Weekend Eating Reading

…the weekly weekend post!

Weekend Eating Reading briefly discusses at least one good book that’s somehow related to ‘joyful eating,’ and is, throughout the weekend, updated with links to notable or newsworthy articles on topics relevant to readers of this blog.

This week’s books:

The End of Overeating, by David A. Kessler, MD

The British have a term for it–“more-ish.” It means a food that you WANT TO EAT MORE OF. Or, maybe more precisely, a food that makes YOU want to eat more of IT. If you’ve ever struggled with overeating, whether occasionally or chronically–and maybe even if you haven’t–you’ll want to read this book. It offers a staggering account of the science that goes into engineering foods to make them hyperpalatable–that is, to make them press all the right buttons in your body and brain to get you to want more, more, more, and more. This book is fascinating and disturbing. Read it! (or read more about it here, first.)

Oh! And this book:

Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More than We Think by Brian Wansink, PhD

The picture’s extra big because that’s what American serving sizes are like–EXTRA BIG. And guess what? When packages are extra big, and you can’t get a good visual clue on what you’re eating, YOU EAT MORE, even if you don’t really like it. (!) And that’s just the way Big Food wants it.  This book’s also got some fascinating science, though it’s more psychological than bio- & neuro-chemical (as the other one is.) There’s lots of fun stuff to read about here.

More links will appear hear as the weekend goes on:

Chilling cartoon about widespread starvation in Somalia & US nonresponse HERE

HuffPo’s reporting on the ground turkey fiasco HERE

Cassie Green, remarkable food person! Read about her HERE

Enjoy it! And eat your food with JOY!