The End of Overeating

In the book, The End of Overeating, by David A. Kessler, highlighted that the main reason people get fat is due to overeating. In the past, many scientists presume that our body’s homeostasis is suppose to be regulated by the process of eating only when we are hungry and to stop when we are full. Unfortunately, our homeostasis system is unable to do that. Many of us are stimulated by the sight of palatable food (food containing sugar, fat and salt). Food activates the pleasure response in people’s reward centre. The “pleasure response” motivates people to desire foods that gives satisfaction, joy and happiness when one consumes them. Most of the time, people eat palatable food to feel happy and not to ease hunger. The reason why people are unable to resist these type of food is because the neurons in our brains are stimulated by taste and highly palatable food, which are part of the opioid circuitry; the body’s pleasure system. The “opioid” are chemicals produced in the brain that have a rewarding effect similar to those of drugs, e.g. morphine and heroin. Thus, simulating the opioid circuitry with food drives us to eat. One can now understand why many people flock to fast food restaurants as the food in those restaurants are high in sugar, fat and salt and consuming them frequently in large amounts make people fat.