend gathering spot? Start fresh at another restaurant.
"I've learned to eat things I like but things I can control," Kessler says. But he knows the old circuitry dies hard: "You stress me enough and I'll go pick up that bagel."
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090421/ap_on_he_me/med_healthbeat_overeating)0 -
I only read that much if I am getting paid
hope that helps0 -
Thanks for the article!
It makes sense by pointing out what I've just figured out, most of the food offered in our society isn't real food. It has been chemically altered, artificially flavores, preserved,etc. Recent reading I've done explains (in agreement with this article)that our hormones get freaked out because they don't recognize the *food* we are feeding it so we crave more. And I like the fact the article doesn't give an *out*, still requires personal resposibility and self control!0 -
I only read that much if I am getting paid
hope that helps
You should stimulate your brain with reading. Pleasure reading.0 -
Thanks for the article!
I think it's a great article. Yes, there are biological factors that cause people to overeat BUT we can try to control them. I think it presents the argument fairly.0 -
Sweet! I should sue these people who target me because it's harder for me to stop eating so much bad food. Clearly, the people held responsible for my bad health should be punished.
Sorry, but if you like to eat, that's fine. Just work out then. It balances out. So again, we're at square one with unhealthy choices, but with yet another reason to point the finger at someone else besides ourselves.0 -
I really don't agree with his recommendation to say to yourself 'I'll hate myself if I eat that'. I don't think recommending people hate themselves--or even think about hating themselves--is really a valuable tool, especially since it wraps food around personal emotions and a sense of self-worth, which is what gets many people into trouble in the first place.
I think the best way to curb cravings is to change the habits and start craving new, healthy things. It can be done. In other words, I don't think people are helpless to fight the situation even though I agree that there is a certain science behind the cravings. But we also happen to live in a society where crap food is more abundant than healthy food so it makes simple sense that people crave unhealthy food more.0 -
Sweet! I should sue these people who target me because it's harder for me to stop eating so much bad food. Clearly, the people held responsible for my bad health should be punished.
Sorry, but if you like to eat, that's fine. Just work out then. It balances out. So again, we're at square one with unhealthy choices, but with yet another reason to point the finger at someone else besides ourselves.
But can't we sue cigarette manufacturers for addicting us to their chemical ladened cigarettes? How is that different than a physical addiction to chemical ladened foods?0 -
Sweet! I should sue these people who target me because it's harder for me to stop eating so much bad food. Clearly, the people held responsible for my bad health should be punished.
Sorry, but if you like to eat, that's fine. Just work out then. It balances out. So again, we're at square one with unhealthy choices, but with yet another reason to point the finger at someone else besides ourselves.
Wow. I don't think you read the article in the spirit it was intended. Bitter much?
It is interesting research. It does legitimize some people's wondering if it's this hard for everyone. I think the article gives credence to a real problem, without giving people an easy out. It clearly states that it is still their responsibility to learn to change their behavior. I also disagree with the recommendation to say "I'll hate myself if I eat that". Because, if you do cave and eat it, then it leads further down the wrong road in my opinion. Re-inforcing the good, new habits would be a better approach in my mind - and not by saying "Gee, I ran a mile, I get to eat that cookie now" But by saying "Gee, I ran a mile - I'm really proud of myself. I know I can do that again and add some distance to it. That feels great - my body is getting healthy and I love it!" kind of talk. JMHO!0 -
That really rubbed me the wrong way. Especially for women emotions are key to everything.I really don't agree with his recommendation to say to yourself 'I'll hate myself if I eat that'. I don't think recommending people hate themselves--or even think about hating themselves--is really a valuable tool, especially since it wraps food around personal emotions and a sense of self-worth, which is what gets many people into trouble in the first place.
I think the best way to curb cravings is to change the habits and start craving new, healthy things. It can be done. In other words, I don't think people are helpless to fight the situation even though I agree that there is a certain science behind the cravings. But we also happen to live in a society where crap food is more abundant than healthy food so it makes simple sense that people crave unhealthy food more.0 -
That's true. I don't think people should smoke, either :laugh: If they do, I won't judge them, but nor do I feel much pity if they become sick from it. I mean, before the warnings were in place, it's a horrible place to be, but if people started smoking in the past year, I view that as an educated choice, and their bed to lie in.
As for me being bitter - no, but I had a major headache, so that probably influenced my opinion. I read it several times. I was between two reactions - that of, "Well, good, maybe people who have this will be helped to have better eating habits now that it's being understood" and, "for every one person this helps, two more will probably use it as an excuse" So I was pessimistic.0 -
That's true. I don't think people should smoke, either :laugh: If they do, I won't judge them, but nor do I feel much pity if they become sick from it. I mean, before the warnings were in place, it's a horrible place to be, but if people started smoking in the past year, I view that as an educated choice, and their bed to lie in.
As for me being bitter - no, but I had a major headache, so that probably influenced my opinion. I read it several times. I was between two reactions - that of, "Well, good, maybe people who have this will be helped to have better eating habits now that it's being understood" and, "for every one person this helps, two more will probably use it as an excuse" So I was pessimistic.
I can understand that! Sometimes it's easy to go there . . . hope your headache is better now! :flowerforyou:0 -
Well, that was me in a nutshell! And I'm glad for the post......thank you.
Not much of a post-er, more of a reader. And I sit here, wondering what is wrong with me and why I have these overwhelming cravings that I just cannot get under control. I do not have a ticker, because my weight bounces up and down too much. Are my food choices getting better? Absolutely! I am happy for what I have accomplished (more knowledge than weight loss) but those cravings are killers.....well now I know that I am not alone and there is even studies about it!!!:laugh: now if someone could only come up with a muzzle that will fit my mouth, life would be good
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I wonder if this will lead to more medication. Which leads me to think about those "exercise pills" (Aicar and GW1516) about which I have mixed feelings.0
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Well, that was me in a nutshell! And I'm glad for the post......thank you.
Not much of a post-er, more of a reader. And I sit here, wondering what is wrong with me and why I have these overwhelming cravings that I just cannot get under control. I do not have a ticker, because my weight bounces up and down too much. Are my food choices getting better? Absolutely! I am happy for what I have accomplished (more knowledge than weight loss) but those cravings are killers.....well now I know that I am not alone and there is even studies about it!!!:laugh: now if someone could only come up with a muzzle that will fit my mouth, life would be good
I am the same way. I will get a craving and start eating. Even when full, I can't stop. I need more!! I question it as I'm stuffing my face... Why? Why do I feel I need more of that food when I'm already full? Am I worried there will be no tomorrow and this is my last taste of it? If that's the case, why do I eat so much of it and not enjoy the savory taste of it instead? Why why why? I obviously control this better now but it is terribly hard work.0 -
Good Article0
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