More than ample food for thought
November 4, 2009
Review: The end of overeating
David A Kessler, M.D.
(Editor’s note: Also see sidebar below review.)
By Margaret Markham
Why are the nation’s health care costs spiraling upwards with no end in sight?
One glaring reason chronicled by pediatrician/author David A Kessler is the cost of coping with America’s epidemic rise in obesity with its risk of eventual diabetes and other disorders. In his new work, The end of overeating (Rodale), he traces how this country gradually turned into an All-U-Can Eat America, boasting a phenomenal Three Dog Nite Dog — featuring three frankfurters in a giant tortilla, crowned with bacon, chili, cheese and onions.
Kessler holds accountable for the health dilemma both a too-insatiable public and a rapacious food industry. By now, restaurants alone rack up some $ 330 billion annually. Among prime examples to lure customers: an edible skyscraper known as the “Widow Maker” Burger. Top that with the Monster Thick Burger (108 grams fat), and just one slice of the Food Network-featured Chocolate Motherlode Cake (2150 calories).
What intrigued Kessler initially was how obviously difficult it is for many people — particularly those already obese — to stop overeating despite realizing such excess threatens their health and often leaves them miserable. “I set out to understand what’s driving these kinds of behavior. I began to listen more closely to people struggling with weight problems, listening the way a doctor needs to,” he explains.
A stark example he encountered was a grossly overweight 40-year-old journalist who confessed waking daily knowing “food is my enemy and that I am my own enemy.”
In coping with such stresses, it’s alright to let anger surface against the purveyors of foods that tempt excessively, Kessler advises. Many overweight individuals may also find it helpful to fasten to the refrigerator their own most unflattering picture as a reminder of the need for self-discipline.
In tackling so pervasive a problem as excess weight, Kessler’s background and experience stood him in good stead. A graduate of both Harvard Medical School and the University of Chicago Law School, he was also dean of the Yale and University of California medical schools, as well as U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner during the presidencies of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
Kessler’s ability to ferret out underlying causes of overeating yielded him a broad spectrum of psychological, medical, and practical everyday information, including interviews with numerous authorities in science and industry. In a down-to-earth style of writing, Kessler shares such penetrating insights throughout the book.
In addition, the text provides a feature unusual in popular reading: paginated end notes. This section is rich in details on individuals, sources and questions about eating disorders — like licorice-craving in adrenal insufficiency –- thus serving readers more than ample food for thought!
Las Cruces resident Margaret Markham, a member of the National Association of Science Writers, was formerly Executive Director of the Vitamin Information Bureau.
Food industry capitalizing on ‘premium treating’
One of the food industry’s stellar reports has the captivating title, “Premium Indulgence: Capitalizing on the Growing Trend for Premium Treating.”
Priced appropriately at an indulgent fee of $6,000, the publication trumpets the message that “Consumers are indulging themselves more often… There is a growing feeling that people need to reward themselves.”
In his recent book, The end of overeating, Dr. David A. Kessler takes issue with such a cavalier approach to human nutrition. “It’s hardly news that the food we eat, and the way it is presented, are the handiwork of an industry whose goal it is to make a profit,” comments Kessler, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration during the presidencies of George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
“The stakes are higher with food than with most other commercial products,” he underscores. Its purveyors are well aware how food affects brain biology and market “products that alter our bodies… This approach has been honed to a fine science.”
His prime example: soft drinks destined for chain restaurants “are little more than syrup and carbonated tap water,” yielding a profit margin of about 90 percent. Still better, Kessler notes, the larger the drink, the higher the price even though it calls for only “adding 3 cents’ worth of product. “
Kessler also condemns a practice that makes it hard for the consumer to see at a glance exactly how much “sweetener” products contain. Labeling laws require the largest amount of ingredients be listed first. Thus, instead of using only ordinary sugar as the sole “sweetener” – which would mean listing its total content first for easy reading – instead smaller amounts of multiple ingredients, like honey, corn-syrup solids, and molasses are used. This scatters each individual “sweetener” throughout the label listing.
Kessler also deplores the increasing trend to use eating as just a vehicle for fun and entertainment – or as industry pundits are wont to put it, “eatertainment.” Noting the many ingenious ways industry succeeds in its persuasive role, Kessler quotes a venture capitalist who flat out admitted the goal is to get people “hooked.” As one consultant also candidly admitted, “The more the food industry behaves like the entertainment industry, the more profitable it is.”
While some food companies have begun taking steps to clean the slate, at best it’s at a snail’s pace, Kessler concedes. As he learned at a Chicago conference sponsored by six food-industry leaders, their emphasis was unmistakably on “catering to consumers whose lives are increasingly harried.”
That theme echoed findings of a recent survey by a restaurant research outfit confirming that people are now working longer hours and feeling more stress. Many such consumers claim they “deserve to eat out at restaurants as often as they like.”
However such practices take their toll. Data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture confirm that with current habits by far the largest rise in specific food ingredients consumed has been in fats and oil. In fact, over just 33 years Americans have chalked up a whopping 63 percent hike in their fat and oil intake.
– Margaret Markham
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