American researchers found burgers, chips and sausages programmed a human brain into craving even more sugar, salt and fat laden food.  Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida found laboratory rats became addicted to a bad diet.

They tested rats and the rats which ate as much junk food as they wanted became very fat and started bingeing. When researchers electronically stimulated the part of the brain that feels pleasure, they found the rats on unlimited junk food needed even more stimulation to register the same level of pleasure as the animals on healthier diets.

"They always went for the worst types of food and as a result, they took in twice the calories as the control rats,” said Dr Kenny. "The change in their diet preference was so great that they basically starved themselves for two weeks after they were cut off from junk food." Read  more here.

This is what Dr David Kessler identified. He was a commissioner with the US Food and Drugs Administration. He claims that manufacturers have created combinations of fat, sugar and salt that are so tasty and trigger addictive neural pathways in the brain that many people really cannot stop eating these foods even when they have just eaten a full meal.  He argues that manufacturers are seeking to trigger a "bliss point" when people eat certain products, leaving them hungry for more, so that they gain weight.

To help you overcome these addictions, try hypnosis.

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Hedonic hyperphagia is overeating for reward or pleasure rather than need for calories. Eating because it is nice. Eating for fun.

There are lots of foods we eat because they are nice, and they tend to be processed foods. And they tend to be developed by people in white coats, in the lab. So what is going on there then?

Well, Dr Kessler, who used to head up the US Food and Drugs Administration, says "The food industry has been able to figure out the bliss point, the optimal combinations of fat and salt, fat and sugar, fat, sugar and salt that you think tastes good". So industrially-developed food  is designed to get you to eat for pleasure.

And it is eating for pleasure - the crispy, salty, fatty crisps mmmm, the sweet and creamy (read fatty) chocolate aaah - that underlies our excess calorie intake.

And it really is addictive. After all, these industrial giants want you to buy more, and if you buy more, you eat more. (In the hand is in the mouth.)

The reward centres in the brain that regulate drug and other forms of addiction are the same as those brain areas that are stimulated by highly palatable foods (read fat, sugar, fat, salt). It is not surprising that genes associated with  addiction may also be linked with obesity. This assumption finds new support in a study published this month in PLoS Genetics by Nancy Heard-Costa from Boston University School of Medicine.

This research supports the notion that some individuals may be more susceptible to obesity because of an increased genetic predisposition to reward-seeking behaviours, that obviously include seeking out highly-palatable (addictive, fatty, salty, sugary) foods as well as other addictive behaviours.

Well, you might say, that is all very interesting. What does it mean for me? Well, it means this. Some of us eat for pleasure, and indeed take in most of our calories when we are eating for pleasure. This is my recommendation. If you are one of these people (and you will know this by checking your supermarket receipts, and if you are on the podgy side). Don't buy processed snack materials in the supermarket. If you do, you will buy them in large quantities and you will eat them in large quantities. Don't eat food out of sacks or buckets (crisps come in sacks). Else you will gain weight.

If you must buy food to eat for fun (and hypnotherapy will help you stop) then buy it in small quantities from small shops.

Research from Auburn University in the States suggests that sitting for hours in front of the telly will get you fat. Men who watch more than 3 hours of TV a day are twice as likely to become obese as those who watched less than one hour per day. Read it! This isn't a gender thing, just that the research was done on men. (Does this research from US relate to us in Scotland. Yes it does. Scots are second in the world in the obesity stakes. US is number one.)

In part, this is because you are sitting down doing nothing, so your metabolism slows down to be similar to sleeping. Even talking on the phone uses more calories than watching the box! Do something! Being active reduces your risk of low mood and depression too (a lot of eat more when we are depressed.)

We also tend to eat snacks while watching the TV. And at peak times (and in childrens tv time as well) we are watching adverts for chocolates and drinks, and a whole range of snack food. Advertising wouldn't be done if it didn't work. Recent research shows that from only half an hour of telly a day, the increased snacks triggered by advertising could lead to 10 pounds weight gain in a year.

If you are engrossed in the telly, then you are not fully mindful of the food you are eating. You could eat a whole meal's value of calories without even noticing.

So if you are concerned about weight gain, here are some tips.

1. Watch less telly.
2. Measure out a portion of snack, so that you are more aware of how much you are eating. Research shows that if you eat from a large package, you will eat more than if you eat from a small package. Store the remainder out of easy reach, so that if you refill your portion, you are aware of what you are doing.
3. Work on being aware of what you are eating.

Try to make a few small changes every week. If you are in or near Glasgow and want to lose weight, try hypnotherapy with me.