EATING BEHAVIORS AND THE BRAIN PART 10
We discussed the characteristics of foods that trigger the reward system and override our control of eating. It’s important to note these foods also allow for a disruption in the hormonal processes that would control our eating. These types of foods appear to interfere with leptin doing its job of regulating our energy balance. They also may contribute to chronic inflammation in our brain which impacts our mental function and can create resistance to the leptin we secrete to naturally regulate our body weight.
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“These foods do not satisfy you. They do not satiate your desire for nutrients nor give you nourishment. They actually make you sick and sabotage your efforts to feel good…”
Ultimately, when we eat these foods, we get a little blip of pleasure, but it doesn’t last long. We actually feel less satisfied and we want to eat more. Then our bodies actually fight us to hold on to the weight we gain, even though it’s making us feel bad.
These foods do not satisfy you. They do not satiate your desire for nutrients nor give you nourishment. They actually make you sick and sabotage your efforts to feel good and maintain a healthy weight by directly working on the physiological controls of your weight and your energy, regardless of how you feel about it.
The Truth About Food
The good news is that natural foods, whole foods, and nourishing foods actually reset the system. It takes time, but they do. If you choose the foods that are high in fiber and nutrients, moderate in palatability—meaning they taste good, but not unnaturally good—and lower in calories, you’ll begin to effortlessly control your own appetite and begin to change the regulation of your energy balance back to the one that you desire.
There’s a truth about food. It serves a purpose for us. It is meant to both nourish us and give us pleasure. When we choose the right foods, they will serve their purpose for us. Ultimately, if we choose the artificial foods, the foods that are making us sick, we actually get no pleasure at all, and we get no nourishment.
We all have to make this choice together, and we have to do it in a way that encourages one another toward our best selves. We can’t wag fingers at each other or promote shame or guilt. This happened while we weren’t looking, while we weren’t aware. No one’s been telling us the truth about this, but it’s out there. This is all based on published and reliable scientific studies.
It makes sense that if we eat the foods that are natural and provide us sustenance, we’ll get back our health. If we try to shortcut that with foods that artificially create pleasure, ultimately there’s a price to pay. The price we’re paying is our health, and our children’s health.
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“We all have to make this choice together, and we have to do it in a way that encourages one another toward our best selves. We can’t wag fingers at each other or promote shame or guilt.”
There are companies profiting off of making us sick, and making us addicted. We never used to think of food this way. We were clear about nicotine, and alcohol, and opiates, and many other substances that we encounter that are clearly addictive and make us sick. But our food wasn’t supposed to do this. It’s been modified.
Doctor’s Conclusion
We know that you have to walk away from the added substances, but you can’t just walk away from food. You have to eat. Therefore, we have to help one another. We can do this together, and we can be set free.
The food industries that sell us our food will honor this. If we insist on foods that give us health, they’ll provide it. In fact, there are numerous companies, farmers, and food producers out there that are bringing nutrient-dense foods to the marketplace that will give us life and give us health. Let’s give them our support. Let’s make new choices together.
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