Shopping and Overeating

Sharon Begley -- who's fast becoming the best science reporter in America -- has a theory about why we pay with credit cards. Her theory also explains a lot about why we overeat.

Here's the deal. The Nordstrom lady wraps up your Jimmy Choos. If you pay with a credit card, you walk away with something tangible that makes you feel good. If you pay by cash, you still get the shoes, but you also have a specific, tangible negative experience: less cash in your billfold. That causes an area of your brain called the insula -- which is in charge of paying attention to negative feelings -- to light up like a pinball machine. When you pay by credit card, the insula snoozes.

Bottom line: paying with plastic doesn't "hurt". Paying with cash does.

To balance the Scrooge-like insula, we have a little brain structure called the amygdala which hoots and hollers like a NASCAR fan anytime there's an anticipation of pleasure. (Addiction specialists spend a lot of time talking about the amygdala -- you can see it light up like the Rockerfeller Center Christmas tree on a brain scan of any addict presented with a picture of an eight ball of coke.) The amygdala is happy when you leave Neiman's with that new Gucci outfit regardless of how you paid for it, but when you pay with cash you've got the buzz-kllling insula to contend with as well. It's like having your mom in the room back in college when you were about to light up the bong.

So what does this tell us about overeating?

A lot.

The biggest challenge in dealing with weight is the fact that there are no immediate consequences to overindulging. You've got the amygdala firing away as you eye the endless cheesecake at the buffet, but since there's no immediate negative consequence (like a lighter wallet) the insula sleeps through the food orgy.

If there were a way to immediately link the immediate pleasure of downing that pint of Cherry Garcia with the almost certain but distant pain of feeling like a lard ass, we'd be stepping away from the buffet table a lot faster than we do now.

So scientists, listen up. Figure out a way to get the amygdala and the insula to speak to each other when we're downing a 4000 calorie meal.

If it can stop us from impulse buying a Phillipe Patek, it should be able to work at the Cheesecake Factory.

Follow Dr. Jonny Bowden on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonnybowden

Comments

[Dr. Jonny Bowden - Huffpost Blogger]

unfortunately our rather stupid lizard brain doesn't always calculate so rationally- not when it comes to shopping, not when it comes to food and not when it comes to drugs! but of course you are entirely right!

jb

[willclower]

I would like to apologize in advance. It's like with my daughter, who habitually rolls her eyes when I speak during movies and point out the impossible. "Fire in space? You can't have fire in space!!"

My Ph.D. is in Neuroscience and I direct nutrition programs, so enjoyed reading your post, and found it very insightful, although the description of brain areas fall into the "fire in space" category.

I'm suggesting that our overeating at the holidays (and intoxication with credit) is more about psychology than neurophysiology. Normally, the negative consequences of our consumption hit us each time we get out of the shower, dripping over bulges, bumps, and saddle bags. So there's no time when we have NO negative feedback for our gobbling Big-Gulping behavior.

However, during the holidays, we eat like a we spend -- on a Dietary Credit Card, rack up a huge debt, and whisper to ourselves that we'll pay for it in January ... the diet month. So even though our jeans become a tourniquet, we have the mental "out" that we can just pay it off later.

After looking at those brain scans you cite and recording from sputtering neurons, I respectfully submit that our answer is less about connecting two brain areas than improving our culture of health. We need to change our eating mindset from November to New Years, on the credit card we never seem to repay in full. And no one will have a bail out plan for that!!

[Dr. Jonny Bowden - Huffpost Blogger]

I couldn't agree with you more about improving our culture of health.

jb

[OohBaby]

The below quote from this post is a real head scratcher for me.
"If you pay with a credit card, you walk away with something tangible that makes you feel good. If you pay by cash, you still get the shoes, but you also have a specific, tangible negative experience: less cash in your billfold."
Yes, you pay with cash, you will have less cash in your wallet. If you pay with credit cards, you are actually paying more than the retail cost, because every purchase has an interest rate attached, and even perhaps other fees, not to mention the debt you will incur if you cannot pay off on the immediate billing cycle.
So choice is the consumers.
1. Pay with cash - moderate spending and know exactly the cost of your purchases without incurring debt.
2. Pay with credit-pay more money, noting the included interest rate with your purchase and possibling incurr more debt.