“The End of Overeating- taking control of the insatiable American appetite“, is not the type of book I typically read, there is a lot of scientific studies and stats quoted but the subject really interested me and I learned some good info. As the title suggests “The End of Overeating” is a book about how to stop overeating. The author starts off by telling the reader why we overeat, what makes overeating so easy then tells us how to not overeat and why it is so important not to overeat.
The info that I got out of this book boils down to this-
Our bodies love sugar, fat and salt A LOT.
The food industry (i.e. restaurants and food producers) know this. Because people love sugar, fat and salt so much, they take it to the extreme in their foods to give our bodies what we are craving most. Also, portion sizes have gotten enormous because they sure don’t want you leaving their restaurant feeling at all hungry.
Over time people have started thinking they need to eat everything on their plate and end up overeating.
It is not your fault that you overeat. The food industry knows how to get you to eat their food and serve it to you in very large portions. Restaurants know how to make good food, know how to combine flavors to they are irresistible to us and then market them so that we are always thinking about them. HOWEVER, just because something delicious, huge and unhealthy is on the menu does not mean you have to eat it! This is difficult for most of us because if something looks good to us, we want it and we want all of it!
There is no magical way to avoid overeating, you just have to use your brain. Remind yourself that just because the food is there, it may smell great and taste great does not mean you need to eat it. Food is great and you can enjoy it but only as much as you actually need.
Will power is not enough. You have to remind yourself of the consequences of eating certain things (or too much of those things). You have to make a decision to have rules in your life (this stinks I know). Rules are decisions that can keep you healthy in the long run though.
It is tough that there are so many temptations out there. It would be so much easier if all food sold was good for us and exactly what our bodies needed. It is not your fault that restaurant owners choose to sell donuts instead of fruit. This makes it harder to make good choices when the temptations are out there but it is up to you to avoid temptation.
When you are in the moment and you are deciding if you will eat a certain thing or not, a good thing to keep in mind is, if I do not eat this now, I will feel better about myself later and that will be totally worth it.
Food is instant gratification and pleasure for us but if we remember how good it feels to be thin and healthy we can overcome the strong desire for instant pleasure and instead make a decision that is good for us in the long run.
Proper calorie consumption looks like this for most people- 300 calories for breakfast, 400-500 for lunch and 500-700 for dinner.
The book had some great info. It just reinforced for me that health and weight management are not complicated. What you eat is directly correlated to your weight and health. There is just no getting around that!
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