The best books about the science and psychology of food addiction (from a neuroscientist and nutrition expert)

Why am I passionate about this?

I’ve been fascinated with the science and psychology behind sugar addiction ever since I started graduate school at Princeton University. When I was deciding what to study for my dissertation. I knew my topic needed to be something big, important, and meaningful. At the time, we were starting to hear about the dangers of obesity, and I wondered if it was due to our changing food environment, which had more and more sugar in it. I never would have imagined that this project would lead me to over 20 years of research. Learn all about it in my book Sugarless


I wrote...

Sugarless: A 7-Step Plan to Uncover Hidden Sugars, Curb Your Cravings, and Conquer Your Addiction

By Nicole Avena,

Book cover of Sugarless: A 7-Step Plan to Uncover Hidden Sugars, Curb Your Cravings, and Conquer Your Addiction

What is my book about?

It was created based on the science and psychology behind the cycle of sugar addiction. As one of the leading researchers of sugar addiction, my book explains the detrimental impact that sugar can have on both the brain and body. Sugarless teaches readers how to break free from their addiction to sugar with an easy and sustainable 7-step program that is rooted in science and provides a realistic guide that will help readers curb cravings, cope with withdrawal, and finally put an end to their sugar addiction.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions

Nicole Avena Why did I love this book?

I adore this book by Michael Moss because it provides an in-depth exploration of the role that our food supply plays in fueling our addiction to food. I love how it highlights the intentional and manipulative tactics that food producers utilize to keep us hooked in a way that is intriguing, easy to read, and impactful.

Even as someone who has dedicated their life to studying neuroscience and food addiction, learning more about the scheming world of food companies was eye-opening!

By Michael Moss,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hooked as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Salt Sugar Fat comes a “gripping” (The Wall Street Journal) exposé of how the processed food industry exploits our evolutionary instincts, the emotions we associate with food, and legal loopholes in their pursuit of profit over public health.
 
“The processed food industry has managed to avoid being lumped in with Big Tobacco—which is why Michael Moss’s new book is so important.”—Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit

Everyone knows how hard it can be to maintain a healthy diet. But what if some of the decisions we make about what…


Book cover of Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine

Nicole Avena Why did I love this book?

The reason why I absolutely love this book is because he does not hold back in sharing the unfiltered truth behind processed foods and how they are destroying our health. I especially love how effortlessly Dr. Lustig draws readers in by being direct, concise, and sharing some personal experiences along the way.

By Robert H Lustig,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked Metabolical as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Did you know that 62% of the food in our supermarkets is not only processed but 'ultra-processed' (ingredients from other foods are combined to make something 'new', often in colours that do not exist in nature) and that data shows that by eating this kind of food over time we are literally slowly poisoning ourselves?

In the hard-hitting, ground-breaking tradition of his NY Times bestseller FAT CHANCE, which revealed the dangers of sugar, Dr Robert Lustig persuasively presents a stark expose of how our addiction to processed foods (aided and abetted by the food industry, big ag, big pharma, institutional…


Book cover of Food Junkies: Recovery from Food Addiction

Nicole Avena Why did I love this book?

I cannot recommend it enough! Dr. Tarman aptly uses the science of sugar addiction to create a convincing clinical profile of the sugar/food addiction syndrome. She explains the stages of food addiction and empowers readers by showing how recovery is possible and sustainable.

I truly feel that Food Junkies is a must-read for patients, students, and clinicians that are interested in addiction medicine and obesity management.

By Vera Tarman, MD,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Food Junkies as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A fact-filled guide to coping with compulsive overeating problems by an experienced addictions doctor who draws on many patients' stories of recovery.

Overeating, binge eating, obesity, anorexia, and bulimia - Food Junkies tackles the complex, poorly understood issue of food addiction from the perspective of a medical researcher and dozens of survivors. What exactly is food addiction? Is it possible to draw a hard line between indulging cravings for "comfort food" and engaging in substance abuse? For people struggling with food addictions, recognizing their condition remains a frustrating battle.

This revised second edition contains the latest research as well as…


Book cover of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal

Nicole Avena Why did I love this book?

Fast food is everywhere you turn nowadays, which makes Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser such an important read for people of all ages and backgrounds. While reading, I was continuously fascinated to find out how ugly and disturbing the truth is behind America’s fast-food system.

With the obesity epidemic on the rise, I truly hope all children, adults, and older adults read this book and use the truth it teaches to change their lives for the better.

By Eric Schlosser,

Why should I read it?

5 authors picked Fast Food Nation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it. This book is for kids age 14, 15, 16, and 17.

What is this book about?

Now the subject of a film by Richard Linklater, Eric Schlosser's explosive bestseller Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World tells the story of our love affair with fast food.

Britain eats more fast food than any other country in Europe. It looks good, tastes good, and it's cheap. But the real cost never appears on the menu.

Eric Schlosser visits the lab that re-creates the smell of strawberries; examines the safety records of abattoirs; reveals why the fries really taste so good and what lurks between the sesame buns - and shows how fast…


Book cover of Hunger: An Unnatural History

Nicole Avena Why did I love this book?

This is a foundational book that teaches the basic biology of hunger. I love how Sharman Apt Russel continuously paints a visual for the reader of the physiological processes that occur during hunger and starvation—making it easy to follow and understand.

The best part is Sharman Apt Russel doesn’t stop with the science behind hunger, she discusses the horrific effects that hunger can have on individuals and the entire world.

By Sharman Russell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Hunger as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Every day, we wake up hungry. Every day, we break our fast. Hunger is both a natural and an unnatural human condition. In Hunger , Sharman Apt Russell explores the range of this primal experience. Step by step, Russell takes us through the physiology of hunger, from eighteen hours without food to thirty-six hours to three days to seven days to thirty days. In quiet, elegant prose, she asks a question as big as history and as everyday as skipping lunch: How does hunger work?


You might also like...

Rewriting Illness

By Elizabeth Benedict,

Book cover of Rewriting Illness

Elizabeth Benedict

New book alert!

What is my book about?

What happens when a novelist with a “razor-sharp wit” (Newsday), a “singular sensibility” (Huff Post), and a lifetime of fear about getting sick finds a lump where no lump should be? Months of medical mishaps, coded language, and Doctors who don't get it.

With wisdom, self-effacing wit, and the story-telling artistry of an acclaimed novelist, Elizabeth Benedict recollects her cancer diagnosis after discovering multiplying lumps in her armpit. In compact, explosive chapters, interspersed with moments of self-mocking levity, she chronicles her illness from muddled diagnosis to “natural remedies,” to debilitating treatments, as she gathers sustenance from family, an assortment of urbane friends, and a fearless “cancer guru.”

Rewriting Illness is suffused with suspense, secrets, and the unexpected solace of silence.

Rewriting Illness

By Elizabeth Benedict,

What is this book about?

By turns somber and funny but above all provocative, Elizabeth Benedict's Rewriting Illness: A View of My Own is a most unconventional memoir. With wisdom, self-effacing wit, and the story-telling skills of a seasoned novelist, she brings to life her cancer diagnosis and committed hypochondria. As she discovers multiplying lumps in her armpit, she describes her initial terror, interspersed with moments of self-mocking levity as she indulges in "natural remedies," among them chanting Tibetan mantras, drinking shots of wheat grass, and finding medicinal properties in chocolate babka. She tracks the progression of her illness from muddled diagnosis to debilitating treatment…


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