Mariska Van Aalst - The Hunger Fix

In The Hunger Fix, Dr. Peeke tackles one of the greatest health problems of our day with startling new insights. She addresses food addiction at its root cause rather than simply providing a diet that leaves people hungry and dissatisfied. The Hunger Fix is a must-read for anyone who wants to end overeating and food obsessions once and for all.

Norman E. Rosenthal, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry, Georgetown University Medical School, and author of the New York Times bestseller Transcendence: Healing and Transformation Through Transcendental Meditation

In The Hunger Fix, Dr. Peeke shows how the foods we eat can directly alter brain chemical messengers and why some find it so challenging to just say no to sugary, fatty foods. More important, she offers solutions and tools to counter the vicious cycle of food addiction.

Michael W. Smith, MD, medical director, chief medical editor of WebMD.com

The Hunger Fix presents research that is shockingly undeniablefood addiction is real! But theres hope for those struggling with hunger and overeating. Dr. Peekes easy-to-follow plan will help readers rewire their brains and transform their bodies permanently. If youve tried everything and failed, this book is your savior.

Chuck Runyon, founder and CEO of Anytime Fitness and author of Working Out Sucks!

The Hunger Fix provides people of all sizes, shapes, and ages the opportunity to cast aside self-destructive behaviors and instead get high on Healthy Fixes. We couldnt agree more that injecting joy and fun into daily physical activity generates the real reward were all hungering for as we seek long-term happiness and wellness!

Kathie and Peter Davis, cofounders of IDEA Health and Fitness Association

In this groundbreaking book, Dr. Peeke successfully links the new science of addiction with the practical realities of our primal drives for hunger and appetite. Through this mind-body connection, The Hunger Fix offers a simple lifelong weight management and lifestyle solution that touches all aspects of how we think, eat, and play.

Paul Terpeluk, MD, MPH, medical director, Employee Health, Cleveland Clinic

Diets are based on denial and deprivationthey create a vicious cycle that leaves dieters feeling addicted to food. In The Hunger Fix, Dr. Peeke explains the science and biochemistry associated with addiction and food binges and offers simple eating steps for people who feel hopeless and out of control.

Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD, sports nutritionist and author of the bestselling Nancy Clarks Sports Nutrition Guidebook

In The Hunger Fix, Dr. Peeke guides readers through the groundbreaking new science of food addiction, helping to explain how their reward systems can be altered by exposure to certain foods. After identifying the challenge, she provides an accessible, practical, science-based strategy to manage cravings and addictive habits for the long term.

James O. Hill, PhD, cofounder, National Weight Control Registry, and executive director, Anschutz Health and Wellness Center, University of Colorado

To anyone, of any age or size, who has ever felt helpless, hopeless, and defeated by their relationship with food. You can achieve the dream of lifelong control over your lifestyle choices. You can achieve optimal health.

Also to the extraordinary men and women who shared their stories throughout this book. Each of them has offered priceless words of wisdom as well as the hope that you, too, can discover their secret to success: What you truly hunger for is not found in the fridge nor the pantry. Instead, as one man said so eloquently, its the peace that comes from learning to live your life to the fullest.

Find your true hunger and therein lies your real rewardcontrol, peace, and joy. They did it. So will you.

M ANY OF YOU MAY KNOW ME FROM THE HIT reality television show The Biggest Loser. I was on the show in Season 7, competing with my friend Laura. We were former models.

My brief time on the ranch at the Biggest Loser was just one stop on my weight-loss journey. You see, before applying to the Biggest Loser, I had what Dr. Peeke calls an EpiphaMEa moment that rang my bell and made me realize I needed to change my life.

It was May 24, 2008, my best friends Laurens birthday. That night, I stood in front of a nightclub with a bunch of my friends. By all accounts, it should have been a fun and carefree night. We had two cabs full of beautiful girls, and Lauren knew a promoter, so everything was taken care ofno waiting on line, no paying for drinks. I remember thinking, Wow, we are set! This night is going to rock!

As we walked straight up to the door, I had a moment of nostalgiaI used to do this kind of stuff all the time in my past modeling life. This was fun, getting dressed up and going dancing!

The bouncer unlocked the red velvet rope and the first group of girls walked right in the club. Now it was time for the second group of girls, including me, to go in. Suddenly I felt intimidated and shied away in the back. I hadnt been clubbing for so long (and I looked a lot bigger now).

As we walked up to the rope, my friends were let in one after the otherboom, boom, boom. Then my worst nightmare came true. The bouncer let in all of my friends, then stopped me and locked the velvet rope! Ill never forget his words, Were at capacity!

My first thought was Bullshitthats what they say when they dont want to let you in. My second thought was Get me the hell out of here. I was mortified and ashamed.

I weighed 316 pounds.

I got into the first cab that I could find and told the driver to drop me off on the corner of my block, even though I lived halfway down the street. You see, my local bodega was on that corner, and it had all my little food friends that medicated me through lifes hard times.

The second I walked into that bodega, a strange calm came over me. It was as if my problem was solved. Before I knew it, I stood in front of my two best friendsBen & Jerry. Now the important questions raced through my mind: New York Super Fudge Chunk? Chunky Monkey? Or Karamel Sutra! I no longer cared about the humiliating rejection I just faced, because now I had what I thought was my rewardbut what Dr. Peeke calls my False Fix.

The truth is, I am a food addict.

I didnt become 316 pounds overnight. Packing on the pounds was a process, one that, at times, I dont want to remember. But finally facing what got me there is what has helped me realize that I never want to be like that againlost, dissociated from myself, and hungering for the lies and the quick fix of my food addiction.

Im an emotional eater. Whether I was sad or extremely happy, it didnt matterevery emotion was registered as hunger and filled with food. And the fact that most of my family has weight issues, and the majority of them are still obese, certainly didnt help. Sunday dinners at Grandmas house had four courses! There was no getting up in the morning to take a walk. We were clued out.

I had horrendous habitsI lived from one False Fix to the next. I would order breakfast from McDonalds every morning. In New York City they deliver! (Shocking, right?) I would order dinner in the car heading home from work and would eat in bed every night. I was out of control, living in a food trance. Like any food addict, I had my favorite False Fixes: chicken Parmesan, Ben & Jerrys, Entenmanns Popems, fried chicken, waffle fries with cheese, Famous Amos cookies.