We have an epidemic of obesity in the US and it is getting worse by the day. For the first time in history we are seeing an increase the levels of Type 2 Diabetes in teenagers. Type 2 can be directly linked to lifestyle although there are some genetic aspects at play. So the question is why do we have so many people who are eating themselves to death? When you routinely see men and women who way in at 300 or 400 pounds there has got to be something different going on than just the physical response to being hungry.
It seems to me that food addiction is a very real problem because we have taken the idea of food away from satiating a hunger and have linked it to emotions. I bet the majority of Americans never feel hunger pangs once a week. Why? Because they are eating all the time for emotional reasons so they never let their bodies become hungry. We have turned food into a comforter and an entertainment experience. We are using food to manipulate are feelings and cover up what is really going on in our lives. I think there is a great need for and understanding of how food is becoming an addictive substance and treatment like we find in drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers. We have go to learn to deal with the underlying causes of over eating if we are going to beat this obesity epidemic that threatens to bankrupt our health care system.
We can not continue to treat obesity as only a choice that people make to overeat. That is like telling the alcoholic to just stop drinking or telling the drug addict to just stop taking pill or snorting. Addiciton is much more complex than that. If anything, we are learning that addiction and rehab are tied to both psychological and physical causes. There is some study now of the affect of simple carbohydrates on brain chemistry that may cause a euphoric feeling when consumed. I know I feel really great when I eat carbs, for a while anyway, and sometimes I don't even want to eat but something forces me to put candy and chips in my mouth.
I really think we could do a lot for people with food addiction if we would realize that the same methods used in drug rehab may work for people who can't stop eating. It is worth a try because the current levels of obesity can not be sustained for any length of time. Already the current generation of young people is the first one in history with a life expectancy less than their parents. It is time to take a hard look at food addiction.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
AreThere Natural Remedies For Food Addiciton?
Addiction is an enigma in the psychological world. Is it a disease or is a loss of will power or is it a caused by a chemical reaction in the brain that makes more people susceptible to losing control of their lives? Supposedly, people can be addicted to all sorts of things, including sex, work, danger, or exercise, which have nothing to do with ingesting a substance into their body. Unlike the alcoholic or drug addict, these people are not putting a substance into their body to change their mental state.
On the face of it then it would seem that addiction does not only deal with what goes in our mouth or what is sniffed up our nose or shot in our arm. Does this hold true for food addiction also? I think it does. There seems to be two components to people who are suffering from food addiction. First there is the psychological affect of the feelings a person feels when he or she eats. Food changes the chemistry in the brain and these changes can very easily be linked to particular mental states. As I have said before, my family is really good at using food as a means to control bad feelings. Are you sad? Then eat. Are you worried? Then eat. Are you happy do you want to celebrate? Then eat. Food has become more than a way to sustain our bodies it has become a comforter and an entertainment. This is just like the workaholic who gets satisfaction from working overtime and providing for his family, or the sexaholic who feels loved by having sex with strangers. The act is tied up with the emotions.
But there seems to be a chemical side to food addiction also. As we get farther and farther away from natural foods we are filling our bodies up with more and more manipulated substances. This is particular true in the field of drug medications. People are finding more and more that the old natural remedies your great-grandmother used are just as effective as the manipulated chemicals the drug companies put out. In fact most of the consumer drugs are nothing more than synthetic variation of the natural drugs that nature provides. They are synthesized because there is more profit. Go over to www.enaturesremedies.com and find out about natural organic alternatives to prescription drugs and see how we are missing the boat with these non-natural remedies.
One of the areas of food manipulation I am interested in is carbohydrates. We have sky rocketing levels of obesity and diabetes in this country and part of it can be directly related to how we have super charged foods to flood our systems with simple sugars. For thousands of years are bodies were adapted to eating whole grains. By eating whole grains the intake of carbohydrates was slowed and thus the bodies blood sugar levels were more stable. Now with white bread and processed sugar this is no longer the case. The carbs are so easy to digest that we get a massive blood sugar load on our systems. This causes the pancreas to go into overdrive making insulin for the liver the metabolize the sugar. This wears out the pancreas and overshoots the insulin levels which now gives us low blood sugar so we do it again. This yo-yo affect can lead to pre-diabetes. The best way to deal with this is to eat a lot of foods that are low carb and mix zero carb foods with the high carb foods to balance them out.
Food addiction like all addictions is an anigma. Is it a disease, is it a choice, or is it a chemical reation? I think it has a component of all three and we must treat all three when trying to help people who suffer from food addiction.
On the face of it then it would seem that addiction does not only deal with what goes in our mouth or what is sniffed up our nose or shot in our arm. Does this hold true for food addiction also? I think it does. There seems to be two components to people who are suffering from food addiction. First there is the psychological affect of the feelings a person feels when he or she eats. Food changes the chemistry in the brain and these changes can very easily be linked to particular mental states. As I have said before, my family is really good at using food as a means to control bad feelings. Are you sad? Then eat. Are you worried? Then eat. Are you happy do you want to celebrate? Then eat. Food has become more than a way to sustain our bodies it has become a comforter and an entertainment. This is just like the workaholic who gets satisfaction from working overtime and providing for his family, or the sexaholic who feels loved by having sex with strangers. The act is tied up with the emotions.
But there seems to be a chemical side to food addiction also. As we get farther and farther away from natural foods we are filling our bodies up with more and more manipulated substances. This is particular true in the field of drug medications. People are finding more and more that the old natural remedies your great-grandmother used are just as effective as the manipulated chemicals the drug companies put out. In fact most of the consumer drugs are nothing more than synthetic variation of the natural drugs that nature provides. They are synthesized because there is more profit. Go over to www.enaturesremedies.com and find out about natural organic alternatives to prescription drugs and see how we are missing the boat with these non-natural remedies.
One of the areas of food manipulation I am interested in is carbohydrates. We have sky rocketing levels of obesity and diabetes in this country and part of it can be directly related to how we have super charged foods to flood our systems with simple sugars. For thousands of years are bodies were adapted to eating whole grains. By eating whole grains the intake of carbohydrates was slowed and thus the bodies blood sugar levels were more stable. Now with white bread and processed sugar this is no longer the case. The carbs are so easy to digest that we get a massive blood sugar load on our systems. This causes the pancreas to go into overdrive making insulin for the liver the metabolize the sugar. This wears out the pancreas and overshoots the insulin levels which now gives us low blood sugar so we do it again. This yo-yo affect can lead to pre-diabetes. The best way to deal with this is to eat a lot of foods that are low carb and mix zero carb foods with the high carb foods to balance them out.
Food addiction like all addictions is an anigma. Is it a disease, is it a choice, or is it a chemical reation? I think it has a component of all three and we must treat all three when trying to help people who suffer from food addiction.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Dieting and Stress
Obesity rates are sky rocketing everyone agrees to that. In the US over 60% of the population is obese or overweight. People are starting diets and failing at amazing levels. Addiction rates are also rising all across this country. So what is going on? I think a lot of it has to do with stress and using substances outside of our bodies to control how we feel inside. Although their are a lot of illegal ways to do this there are also many legal ways. One of the easiest if food.
People have got to get back to the idea that food is not an entertainment item but a substance that is for the sustenance of life. It is really not surprising that so many people over eat and try one diet after another with no luck. Every where we look our senses are being bombarded with images of lushes, rich, high calorie food and the happy THIN people who are eating it. Subconsciously we are being manipulated and don't even know it.
The presentation of food in advertising images has been extended to an art form. Last night I was watching television and an ad came on for a pizza joint. The pictures of that pizza almost made me get up and go to the fridge and look for something greasy, and chewy to eat even though I wasn't hungry in the least. Luckily I caught myself before getting to the kitchen but it really showed how easy it is to me manipulated by these masters of the visual. Our diet and weight loss plans are shot almost before we start. It is no wonder we have such a hard time with weight loss and losing weight.
Being overweight is something I have struggled with my whole life. It runs in not only my immediate family but also in my extended family. Actually being overweight is one of the few things that do run in my family, the members sure don't. I have often wondered if we are all overweight because of our surroundings and upbringing or because of genetic factors. I am starting to think there is a genetic factor because members from other areas of the country are also overweight.
I'm not sure it matters because I still have to do something about my big fat belly. I also am starting to realize that I am the only person who can control it. The reality is I need to eat less and exercise more. Great, no pizza for me.
People have got to get back to the idea that food is not an entertainment item but a substance that is for the sustenance of life. It is really not surprising that so many people over eat and try one diet after another with no luck. Every where we look our senses are being bombarded with images of lushes, rich, high calorie food and the happy THIN people who are eating it. Subconsciously we are being manipulated and don't even know it.
The presentation of food in advertising images has been extended to an art form. Last night I was watching television and an ad came on for a pizza joint. The pictures of that pizza almost made me get up and go to the fridge and look for something greasy, and chewy to eat even though I wasn't hungry in the least. Luckily I caught myself before getting to the kitchen but it really showed how easy it is to me manipulated by these masters of the visual. Our diet and weight loss plans are shot almost before we start. It is no wonder we have such a hard time with weight loss and losing weight.
Being overweight is something I have struggled with my whole life. It runs in not only my immediate family but also in my extended family. Actually being overweight is one of the few things that do run in my family, the members sure don't. I have often wondered if we are all overweight because of our surroundings and upbringing or because of genetic factors. I am starting to think there is a genetic factor because members from other areas of the country are also overweight.
I'm not sure it matters because I still have to do something about my big fat belly. I also am starting to realize that I am the only person who can control it. The reality is I need to eat less and exercise more. Great, no pizza for me.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Are Carbohydrates Addicting
There has been a lot of information lately about the possibility that carbohydrates may actually be addicting to some people. There have been many medical studies performed that seem to indicate that some people's brains are more susceptible to the blood sugar spike that comes from the ingestion of foods high in carbohydrates and simple carbohydrates.
Apparently in these people the chemical receptors in their brains are more in tuned to the chemicals that result from the intake of carbohydrates. These receptors start to crave the chemicals that are derived from carbs and like an alcoholic they tell the other parts of the brain to get ingest more carbs. Then when the person eats more they feel better and so it is a self-replicating process. The brains starts to crave carbs, the body eats carbohydrates, this makes the brain and body feel relief and desire even more carbs.
If you think you may have an addiction to carbs try a no and low carb diet for a while and see if you feel better. There are a lot of no carb recipes that you can try for relief. Stay away from bread and pasta and sugar for a few weeks and see if you don't feel better. If so, contact your doctor or a nutritionist for help with your eating habits and diet.
Apparently in these people the chemical receptors in their brains are more in tuned to the chemicals that result from the intake of carbohydrates. These receptors start to crave the chemicals that are derived from carbs and like an alcoholic they tell the other parts of the brain to get ingest more carbs. Then when the person eats more they feel better and so it is a self-replicating process. The brains starts to crave carbs, the body eats carbohydrates, this makes the brain and body feel relief and desire even more carbs.
If you think you may have an addiction to carbs try a no and low carb diet for a while and see if you feel better. There are a lot of no carb recipes that you can try for relief. Stay away from bread and pasta and sugar for a few weeks and see if you don't feel better. If so, contact your doctor or a nutritionist for help with your eating habits and diet.
Food Addiciton and Anorexia
This blog is dedicated to exploring food addictions and the affect these addictions have on people. One thing that has interested me is whether or not these addictive behaviors we are experiencing through out our society are a new phenomenon or if they have always been a part of our surroundings. I think a lot of addictive behavior has been with humans for a long time.
Take alcohol for example. The fall of the Roman Empire has been attributed to excessive wine drinking. Although it must be added that lead was being added to the wine for flavor at the time that insanity seemed to make a big impact in the government. Lead is a very hazardous material for your brain. But there was definitely a large drinking problem at this time.
During the revolutionary war it was common to drink on the job. Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography talked about his time in the printing room and how at the mid morning break his fellow workers would go next door to fill up their mugs with beer. They would then drink alcohol the rest of the day. Needless to say, he claimed productivity decreased dramatically in the afternoon hours.
So alcohol and we can assume alcohol addiction has been with us for centuries but what about other eating disorders? If you view pictures from several centuries ago the people generally seem to be plump. You must remember that the average person never had a portrait painted of them so we are only seeing how the very upper crust lived. The average person at this time was much shorter than today do to poor nutrition. This leads us to believe that food addiction did not show up because there was generally not enough food to overeat. Even though the disorder may have been present there was no way to feed it so to speak.
I am currently amazed at the number of people who are trying to create an eating disorder in themselves. There is a large number of young females and males who are trying to become anorexic. They are even searching for how to become anorexic websites to find anorexia tips. They think this is an easy way to lose some pounds.
This is very frightening to me in the sense that these people are willing to force themselves to have an eating disorder in order to manipulate how their bodies look. I think this comes directly from the advertising that is bombarding us every day. On one hand we are told over and over how eating this food or eating in that restaurant will make us happy. At the same time slim, sometimes underweight, models are used to portray this fun. So we are told if we eat a lot we will be happy and at the same time we have to be extremely thin to be happy. These two ideas are contradictory. Is it any wonder we are overeating and then using anorexic tips to try to keep our body weight down?
In order to fight these food addictions and eating disorders we must look at the messages of advertisers.
Take alcohol for example. The fall of the Roman Empire has been attributed to excessive wine drinking. Although it must be added that lead was being added to the wine for flavor at the time that insanity seemed to make a big impact in the government. Lead is a very hazardous material for your brain. But there was definitely a large drinking problem at this time.
During the revolutionary war it was common to drink on the job. Benjamin Franklin, in his autobiography talked about his time in the printing room and how at the mid morning break his fellow workers would go next door to fill up their mugs with beer. They would then drink alcohol the rest of the day. Needless to say, he claimed productivity decreased dramatically in the afternoon hours.
So alcohol and we can assume alcohol addiction has been with us for centuries but what about other eating disorders? If you view pictures from several centuries ago the people generally seem to be plump. You must remember that the average person never had a portrait painted of them so we are only seeing how the very upper crust lived. The average person at this time was much shorter than today do to poor nutrition. This leads us to believe that food addiction did not show up because there was generally not enough food to overeat. Even though the disorder may have been present there was no way to feed it so to speak.
I am currently amazed at the number of people who are trying to create an eating disorder in themselves. There is a large number of young females and males who are trying to become anorexic. They are even searching for how to become anorexic websites to find anorexia tips. They think this is an easy way to lose some pounds.
This is very frightening to me in the sense that these people are willing to force themselves to have an eating disorder in order to manipulate how their bodies look. I think this comes directly from the advertising that is bombarding us every day. On one hand we are told over and over how eating this food or eating in that restaurant will make us happy. At the same time slim, sometimes underweight, models are used to portray this fun. So we are told if we eat a lot we will be happy and at the same time we have to be extremely thin to be happy. These two ideas are contradictory. Is it any wonder we are overeating and then using anorexic tips to try to keep our body weight down?
In order to fight these food addictions and eating disorders we must look at the messages of advertisers.
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