Browse Month October 2020

Food Addiction – The Reason Why We’re Fat?

Given the obesity rates in this country there are a lot of people who are addicted to food. Food addiction can be very similar to alcohol and drug addictions. The difference between an over eater and an addict is the over eater simply eats too much, but could stop if they wanted and tried to, yet the addict often can’t stop eating, or binging, despite the extra money it is costing, the effect its having on relationships, or what it is doing to the their health. Food addicts obsess about food. While a large portion of obese people may be food addicts, weight is not the only basis for identifying a them. People who are thin or average weight who are suffering from bulimia nervosa or similar disorders can also be food addicts.

Perhaps you are at a party or picnic and someone has brought out a tray of chocolate frosted cupcakes. It’s not on your new diet plan to eat cupcakes, but the host has made them thinking of you, remembering they are your favorite flavor. So you decide it would be okay to just have one. You enjoy one delectable cupcake, tasting how soft and moist the cake is and how creamy and chocolate-y the frosting is. But after that one cupcake you decide to have one other. At this point you realize that you can’t stop eating them. You might volunteer to take the rest home saying you will “bring them to your family”, even though you know you will eat the rest. Or so people don’t know you have a problem, perhaps you’ll leave a little early and stop by the bakery for cupcakes, and maybe somewhere else, because ice cream would sure taste good with them. Now you are thinking about cupcakes and food too much. It has probably gotten in the way of you having fun at the party.

Whether its cupcakes, ice cream, chips or pizza, if you are like this, not able to stop eating certain foods, you may be a food addict. Food addiction is real and serious. In the United States the obesity rate has been increasing for a number of years. Surprisingly, in the fight against obesity, food addiction is not mentioned. People are told to have self-control, use their willpower, and avoid overeating. They tell us to eat less sugar and fat, and to exercise. People talk to overweight people like they don’t know this. It is just difficult for people with a food addiction. Based on many separate research studies, scientists have found evidence of chemical dependency on food. Experiments have shown that the pleasure centers of the brain that are triggered when people use cocaine and heroin are also stimulated by food. People who are addicted to food overeat because some foods trigger good feeling brain chemicals such as dopamine that gives the person a sense of feeling high. While each food addict has their own particular food or foods they are addicted to, the foods that are most addictive in general tend to be foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt.

Every overweight person may not be addicted to food. Having three brownies once in a while, eating more than the recommended portion of fries, or eating large portions at dinner, do not make a person a food addict. There are many overweight people who are not food addicts. Food addicts think about food and diets a lot. They have often tried to not eat certain foods and have failed. They have nervousness and a sense of anxiety when it comes to food. They both love and hate food. They love food because it is not only delicious, but it has been there to comfort them and help them deal with, but mostly cover, negative emotions such as guilt, anger, or depression. They hate food because it makes them overweight and feel bad about themselves. Food makes them feel out of control because they can’t help eating more and more.

People who suffer from bulimia eat copious amounts food when they binge, just like many other food addicts who are overweight, but because they purge their food they tend to be thin or more often an average weight. But they are often addicted to food, not being able to handle just one portion. They eat large amounts of food, but try to control their weight by “getting rid of” the food.

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Finding Real Health in a World of Artificial Food

Remember the days when we shopped in food markets no bigger than a convenience store? They were full of locally grown fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, nuts, beans, and grains. Markets back then had only a couple shelves that were stocked with non-perishable foods.

Today, it’s the opposite. We now have supermarkets that are predominantly stocked with non-perishable food items that can sit on a shelf for years. They are called “processed foods.” There are many reasons why this shift has taken place, but the real concern is, how do we now maneuver through a world full of artificial food? That’s a valid concern, so hopefully the following information will help you sift through this confusing world of food sources

Processed Food

Most processed foods are actually not real food at all. Real food is alive, and will spoil. Processed foods may include a few “real food” ingredients; however those items have been processed in order to give it a profitable shelf life – which ultimately reduces it from a living food, to a dead food. Dead food can sit on a shelf for a long time.

Addictive Food

Many manufacturers add addictive chemicals to their processed foods in order to cause cravings and hook us into consuming their product more frequently; therefore driving up their profits. I read years ago about MSG’s hallucinogenic effects that cause us to crave the food that is laced with MSG. These chemicals get lost in the huge list of ingredients. Many times people will eat the food and ignore the dangers. Usually they just don’t want to, or don’t have the time to investigate every ingredient. They are driven by their appetite and cravings because the last time they ate the food it gave them great enjoyment. But as we know, just because something was enjoyable, does not mean that it was safe.

Fortified and Enriched Food

Fortified and enriched foods typically originate as real food, however with the healthiest part removed; either purposely removed, or destroyed during the processing stage. This is done to give the product a long and profitable shelf-life. Unfortunately, the part that spoils is the part that contains the greatest health benefits. Adding synthetic vitamins, minerals, and fiber back into the product does not make up for the lost natural nutrition. It simply makes the product look better. Again, this reduces the real food to artificial food – dead food.

Here’s an interesting fact about fortified foods. If the manufacturer does not complete step 2, by injecting artificial nutrition back into the item, then it cannot be sold in a grocery store. A pharmacist told me years ago that it’s illegal to sell this kind of product in a grocery store because it’s not really food! Without being “fortified” with artificial nutrients it could only be sold in a drug store. Remember, our bodies are alive, and they require food that’s alive – in order to remain alive!

Real Food

Real food is grown from the earth. Fruits, vegetables, grains, lentils, seeds, and nuts are loaded with vitamins and minerals, natural medicine (phytochemicals), and energy; and are alive and full of remarkable components that keep us alive and healthy. You can never go wrong with living food choices. Living food has the right amount of fiber, as well as vitamins and minerals perfectly combined to work synergistically together. Living food has protein, carbohydrates, and fats balanced to compliment your body’s needs, and phytochemical medicines that fight the daily bugs and chemicals of life. With living food, there is no need to count carbs, omit fats, or double up on protein. The work has already been done for us. It’s been created to perfectly match our body’s needs. Eating real food is like inserting a square peg, into a square hole. It fits.

Furthermore, living food tastes great! If you remove artificial food sources from your diet, your taste buds will begin to detox and return to normal sensitivity. When that happens, you will find that artificial food tastes artificial and real food tastes marvelous!

What about animal protein? Animal protein is considered real food, but not living food. The purpose of animal protein is for our protein needs. Animal protein does not supply us with vitamins, minerals, or natural medicine. However, lean animal proteins can be very helpful for those who require more protein. Be aware though that animal fat and any chemicals or hormones that the animal is fed can be harmful to you. Choose animal proteins carefully and limit your intake.

So how do we maneuver in this world of artificial food? We’ve been conditioned to believe that we can solve this problem by simply reading the ingredient list and being aware of what we are eating. I don’t agree with this method. We can spend countless hours in our life reading words we don’t know, then Googling them to decide whether they are good or bad. Even then, we cannot be sure that what we are reading on the internet is true. The internet is full of opinions, sales pitches, and tainted studies. A person can go mad trying to follow all the internet health rules!

Why do we need to know all of the technical verbiage on an ingredient list anyway? After all, when a manufacturer sees that the public is catching on to their unhealthy ingredients and processing techniques, they simply change the names, which can send us back into the Google trap again or frustrate us to the point where we give up. So how do we get out of this bondage?

There are two ways to deal with this confusing issue. We can throw our hands up and say “Whatever, it’s too hard; I’m just going to eat what I want.” Or we can take what I think is an easier route and a healthier route, not only for ourselves but also for our families.

I learned long ago that the best way to identify a counterfeit is NOT to study

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3 Ways to Conquer Your Food Cravings

Cravings feel like itches that desperately need to be scratched. Food cravings can be described as an extreme desire to consume specific foods. These feelings are often stronger than normal hunger.

Food engineers and food scientists have studied what makes us crave certain foods more than others. Fat, salt and sweet is the winning trifecta of taste that fuels most of our food cravings. Taste is king, and the foods that taste the best are the ones that deliver on the preferred ratios for salt, sugar, fat, and other features that make food exciting. Food manufacturers, scientists, and engineers use a wide variety of these factors to make food more attractive. They know that for some of us, our craving-focus may be on the texture of food. It might be creamy, crunchy or a mouth-watering balance of both. For others, their craving-focus might be centered on taste. The taste might be salty, sweet, or a lip-smacking blend of each. The goal is to make us want to eat more.

Calories are a measure of how much energy we get from a serving size of food.

Caloric density, different from nutrient density, is an important means that is used to keep us coming back for more. The caloric density or energy density of a particular food is a measurement of the average calories per unit (gram or ounce or bite) of that food. All foods contain nutrients. Unlike calorie dense foods, nutrient dense foods are high in nutrients for the number of calories per unit (gram or ounce or bite) they contain. Foods that are energy or calorie dense have a high concentration of calories per bite. Some common everyday processed foods that are energy dense are the packaged snack foods, frosted cakes with filling, cookies, and candies. Traditional fast foods such as cheeseburgers, fried chicken, and French fries and bakery items like doughnuts are legendary for their energy density. Junk foods are considered empty calorie foods because they are low in nutritional density and high on calories per ounce or bite. These high energy dense or high calorie dense foods offer a high concentration of calories per bite, and are associated with high pleasure by the brain These foods are designed to be tasty (i.e. potato chips) and not filling. Because junk foods are low in satisfaction value, people tend not to feel full when they eat them. This low satisfaction experience almost always leads to over eating. Junk food is characteristically high in palatability, high in fat, and high in calories, but low in fiber and volume.

Low energy dense foods, in contrast to high energy dense foods, tend to be highly nutrient dense. In general they are moist and juicy. Low energy dense foods have a high percentage of fiber that retains their natural water. Most vegetables, fruits, and legumes are examples of low energy dense foods.

Follow these 3 tips to conquer your food cravings, and get an added bonus of weight loss, and inches off your waist.

Tip #1 Seek out and eat low caloric density or low energy density foods

These foods are usually high in water and low in fat. Intentionally limit your consumption of high caloric density foods which are usually processed snacks desserts and junk foods.

To do this let you plate be your guide. Dilute out high caloric density foods/meals by filling ½ your plate with unprocessed whole grains, starchy veggies, and/or legumes or fruit. Adding vegetables to any dish lowers the caloric density of most meals. Go for low caloric density foods for craving and weight control.

Tip #2 Eat until you are full.

Along the road from hunger to satiety eat until you are comfortably full. It is easier to conquer your cravings when you are full. Be intentional. Since energy dense food offers a lot more calories and will leave you asking for more, choose low energy dense foods which are low in calories and high in nutrient density, water, and fiber that will leave you satisfied. Feeling feel full and satisfied is the strongest way to conquer food cravings.

Tip #3 Sequence eating your meals.

Start each of your meals with fruit, salad, or soup. This will get you started with low energy dense foods which are more filling and nutritious than their high calorie dense counterparts. Vegetables without oil offer the lowest caloric density.

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