Welcome to the continuation of my review of chapter 29 of The End of Overeating by David Kessler.
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The End of Overeating, by David Kessler, M.D.
Chapter 29: Why We Don't Just Say No
The Influence of Emotions
In his introduction to Chapter 29, Kessler said:
Three powerful and interdependent forces engage fundamental neural mechanisms that interfere with executive control: cues, priming, and emotions.
I covered cues and priming in the first part of my review last Saturday. In tonight's diary, I will continue with the third part of the chapter - The Influence of Emotions.
According to Kessler, emotions act to amplify cues. He quotes a Salk Institute researcher, George Koob, who says of hyperpalatable (rewarding) foods:
It's a form of self-medication. You're modulating your arousal. People take the food to calm themselves down...These products have some kind of hedonic, calming effect. In other words, they relieve the itch.
The problem is that using food to relieve stress in this way reinforces the association between the stress relief and the food. The next time we're aware of the cue, we have a greater desire for the reward - especially if we're under stress. According to Eric Stice of the Oregon Research Institute,
...when emotional eaters are in a negative mood, the idea that they are about to get a milkshake makes them anticipate reward. That's not the case for nonemotional eaters, and it is not the case for a neutral mood state. It only emerged in a negative mood state.
In her review of Chapter 30 yesterday, Clio2 mentioned that Chapter 29 uses the example of a rat with a paper clip on its tail. (Incidentally, her mention of this prior to my discussion of it today is another example of "priming" as psychologists use the term, but not as Kessler uses it. That is, those of you who read Clio2's diary yesterday have been primed to find my discussion even more interesting!)
So what's the deal with the rats with the paper clips on their tails? Well, stress has an effect on all the mechanisms that drive overeating because stress by itself can heighten physiological arousal. The paper-clip-on-the-rat's-tail is an example of a mild stressor.
In Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, authors Ori and Rom Brafman describe a psychological experiment that took place at Capilano Canyon in British Columbia. There are two bridges for hikers across the canyon - a sturdy wooden bridge, and a 450-foot long suspension bridge that is over 200 feet above the ground. A female research assistant was instructed to approach male hikers between 18 and 35 after they crossed one of the bridges, and ask each to fill out a survey. When he was finished, she would offer to tell him about the survey at a later time, and would write her name and number on a corner of the survey sheet, which she would tear off and hand to the man. Of the sixteen men who crossed the secure wooden bridge, only two men called "to find out more about the experiment." However, of the 18 men she surveyed when she was stationed at the end of the high, shaky suspension bridge, nine later called "for more information." The higher state of arousal caused by the higher, scarier bridge caused a greater response.
Kessler quotes psychiatrist Loma Flowers on the applicability of food as a stress reliever:
People feel better after eating [food]. They eat for anxiety. And it soothes anxiety. It really does work like a Valium.
Kessler wraps up chapter 29 and leads into chapter 30 by stating:
When we learn that a stimulus provides gratification, that knowledge drives our wanting, arousing us further...The anticipation of feeling better puts us in a heightened state of focus, making us want it all the more...The result is a spiral of wanting.
Links to previous episodes:
Since this is a continuation of Saturday's diary, I'm not going to repeat all the links to the reviews of earlier chapters of The End of Overeating. You can find links to Part 2 and Part 1 in my Saturday diary, and Clio2's review of Chapter 30 was posted yesterday.
Scheduled WHEE diaries:
December 10
Thurs AM - ???
Thurs PM - Sychotic1
December 11
Fri AM - Ed G
Fri PM - ???
December 12
Sat AM - ???
Sat PM - Edward Spurlock (Kessler, Ch. 31)
December 13
Sun AM - ???
Sun PM - Holiday Fit Club - kismet
December 14
Monday AM - NC Dem
Monday PM - ???
December 15
Tues AM - ???
Tues PM - Clio2 (Kessler, Ch. 32)
December 16
Weds AM - ???
Weds PM - Edward Spurlock
What happened to Jared?
Speaking of emotional eating - according to Dr. Nancy Snyderman on msnbc.msn.com, a photo recently surfaced showing that famed Subway spokesman Jared Fogle seems to have put back on quite a few of the pounds he lost eating low-fat Subway sandwiches and walking every day. Dr. Nancy did a phone interview with fitness guru Richard Simmons about Jared's apparent weight gain, in which he (Richard) said:
What happened to Jared is, first of all he may have some emotional issues going on in his life right now, so we can't, y'know, stop that thought, but he could be going through some things...
Where Kessler puts in the contribution of emotional eating almost as an afterthought, for Richard Simmons (and I'm sure a lot more diet "experts") it's the first thing he thinks of - even in a case where really has no idea what might really be going on with the subject.
What does it all mean?
For me, I think emotional eating is much more important than Kessler seems to think (giving it only part of one chapter), but I doubt it's quite as universal a problem as Richard Simmons seems to think. However, I think it's interesting that our national weight problem has grown at the same time our economic system has been restructured, with many people not knowing if their jobs will be outsourced to low-paid foreign workers in a week or a month. At the same time, the War On (Some) Drugs has made recreational drugs harder to obtain and more expensive, and people using legal recreational drugs like tobacco and alcohol are pressured to reduce or eliminate their consumption of those coping substances.
If we're self-medicating with food, as George Koob and Loma Flowers think, perhaps emotional eating really is the root cause of America's overweight and obesity problem. Maybe Richard Simmons is right.