The Psychology of Overeating

America has a problem. As the latest data released last week by the Centers For Disease Control's National Center for Health Statistics confirmed, far too many of us are overweight. The number of obese Americans is actually rising at a rate not seen in over a decade, putting them at increased risk of a number of serious health issues including Type 2 diabetes and heart disease ... Cargill relies on a wide spectrum of empirical research and her own work with clients to argue that overeating should not be seen as a sign of an individual's lack of willpower but, instead, as part of a much larger conversation on how food is aggressively and dishonestly marketed to consumers. -- Joseph Erbentraut The Huffington Post Using a mix of case studies, literature review and own experience and insight, this book strikes a careful balance between scientific theory and popular science. It is incredibly easy to read and understand without being superficial. The list of references at the back, while not surprising, was unusual for a book that's so accessible. This isn't an academic textbook aimed at researchers or theorists, it's a day to day guide to spotting the many pitfalls of the world we now live in, so you can step over the cracks forged by the food industry, big pharma and many others rather than be sucked in. -- Zoe Page The Bookbag Cargill posits that our consumer culture is at least partly to blame for our bloated waistlines. Likening 'Big Food' to 'Big Pharma,' the author faults food and beverage companies for manufacturing desire in human beings, who may be conditioned by evolution to gorge on nutrient sources as they become available ... the author makes an interesting argument, implicating the contributions of corporate America and a society bent on consumption and materialism in driving the problem ever faster. -- Bob Grant The Scientist Psychologist Kima Cargill takes a tough, critical look at today's consumerist culture from the perspective of research as well as of observations drawn from her clinical experience with patients struggling with weight issues. To stop overeating in today's food environment means finding effective ways to counter the many moral, political, economic, and social imperatives to consume. The ideas in this book should inspire readers to think of obesity in an entirely different way-more as the result of a consumerist society than of individual weakness. -- Marion Nestle, New York University, USA Kima Cargill's work is at the forefront of the intersection of clinical psychology and food studies. She is among the very few academics who understands modern eating disorders within the broader perspective of food culture. This book promises to bridge the enormous gulf between theory and practice and will be essential reading for working psychologists and students of food in America. -- Ken Albala, University of the Pacific, USA An important contribution to food studies scholarship, as no other work covers quite the same territory. Cargill's discussion connecting consumerism in its broadest sense to food consumption is a unique, impressive contribution to contemporary discussions of food and health in the United States. -- Amy Bentley, New York University, USA The psychology of overeating, Cargill argues, is similar to the psychology of overbuying. People who live in consumerist cultures like ours identify themselves by what they consume, not by what they produce ... Too much stuff? Buy stuff to organize your stuff. Eat too much? Buy special diet food. Feel anxious? Buy Paxil. Too expensive? Buy a generic version that's probably made by the same drug company and that only has to prove it fights your anxiety better than a sugar pill ... Cargill drops a glut of Holy Shit That's Crazy facts and arguments from all over the academic world in order to illuminate and back up her comparative theory. The Stranger