David Kessler, former FDA Commissioner under GW Bush and Clinton, explores why we are so driven by reward-driven eating that our control mechanisms have disappeared. In his book, 
The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite, Kessler discusses how we biologically lay down neurological pathways that induce us to eat. In recent decades the food industry, in collusion with the advertising industry, and our own lifestyle changes have short-circuited the body’s self-regulating mechanisms, leaving many at the mercy of reward-driven eating.
There was a time when people ate at home, at the table during prescribed mealtimes and were unlikely to eat on the street. Now we pass outlets that stimulate our senses with neurologically exciting foods made of fat, sugar and salt, attractive presentation, pleasant odors (have you passed a Cinnabon lately?) and all of the emotional triggers associated with the food by advertising, and we biologically set ourselves up for triggering eating these foods. Even if you do not succumb on day one of your diet, the neurological pathways are being laid down to entice you later.
Listen to an interview with Leonard Lopate at:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/episodes/2009/04/27/segments/129905″>< Leonard Lopate Show>
And read the book:
http://astore.amazon.com/acupandherbby-20/detail/1605297852″
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