Stephan Guyenet made a book! The Hungry Brain is available now, and in episode 34, Stephan and I talk all about it.

Stephan is a long-time friend and colleague. He has a PhD in neuroscience, and studies the role of the brain in controlling the food we eat and the other behaviors we engage in that affect our body composition and risk of obesity. His book lays out how the brain makes these decisions and what we can do to outsmart these deeply rooted instincts in today’s challenging environment.

We begin by talking about what makes us fat, why we are now fatter than ever, why our environment affects some of us so much more strongly than others, and what we can do about it on both an individual and societal level. Then we move on to the book: what you can get out of reading it, why Stephan decided to write it, and the process he used during the three years of research, writing, and publication. In the last part, I get Stephan’s advice for people who want to follow a similar career path, and ask Stephan how he sees his career evolving now that he’s left academia but has stayed so intimately involved with science.

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