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More than 100 people turned out to listen to authors Mika Brzezinski and Diane Smith as they spoke about their new book "Obsessed".
This was not a normal book event the audience was treated to. New Canaan resident Joe Scarborough, and co-host with Brzezinski of "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, led a frank discussion between friends about their struggles with food and weight in a world that judges those who are overweight.
The concept for the book started, as Brzezinski and Smith said, on a boat when Brzezinski told Smith that she was fat and obese and that she was concerned for her health. Smith turned the conversation around saying that Brzezinski was unhealthily skinny.
"We have to tell our own stories and we have to tell them honestly," Smith said.
"I've always felt like I was living a lie on the air," Brzezinski said, as she explained her own obsession with food and how that affected her personal and work life.
Ultimately, the battle was won, with Smith loosing 80 pounds and Brzezinski gaining 15, both coming to a more healthy weight.
But what they learned while writing this book was that there is a food obsession in this country, something that they say is perpetuated by the food industry programming their products to elicit pleasurable responses. Brzezinski likened the food addiction to cocaine.
Another part of why they wrote the book was to examine how people in society react to overweight people in jobs.
Both women said they worried constantly about their appearances being women in the media and experiences they'd had in job hunting.
The book features interviews with over a dozen noted scientists, physicians, celebrities and politicians to talk about food in our culture and in the work place.
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