Over the past thirty-plus years, it has been my life’s work to show people how the brain is involved in everything we do, think, and feel. I’m always thrilled when others in the medical field embrace this concept. That’s why I love the new book, The End of Overeating, from Dr. David Kessler, the former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In it, Kessler offers an in-depth look at how our brains influence what we eat and how the foods we eat influence our brains. In this easy-to-read book, Kessler reveals that some of us can actually become addicted to some of our favorite foods like chocolate chip cookies, vanilla milkshakes, and M&Ms the same way we can become addicted to cocaine.
Kessler suggests that high-fat, high-sugar foods light up the brain’s dopamine pathway just like cocaine does, making us slaves to overwhelming cravings. That means if you’ve ever called yourself a “chocoholic,” you just might be right.
What I like best about the book is that it offers ways to train your brain to minimize your cravings so you can pass by that vending machine at the office without starting to salivate.
This is what I’ve been telling my patients for years “” that when you change your brain you can change your behavior, including stopping the habit of eating the wrong foods or overeating when you aren’t hungry. Pick up a copy of Dr. Kessler’s book for more about the brain and food.
Click HERE to purchase The End of Overeating from our online store.
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My 10 year old son has been dianosed (several years ago) with asbergers autium, since he has started taking risparidone, zoloft and vyvanse he is a loving child but still is very hyper and can’t handle frustrations at all. He is a different child when he is with just me vs when he is with his older sister and me. He has always learned, behaved, etc better when he is one on one. What I would like to do, since he is starting into the phase of puberty, is get him onto more natural forms of controling his symtoms. I am a single parent so resourses are limited, but I am willing to try new things. I have read that MRI’s can tell somethings about how the brain is functioning, would this be able to tell just what part of his brain is not firing correctly? Or is there other tests that can be done? I love my son so very much and I know it is frustrating to him to not be able to go and do like his sister did at his age. not to mention our frustration of him always being a “little boy”
I am 33 years old and was recently diagnosed with ADD. I am an identical twin and always had someone to play with, talk to and share things with as a child. I think that may be a reason my symptoms did not really become apparent until I was an adult. I have been a law enforcement officer for almost 12 yrs and I find it so diffucult to balance all the demands. I love to interact with people and do all of the related duties the job requires. I am blessed to absolutely love my job, but I take longer on reports and find it difficult to balance writing good reports, making enough contacts (stops), and keeping up with all of the other administrative duties. I am taking Adderal XR and found that it helps a lot but not as much as I thought it would. I cannot find a doctor, pyschologist, or psychiatrist in the Springfield, Missouri area that specializes in ADD. I visited a counselor who says whe specializes in ADD but I didn’t feel she could help me. She was good to talk to but with the one visit I just didn’t get a feeling that she was who could help me. Do you know of anyone in this area that specializes in ADD in adults, especially one that can understand my job and its demands?
Thank you for your time.
I was not aware of this book and I am a huge coffee addict, so I think the book will inspire me. I rarely see healthy weight people in line at McDonalds or Starbucks, an obvious sign to me that something is not right with these food obsessions. I’m going to read the book you suggested thank you. Maybe I can prevent my own kids from following this path of improer eating!
Do you have any research related to ADD Brain types and eating disorders like anorexia?
My life changed and my weight dropped to its normal state without dieting since I began to eat organic raw fruits and vegetables and raw nuts and seeds. The most dramatic help came with the famous green smoothie that I have for breakfast every morning. I’ve been happily doing this lifestyle for 4 years and haven’t even had as much as a cold. My health is fantastic, and the only pills I take are vitamins and mineral supplements. I am 68 years old and still working part-time and feel just great! By the way, I don’t worry about calories anymore, and sweets and junk food have lost their appeal. I have no problem at all passing up the dessert table at work. It’s absolutely amazing! Cravings stop when your body is properly nourished. Whatever you feed your body, that’s what it will want or crave. There are no psychological mind games to play. It’s simply a matter of wanting to live healthy and not die of dreadful diseases such as cancer and heart attacks. I used to have to take St. John’s Wort to not feel “the blues”. Since the discovery of the green smoothie, I haven’t had to take St. John’s Wort anymore. It is sooo worth it!
I am interested in learning more about Asberger’s Syndrome. I am taking my grandson for an evaluation, and would love to know your prospective on the Syndrome.
Thanks in advance.
to Virginia- What is in your green smoothie? Will you share the recipe?
Virginia, Could you give us your green smoothie recipe please?? Thank you
Interested in the green smoothie recipe.
Interested in the green smoothie recipe also.
I interested in the green smoothie also.
I’m a green smoothie groupie! Pretty please?
I would like the green smoothie recipe.
My husband is 55 and has two small lacunar infarcts and several TIA spells. He has been checked for anxiety and depression and has been treated successfully with Lamectal and Zoloft. He is also taking Fish oil and vytorin for cholesterol. His triglerides are also in the high range.
My husband is still suffering from periodic spells of confusion, can’t find the right words, short term memory confusion. This happens when he is tired or may feel overwhelmed.
We went to the Mayo Clinic and they want to pass these symptoms off as “old age”. What an insult. He has dealt with learning disabilities all his life and has successfully worked in a high powered job for 28 years for a fortune 500 company. Now they want to lose him due to memory problems but want to blame it on depression so they won’t have to pay benefits to him.
We need to get him back on his feet and back in the saddle again. He is a loving fathe and husband yet frustrated with his brain.
Any ideas for further research in this matter?
Please,I would also like to know the recipe for the green smoothe.
I am not the person who wrote in about the green smoothies, but can recommend a book about how to make them, with several recipes and lots more information included in it. The book is called “Green for Life” by Victoria Boutenko, published by Raw Family Publishing, at http://www.rawfamily.com. The price was $14.95. It sounds like the answer to many health problems. Great Book!
Green smoothies are delicious!! Go to YouTube.com and search Green Smoothie Girl and watch her video (How to make a green Smoothie) for some great instructions.
My favorite Green Smoothie is – 1/2 raw mango, green coconutjuice(these are the white coconuts wrapped in celophane at the market) juice and maybe 1/4 c of the white, tender green coconut flesh, a green apple (seeded and cored or not) 2-3 green kiwis and several large leaves of swiss chard and/or black kale (locinata or dinosaour kale), and a handful of frozen red or blue berries of some kind. Goes without saying, all the above must be ORGANIC. You can use ANY fruits and ANY greens though — spinach, chard, curly kale, the black kale, collards, radish greens, etc. ALSO I really like to add a couple of ICE CUBES and a packet of Stevia. YUM, YUM YUM! Green smoothies are so delicious, you will notice an improvement in energy and how you feel and also (sorry, don’t mean to offend anyone. BUT..) bathroom habits improve very much as well very naturally. I have read we should be aiming for up to 1/2 lb. of fresh greens in our diets daily, but that is a challenge to do otherwise and this even kids enjoy and will eat/drink. Add banannas, orange, frozen berries, pineapple — whatever you think you’d find delicious! Good luck and definitely give this one a try.
I know for a fact that I am addicted to sugar too, after I got off of a drug & alcohol addiction. I started the sugar addiction. I have been clean & sober for 2 yrs. Now I have added 150lbs. to my body since.?? I need to stop all the sugar, but I feel my body won’t move without it, I have no motivation without the sugar. I sure do need some guidance, and changes fast, before I cannot get the weight off. I am 46 yrs. now! Anykind of suggestions will be a help. I know I need to change my diet. I have no car and I am disabled too. I am alone. Please help me fast!!!!
Martha, I read about your green smoothie. Do you follow Dr. Joel Fuhrman? He is into green smoothies and lots of green leafy foods. Check him out. http://drfuhrman.com/
I almost 50 years old…. I can’t believe it! I am sssssssssssssoooooooooooooooooo sleeply today. Really dragging and barely able to function. I am a Sugar and White Flour Addict. I appreciate Dr. Amen, your writings about Sugar Addiction. I am going to hang on to and practice the suggestions you listed for beating this addiction. I just realized that I have recently been eating sugar and white flour. I think that is why I feel like I have a hang-over today. That is the best way for me to describe it. Also I am craving sugar and white flour products! I am a believer in Overeaters Anonymous and with that program have lost 100 lbs. I am now 6 months into my “maintaining” weight loss phase. This is a learning experience! Perhaps I can’t eat ANY sugar or ANY white flour or the CRAVINGS will continue….along with the cloudy hang-over feeling where all I want to do is sleep and be alone. Is that true that if you are addicted to sugar and white flour that you can NEVER have it again or cravings and hang-over cloudy functioning will be experienced? How can a sugar addict function in this world without ANY sugar or white flour?!
I always knew I had something wrong with me.
When I was in the third grade, my teacher suggest to my mother to put me in the E.M R. class. Because I was a slow learner. My mother did just that, put me right in that class. Barely making it out of high school, II attended technical school and got a certificate for child development. That certificate landed me working for company for eighteen years teaching basic nutrition. Now this company want me to go college and get a degree in nutriton. Where can I go to get tested for A.D.D. in my area Atlanta? Ga.
My Green Smoothie Recipe:
5 oz bag pre-washed Hearts of Romaine (Dole)
1 oz. Baby Spinach (Ready-Pak pre-washed)
8 oz. Fresh Salsa
(Top Crop Brand–No Oil/Sauce–Produce Dept–Shop Rite)
8 oz. Spring Water
Blend in Vitamix (or blender) + Drink
I, too, am a “EAT TO LIVE by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.” fan.
allthese writtings are great but where do we get the real anwsers to our problems i have had all that they talk about and my brain is lacking in spelling memorie writing and lots of things how do we get the real help we need
Please help me I have IBS and the veggies kills me with alot of gas …. Please suggest what I could do please..thank you very much Lorraine
What is a green smoothie??
A little about me.
I’m an RN studying herbs over 30 years.
I suffered from IBS after my first babe.
Funky bowels the whole bit. A lady at my favourite Health food store turned me on to N.A.G. N Acetyl Glucosamine.
It heals the bowel.. took my abdominal pain away and made my bowel movements so much better. Anyone with colitis or bowel trouble will benefit from this.
Judy Good,
Depends on what your specific problem is.
What are your symptoms? Do you have pain?
What is your diet? So many questions need to be asked
My Dr. prescribed Effexor time released antidepressant for my lack of energy and depression. I feel sick w hen I miss dose and really feel goofy and find my self with memory problems. Could this be causing the
memory and nausia? I have heard it is very hard to break off of this med. Any suggestions?
Dr. Oz has a green drink. Oprah says it’s “refreshing.” Can’t find the recipe but it has celery, carrots, organges, spinach, lemon, and some other items. I’ll google it and see if I can find it.
Would this book be beneficial to people tackling bulimia?
I recommend the book,”Green for Life†by Victoria Boutenko, published by Raw Family Publishing, at http://www.rawfamily.com. The price was $14.95. Watch the video on their website showing how to make a green smoothie.
DSimple, easy, and oh so good for you!
I have been following Dr. Amen and reading his books for awhile now. I recently checked out his book for hyperactive kids and ADHD/ADD and found it very interesting. Diet is really important, I am a big advocate of it…but he also talked in there about our thoughts… He said “Thoughts are things” and when we think a negative thought it releases negative chemicals in our bodies….and when we think good thoughts it releases good chemicals in our bodies.
I had a scientist that has been involved in the study of nutrition tell me this past week that they are putting little kids on anti-depression drugs now! What has the world come to! That’s why God’s Word tells us that we are to “cast down bad thoughts and bring every thought captive…”
See…2 Cor. 10:4-5
Many of the postings on thi sote indicate that ypu are trying to “self-medicate” your brain with your addictions to sweet/salty/fatty foods, etc Yes, food can help regulate serotonin and dopamine in the “reward centers” of the brain (AKA Cocaine-Amphetamine receptors), but these cravings/addictions usually indicate inadequate or infrequent intakr of proper nutrition! For example, when yoj are hungry, and haven’t eaten in 6 hours, do you “crave” steamed veggies and grilled chicken breasts!? of course not! your blood glucose is extremely low, and leptin hormones are ravenously demanding you to get you blood glucose back up to fuel the brain… fast! what is the easiest wau to do this? hmmmm… sweets and statches the cause a massive elevation in blood glucose and insulin, making you feel all warm anf fuzzy inside (elevating seratonin in the gut-brain neurotransmitters, finally satiating us). oh, and those “reward” centers of the brain are happy too. unfortunately, do this often enough, and subconsciously, this will become the main way you eat and believe (subconsciously/autonomously) that you can “feel good”.
All that being said, regulating blood glucose and insulin through frequent (proactive) eating, or healthy foods you LIKE will lead to satiety, “right-thinking”, and tremendously decreased cravings!
By the way, most all of your answers are in Dr Amen’s books, but I realize that most people don’t take the time, and are not able (um, willing that is), tp take the time tp read through relevant books (like Amen’s), and to sift through the glut of misinformation we have in mass-media today.
I am a “Health and Wellness Coach”, and often see the lack of focus upon ones health and wellness, manifested in the lack of curiosoty or willingness to onvesy knes time into gaining accurate knowledge regarding how and where to locate accurate evidence-based information. The lack of effort and focus (and time) put into educating oneself on these issues… or perhaps confusion, by focusing on the bogus information fueled by marketing campains to incentivize sales amd profits- this is one the most challenging issues in our society today, creating much of our current “diseases of civilization” as well (insulin resistance/diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, etc), which of course, by the way tangibly impact brain function… since the the brain runs soley on glucose – and of course, an Dr Amen says, what is good for the body is good for the brain (due to the interrconnecton of the vascular amd nervous systems- in not only the body, but also the brain’s perfusion/ blood-flow). Sorry to rant, I get carried away on these topics (cingulate gyrus, or stuck on the “hampster weel”!
Last point, a great book I stumbled upon recently, is “This is your brain on joy” by Dr Earl Henslin- lots of simple brain terms (easy to understand for regular “non-scientists/lay-person”). great explanation of brain systemd and explanatipns, based off of, and parallel to Dr Amen’s SPECT studies, as well as perspective from a spiritual/joy based viewpoint.
Thanks for reaing this far, and sorry for any typos, I typed this entire email on my iPhone.
Jason
Many of the postings on this note indicate that ypu are trying to “self-medicate” your brain with your addictions to sweet/salty/fatty foods, etc Yes, food can help regulate serotonin and dopamine in the “reward centers” of the brain (AKA Cocaine-Amphetamine receptors), but these cravings/addictions usually indicate inadequate or infrequent intakr of proper nutrition! For example, when yoj are hungry, and haven’t eaten in 6 hours, do you “crave” steamed veggies and grilled chicken breasts!? of course not! your blood glucose is extremely low, and leptin hormones are ravenously demanding you to get you blood glucose back up to fuel the brain… fast! what is the easiest wau to do this? hmmmm… sweets and statches the cause a massive elevation in blood glucose and insulin, making you feel all warm anf fuzzy inside (elevating seratonin in the gut-brain neurotransmitters, finally satiating us). oh, and those “reward” centers of the brain are happy too. unfortunately, do this often enough, and subconsciously, this will become the main way you eat and believe (subconsciously/autonomously) that you can “feel good”.
All that being said, regulating blood glucose and insulin through frequent (proactive) eating, or healthy foods you LIKE will lead to satiety, “right-thinking”, and tremendously decreased cravings!
By the way, most all of your answers are in Dr Amen’s books, but I realize that most people don’t take the time, and are not able (um, willing that is), tp take the time tp read through relevant books (like Amen’s), and to sift through the glut of misinformation we have in mass-media today.
I am a “Health and Wellness Coach”, and often see the lack of focus upon ones health and wellness, manifested in the lack of curiosoty or willingness to onvesy knes time into gaining accurate knowledge regarding how and where to locate accurate evidence-based information. The lack of effort and focus (and time) put into educating oneself on these issues… or perhaps confusion, by focusing on the bogus information fueled by marketing campains to incentivize sales amd profits- this is one the most challenging issues in our society today, creating much of our current “diseases of civilization” as well (insulin resistance/diabetes, obesity, metabolic syndrome, etc), which of course, by the way tangibly impact brain function… since the the brain runs soley on glucose – and of course, an Dr Amen says, what is good for the body is good for the brain (due to the interrconnecton of the vascular amd nervous systems- in not only the body, but also the brain’s perfusion/ blood-flow). Sorry to rant, I get carried away on these topics (cingulate gyrus, or stuck on the “hampster weel”!
Last point, a great book I stumbled upon recently, is “This is your brain on joy” by Dr Earl Henslin- lots of simple brain terms (easy to understand for regular “non-scientists/lay-person”). great explanation of brain systemd and explanatipns, based off of, and parallel to Dr Amen’s SPECT studies, as well as perspective from a spiritual/joy based viewpoint.
Thanks for reaing this far, and sorry for any typos, I typed this entire email on my iPhone.
Jason
Has anyone received the recipe for the green smoothie?
For Lorraine White Re gas problem.
Look into the over the counter products; Beano, Simethicone and Charcoal capsules.
Charcoal caps must not be taken around the time you take medicines as the medicines will be absorbed by the charcoal along with the gas.
A nice mix and match approach to creating green smoothies.
I also would like the green smoothie recipe. Every spring when I change the time I fall down on my eating. Would like to try this?