A couple of years ago I read a book by Graham Kerr of Galloping Gourmet fame. He talked about working in a Tasting Lab and how he and his fellow cooks would add more and more salt and more and more sugar and more and more fat into everything they cooked. So much salt he said, that you would have thought that it would make people gag-but it didn’t, they liked it.
This fundamental breakthrough in food manipulation has lead us to the world we have today-where every food that can have salt, sugar, and fat added to it-has a lot of salt, sugar, and fat added to it.
The End of Overeating starts off with the shocking news that fat people are fat because they eat more food than thin people. Like any number of common sense topics that have found their way into very expensive studies, there is something shocking about the idea that fat people are fat because they eat too much.
The End of Overeating begins with Dr Phil berating someone for not having the will power to do what they know they need to do. The fact that Dr Phil himself could lose a few pounds seems to make his advice a little suspect anyway. But that is the standard treatment-will power and exercise.
But I am not sure how knowing the facts will really help. It’s unlikely that every person in America will start growing their own foods and cooking their own meals-especially if they like a nice hamburger or a bit of barbecue once in a while, as I do. Knowing the problem only helps to add one more layer of guilt to the equation-I know I should not be eating this, but I really, really want to eat this.
I like food, but do not fully love it as the true foodie does. To me, a good cookie is a good cookie, not a religious experience involving all of the senses to one degree or another. It has always been clear that there are people who eat to live, while others live to eat. I tend to think of myself as falling somewhere in between the two extremes. I like good food, but have seldom found myself making or consuming highly complex and expensive foods.
I do like my salt, fat, and sugar-but it doesn’t rule my world as much as it could. Of course, I have never had to go without them, either. Which is pretty much how The End of Overeating ends, with the idea that we can all take a moment to think about what we are eating and where it comes from. Everyone in America that sells food sells it for profit, not a one of them cares how healthful it is.
The End of Overeating is a good book with a lot of information.
The CBS Sunday Morning Show was all about the fat today. Fat people, fat food, fat art, and the fat cost of our poor eating habits. One of the stories featured The End of Overeating author David Kessler.
