Finally got it yesterday and I'm about halfway through LOVING IT!
*cross posted from another place on the forum*
I'm already in maintenance, but I'm always interested in trying to figure out what drove me to eat like I used to. Pastries when I wasn't hungry, a whole bag of chips when I just wanted a serving. Reading this book (and remembering my old reactions to these foods) has made me a believer.
It makes me feel a little better about "old me." A lot of foods are made to be hard to resist, so it's no wonder I found it hard to stay on plan when presented with food temptations. When I changed my life, I concentrated on whole, healthy foods, so most of the food industry manipulated foods were just cut out by default. After living without them (for the most part) for 5 years, the cravings are broken. I can stand in front of the pastry case at Starbucks and order my tall, skinny latte without desperately wanting a muffin to go along with it.
Just a caveat - I do have occasional indulgences, but it's NOTHING like my old life of huge muffin for breakfast, pizza for lunch, chocolate croissant, yogurt pretzels for afternoon snacks and Taco Bell for dinner. And now, I'm living my life as a thin person!
I definitely do not want to be spoon fed some kind of easy to swallow, sugary, salty, fatty adult baby food! I will take REAL FOOD thank you very much.
After waiting for 3 months to finally get this book from the library...
I'm dissapointed.
The author basically repeats himself over and over and over =/ I've heard him promote the book several times on the radio, and I feel that he summarized the book so thoroughly in such appearences that actually reading it added little to nothing to my knowledge (note, however, that I've read several other books on the subject, too).
I was surprised at the questions that the book raised but never answered: Why is the food industry to blame for making their food as palatable as possible if their method of doing so -- "layering" fat, salt, and sugar -- is precisely what home cooks do to make their foods taste yummier? My amazing homemade ice cream has a LOT more fat, sugar, and salt than even Haagan Daz...because I want my ice cream to be as yummy as possible! (And it completely blows any store-bought ice cream out of the water, I can tell you...)
There are things the food industry does with food that is unforgivable --Michael Pollen covers this pretty well in his brilliant In Defense of Food -- but making sugary, fatty, salty foods is not one of them.
Seriously -- read "Roadfood," "Saveur" magazine, etc...Chilis can look downright healthy compared with regional and traditional food favorites =/
I think the best part of this book is the "how to cope" section. Its advice is very sound, imo. I didn't find it personally very useful, as I've personally figured out most of the strategies, but I would recommend this section of the book for those struggling with chronic overeating.
I bought it, read it, and enjoyed it.
I didn't find the concepts new as I've known forever that high fat/high salt/high sugar foods really activate my brain's personal Pleasure Center.
Still, I think it is informative for those who don't understand that concept.
Last edited by Bright Angel; 11-27-2009 at 09:18 AM.
(not a maintainer but crashing your thread to discuss the book) I finally got this book from the library and I'm bit over half-way through it now. I agree with Jojo that it's very repetative. But I'm getting to the part where he stops talking about how doomed we are to be addicted to food forever and starts actually making suggestions. Looking forward to finishing it.
I'm just at the suggestion part too. Way depressing book!! Fascinating, but depressing.
He acknowledges the only thing that truly fixed the problem was phen-fen (agreed).
Otherwise, sounds like he's recommending AA-type abstinence. Just one bite and all is lost. I'm guessing Weight Watchers would be out, since it allows processed treats. Basically stick to things you can take or leave. Sigh.
The chapter I read this morning did mention that you can eventually work those foods back in on occassions, but yeah, generaly and initially cut it all out.
I didn't really get from the author that we needed to blame anyone - whether that be "big-food" corporations or grandma.
Rather we need to understand that the sugar/fat/salt combo truly does make foods difficult to resist. Those of us who find it difficult aren't freaks of nature, and we're not lazy, crazy, or stupid.
The author isn't even saying that we should never indulge in fat/salt/sugar - just that knowledge is power. Knowing why the food is so tempting, so difficult to control - it makes strategizing easier.
When you think you're just weak, lazy, crazy, or stupid for being unable to stick to your calorie alottment, you're going to find yourself repeating the same cycle with those trigger foods.
If I tell myself that "I should be able to eat a bite of key lime cheesecake, and walk away." I'm going to keep taking that first bite, and every time I take a second bite while screaming in my head not to, I'm going to feel crazy again.
I'm not saying that sheer willpower isn't sometimes required, but why make it harder than it has to be. If most of the time, our food is whole food, in salt/fat/sugar ratios that are closer to those occurring in nature, we won't have to pull out the big guns of pure willpower as often.
Having a piece of birthday cake once a year isn't the end of the world, but if you have difficulty controlling appetite when it comes to the salt/sugar/fat demon - it's easier to avoid the demon than to fight it.
Pick your battles, when, where, and how you're going to fight.
I’ve read many fitness/health/diet books... but this one is the best so far...
I thought this was a brilliant book... I always new I was addicted to foods with sugar and fat, but it is nice to understand why.
He scientifically explain how our (at least mine) brain works once exposed to a “delicious” food.
I am at the end of the book and love. I am just thinking he wont be able to come with an effective way to fix the problem of the addiction to food.
But even if he doesn’t, I still think it was worth the read just to understand the brain reaction towards food and its appealing.
belezura, I'm interested to know if you think his "fix" was helpful at the end. This book got me to make two rules for myself: "No eating in the car" and "No eating anything purchased from a gas station or a drug store." It stopped my junk food eating, cold turkey. But I needed more to lose the weight. I ended up with Judith Beck's books since Kessler mentioned Cognitive Behavioral Techniques and she's the queen of CBT applied to overeating.
Gardenerjoy, I am glad you mentioned about the rule... That was one of the tips I added to my daily routine (I was already using it and didn’t really know it) and help me a lot... It is funny how different it is when you see something as a rule instead of willpower (as he explain at the book). You can actually follow a rule, but you find many excuses for falling for food if you try to rely only in willpower (at least in my case). So just there, he helped me a lot... I am almost at the end, where he is trying to give you some advice in how to deal with overeating. But the chapter I am right now give you exactly the same tips of some books I read before (Life is Hard, Food is Easy or The Thin Commandments Diet -both not even close to how good The End of Overeating is).
I still have dozens of pages to go and maybe I’ll find some other nice tips to incorporate to my routine. I’ll let you know once I am done... But regardless to find the tips or not I highly recommend this book to you. The knowledge that it gives to you is worth reading...
Cognitive Behavioral Techniques is so in my book list...
Please let me know how do you like it!
Bele
PS: What is the actually title of the book?
I only found this one: Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond
Maybe it was 'the right book at the right time' but this book really spoke to me. I've never really gone in for the kinds restaurant foods that he discusses in the book, so some was not so relevant to me personally.
But, the part that really spoke to me was about how when we are eating we are basically just giving into our reward response.
I had spent MANY YEARS trying to psycho-analyze myself, thinking about all of the social/emotional issues that led me to overeat, without admitting the really key principle was that I was giving myself little mini-rewards all the time, and that habit was so ingrained that I thought I couldn't live without it.
This book really gave me insight into that-- and since then, I've adopted a pretty boring food routine which works better for me.
belezura, Judith Beck wrote two books that use CBT for weight loss. The first one, The Beck Diet Solution , doesn't include a diet, but teaches you the strategies that you need to stick to a diet. The second one is The Complete Beck Diet for Life and it does have a diet in it.
If you like Beck's books, be sure to see the discussion and support group for them here at 3FC. It's a great group!
