(originally published September 12, 2009)
Note: in 2009, I and another diarist at DailyKos.com took turns writing reviews of and commentary on chapters of David Kessler's The End of Overeating. I'm archiving my contributions here on GeekMyFitness.com.
Here are links to the previous episodes on DailyKos.com:
Introduction: You Are The Target
(summarized by Edward Spurlock)
Chapter 1: Something Changed . . . America Gained Weight
(summarized by Edward Spurlock)
Chapter 2: Overriding the Wisdom of the Body
(summarized by Clio2)
Chapter 3: Sugar, Fat, and Salt Make Us Eat More Sugar, Fat, and Salt
(summarized by Edward Spurlock)
Chapter 4: The Business of Food: Creating Highly Rewarding Stimuli
(summarized by Clio2)
If you want to follow along with this series but you can't get your hands on a copy of Kessler's book just yet, you can read the first six chapters on Google Books.
Chapter 5: Pushing Up Our Settling Points
Kessler begins chapter 5 by talking about "set point theory" - the theory that adult weight is predetermined. According to set point theory, diets fail because if one loses weight, the body will respond by lowering metabolism or increasing appetite until one gains weight back to the set point weight. This is an example of homeostasis.
The problem with applying the homeostatic model of set points to weight control is that according to the theory, overeating should not cause permanent weight gain, any more than "undereating" (i.e., dieting) should cause permanent weight loss. If set point theory is true, the body should respond to overconsumption of food by increasing metabolism, decreasing appetite, or excreting excess calories. Yet people continue to gain weight - how do we explain this?
To explain the recent epidemic of obesity and overweight, set point theory has given way to "settling point theory." According to Kessler,
The settling point theory goes beyond homeostatic mechanisms to make room for a number of independent influences on weight. A somewhat more nuanced model, it is built on the idea that weight is not set at a predetermined level, but is determined by a balance of many factors. On the appetite side, the drive to eat and the capacity to be satisfied are primary. On the expenditure side, the major factors are the ability to oxidize fat and burn calories, along with the level of physical activity. The settling point is the place where all of this comes to equilibrium.
Kessler believes that the settling point is determined by motivation and availability - that is, how motivated we are to seek and how easy it is to obtain foods loaded with sugar, fat, and salt. A short-term diet and/or exercise program can enable us to reach a new desired weight - but returning to our previous levels of consumption and activity will return us to the previous settling point. According to Kessler, the modern increase in foods rich in sugar, fat, and salt have pushed up our settling points and is thus to blame for the obesity epidemic. But not everyone responds to hyperpalatable foods in the same way - some people are simply indifferent to the appeals of sugar, fat, and salt, while others can stop eating after a small quantity. However, for millions of people, the attractions of these foods can activate the reward system, overruling the homeostasis and causing overeating. Says Kessler,
That reward drive can become an obsession, although it's one that many people keep private.
[side note: I was reminded of the desire to keep one's reward drive private when reading Circle's WHEE diary discussion of the film Eating:
a French journalist...travels to Los Angeles to interview American women. She attends a birthday party with women of all ages in attendance, everything from grandmothers to would-be movie starlets. When the cake is cut and pieces start being sent around the circle, no one will eat the cake.
end of side note - Ed.]
In the latter part of chapter 5, Kessler returns to two of his favorite amusements from earlier in the book - food porn, and tormenting his friends and associates. The star of the food porn is Claudia, a woman he described in the book's Introduction. Claudia returns in Chapter 5 bearing a plate of what she calls "Charlie cookies," a concoction of rolled oats, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt, which is then topped with peanut butter and chocolate chips - in other words, sugar, fat, fat, and salt layered on top of sugar, sugar, fat, and salt. Claudia's description of the appeal of Charlie cookies is highly sensual. I won't repeat it here - you can read it on page 24 of the book, if you dare. (Incidentally, I Googled "charlie cookies," but I could not find a recipe. Of course, I was not planning to actually make Charlie cookies - my interest was purely scientific).
Claudia reappears in the next "scene," along with Maria, Rosalita, and Jacob. Like Claudia, Maria is overweight, and her description of the appeal of Little Debbie Swiss Rolls is almost as sensual as Claudia's description of the Charlie cookies. Neither Rosalita nor Jacob are overweight, but Rosalita obsesses over food much as Claudia and Maria do. She maintains her weight by conscious effort and strategies such as making sure to drink plenty of water and eat vegetables with her meals. Jacob is different from the three women (and from Dr. Kessler) - he is plainly not drawn to food in the way the others are.
Kessler notes that the three women do not fit the clinical definition for having eating disorders, but:
...they feel powerless in the face of certain foods. This may be the primary characteristic of what is sometimes referred to as emotional or compulsive eating...Their behavior is best understood as a reward-driven response to the sensory stimuli associated with food.
At the end of the chapter, Kessler introduces the notion of "salience" as applied to food - that is, the way certain foods can stand out in the mind, causing some people to obsess over those foods in ways unlike the other things they eat. He wraps up the chapter by asking:
How do inanimate objects--M&Ms, Charlie cookies, cake rolls--acquire such power over us? What allows them to so thoroughly dominate our attention?
How do these foods spin so many of us out of control?