Food Addiction: Lack Of Education Leads To Compulsive Behavior

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As a Nutritional Practitioner, I see a lot of clients who complain about being addicted to food. This addiction, according to them, is likened to what an alcoholic or mild drug user suffers from: compulsive eating behaviour, binging, unnatural responses or actions, lying, etc. Most of this is said to be triggered by emotions, negative life events, boredom, or depression.

I agree that there are similarities with food addiction to other addictions; such as obsession with a substance to alter mood or outlook, overt or harmful  behaviours, or lack of self-control. But rather than blame the substance, we have to look at what triggers the response to the condition.

Many people are on destructive (restrictive) dietary paths which result in nutrient deficiencies. Indulging in fractionated carbohydrates, junk foods, canned and boxed foods which contain either starches, sugars or simple carbohydrates, only sets up a further strong psychological drive for more of these foods.  Why? Because they boost our immediate outlook through higher glucose conversion and temporary energy. But like other destructive substances, the end result is very short lived.

Refined Foods Don’t Lead To Good Health

As a society, we live for instant gratification. Rather than eating foods which give us long term energy, we desire a quick pick-me-up, even though we know the cycle has to be repeated over and over during the day, leaving us exhausted. Part of the problem is what manufacturers tell shoppers. Words such as diet, whole, goodness and so on are meaningless in light of what the food endures during processing.

In Canada, whole wheat is not “whole.” As much as 70% of the nutrients may legally be destroyed through removal of much of the kernel, which reduces shelf life. Whole wheat is not a whole grain – period. It is a product which, through loss of many of the nutrients (wheat germ and wheat germ oil), as well as bran and middlings, is now a fast absorbing energy food which spikes blood sugar. But still, our government says the end product remains good for us. In effect,  manufacturers legally (yet immorally) lie to us, desiring profit more than our good health.

Educate Yourself

Much of this can be remedied by education. With the availability of the internet and more authors writing about whole food nutrition, we should be able to find proper information on the subject. However, the excuse I frequently hear is that, “I don’t have enough time.” My answer is always the same: “Do you have the time to get sick?” Because once a person is on their sickbed, they cannot earn money, nor can they enjoy the fruits of their labour. Balanced nutrition is not an option, but a necessity to “keep the ability to be busy.”

Another angle is our relationship to food. Do we understand that restricting nutrients sets us up for psychological cravings? Most diets are about weight loss, rather than good health. Authors care more for immediate results, because this brings in income. Yet most of the poor souls reading these books don’t equate their subsequent weight gain (once off the diet) with the diet itself. Diets are a sham, which is why your 20 pound weight loss ultimately results in a net 40 pound gain. This is a protective mechanism of the body to an unnatural restriction of needed substances – a sure plan for long term failure. It’s an addictive cycle: We desire the short term weight loss rather than thinking about the end result. This is somewhat like the steroid user, or the person taking diet pills. Yes, there may be immediate dramatic results, but in the end, we suffer even more.

Don’t Worry – Make Decisions!

Dietary rules also get us thinking too much about what should be an enjoyable experience. All this weighing and calculating is a drain on a pure pleasure – the enjoyment of wholesome food. We should be able to look at a food and immediately understand if it is good or bad. Has it been refined? Then there is a great chance it is not healthy. I don’t care at all about what we are told to the contrary. I have thousands of clients who have had success with this approach. It does not lead to worry about food, because it merely entails making in immediate decision. We do this daily with our jobs. If you do “fall off the wagon,” get up and try again.

Those who eat to manage compulsive behaviours or emotions need to realize that whole foods also satisfy. Sweet, salty or fatty foods may increase serotonin or stimulate dopamine receptors in the brain, giving a temporary feel good situation. But they always result in a subsequent crash. On the other hand,  whole foods do the same, though not as strong in the short run. Wouldn’t you like to feel good in the long term, without getting depressed, run down, sad, or suffer anxiety? Fractionated foods WILL increase these feelings and set the person up for a vicious cycle of weight gain, ill health and and increased emotional disorders.

We Are To Blame

As a society, we are too dependent on psychological help. Everything is the fault of someone else, something or some situation. We don’t look at ourselves, our actions and our outlook on situations. Though some will define this approach as simplistic, it is because they have been taught to feel this way; are in the business of treating people affected by these situations, or profit from them.

You are not addicted to foods, and neither are you powerless over them and have to practice abstinence. We have been given a brain to use, but we don’t do so in many instances. The biggest predictor of weight gain (or ill health), is a level of self restraint. Don’t succumb to eating amnesia (unknowingly putting hand to mouth from a bag, box or plate). This is nothing more than mindless eating. Sit, relax and enjoy, but don’t stop thinking about what you are doing. You wouldn’t do it crossing the street (for fear of getting injured). Why do it through long term self poisoning?

Choose well, don’t diet, and don’t indulge in foods which injure the body. I have hundreds of articles on this blog which go into more detail about what I have  written here. Read them and educate yourself about balanced nutrition.

Mental Health: Food For The Brain

Many typify good health from the neck down. But it hardly needs to be spelled out that eating too much junk food is not only bad for the way our bodies look, but also how our brain works.

 The ticket to health, happiness and clear thinking is applying those laws which regulate how our mind operates. None of the principles involved are rocket science. Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling said: “It is now recognized by leading workers in the field that behaviour is determined by the functioning of the brain, and that the functioning of the brain is dependent on its composition and its structure” (The Crazy Makers, page 39).

Edward Lee Thorndike, of Columbia University, says that “thinking is as biological as digestion” (ibid., page 47). These scientists recognize that the physical state of our brain affects our thinking.                                                       

You are what you eat!

Food for the masses no longer comes from the ground and for many, there is seldom a home cooked meal. And even “home-cooking” has been re-defined to include Hamburger Helper, canned vegetables and processed meats. And what’s left out are fresh fruits and vegetables, beneficial fats from nuts and fish (the brain is 60% fat), quality proteins such as lean meats and water.

The World Health Organization claims that mental health problems “are fast becoming the number-one health issue of the 21st century”. Clinical depression is the biggest international health threat after heart disease. And many studies now point to junk food increasing the occurrence of other mental ailments such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Too many people believe ill health and disease happen by chance. But studies show that nine out 10 people eat less than the recommended daily amounts of essential nutrients. They’re not called essential for nothing. When this is combined with other factors such as high homocysteine levels, which leave one twice as likely to succumb to depression, blood-sugar and neurotransmitter imbalances, it is hardly startling that people’s brain chemistry goes awry. There are definitive laws that regulate the workings of the body and these are as undeniable as gravity.

It’s yet another case of garbage in, garbage out. Whenever you eat from a can, a package or a box, food technology not only denies you essential nutrients, but it also gives you the added burden of unwanted elements. Everything we eat seems to have the stamp of ill health: irradiation, sterilization, pasteurization, over-processing, biotechnology, agricultural superbugs, overcrowded farm pens and unhealthy animal feeds, added chemicals, preservatives, sugars and harmful fats, pesticides, herbicides, steroids, hormones, and a lack of enzymes, fibre and nutrients.

Meanwhile, there is a growing interest in an orthomolecular, or nutritional approach to mental health problems. Food as medicine is not a revelatory proposition – it was the hobbyhorse of Hippocrates, the father of western medicine.

Believe it or not, what you eat becomes your brain and your body. The proteins, carbohydrates, fats, fibre, water and nutrients you ingest from wholesome foods impacts the functioning of the brain. Obviously, the nutritional value of your diet is then an important aspect to consider.

Blood sugar and the brain

Aside from nutritional deficiencies, another important key to understanding the link between eating processed foods and mood lies in understanding how blood sugar-levels affect the brain. The brain is the organ most sensitive to a change in blood [sugar] level – too little produces fatigue, confusion, irritability and aggression, while too much may result in loss of consciousness.

Processed foods like refined sugars and flours can send blood sugar levels on a roller coaster ride throughout the day, resulting in emotional ups and downs and possibly a dependence on such foods. The immediate effect on blood sugar levels after consumption is almost drug-like and temporarily lifts the moods.

Denial of cause is a growing trend in modern society, followed by shock at the occurrence of disease. The solution is to eat whole foods to feed the brain. Our physical body is not separate from our mind. If we disconnect the two, it becomes easy to think that diet plays no role in mental health. But it does, as a contributing factor. Contrary to what most assume, mental illness is not all psychological, but also physiological.

Whole foods, as close to their natural state as possible allow optimum capacity to think, reason and make decisions. Learn to apply these health principles to keep your mind sharp.

Staying Mentally Sharp As Easy As Staying Healthy

Living a healthy lifestyle may have one of the best benefits when you are older: staying mentally sharp.

In one of the longest running studies so far on mental decline, scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden assessed the cardiac health of more than 1,000 fifty year old people.

Twenty years later, all the tests were repeated, except now the participants were also screened for Alzheimer’s.

And guess what? The four percent who developed dementia had started out with the highest blood pressure, cholesterol levels and overall weight.

Cyberspace Addiction: Does It Develop Compulsive Behaviour?

In terms of human history, the Internet has caused a dramatic upheaval in our social psyche. It provides instant information and entertainment, and changes the way we work, socialize and interact. To many it has become a “Cyber-Messiah”; an interconnected portal to anything and anywhere.

But now critics are starting to question whether we can do without this technology. Stanford University has conducted the first large-scale, random-sample epidemiological study ever done, showing that more than one in eight American adults shows signs of addiction.

Inappropriate use

Of 2,513 respondents surveyed by phone, nearly 14 percent had difficulty prying themselves away from the computer, while almost nine per cent concealed their use from spouses or family, and another eight percent used it as a form of escape. The typical user spends up to 30 hours a week on non-essential Internet use.

The October 2006 issue of CNS Spectrums (International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine) reported that US household Internet penetrance has reached 74%, or over 220 million users. It said “for a subset of users, the medium may have become a consuming problem that exhibits features of impulse control disorders recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.” Social isolation, which the associated freedom brought on by online anonymity seems to further, is also said to be increasing.

This is all leading to “a small but growing number of Internet users who are starting to visit their doctors for help with unhealthy attachments to cyberspace,” Stanford lead author Elias Aboujaoude said in the Daily Tech. Most concerning is the number of people who hide their nonessential Internet use or use the Internet to escape a negative mood, much in the same way that alcoholics might. “In a sense, they’re using the Internet to self-medicate,” he added.

Who is vulnerable?

Internetworldstats.com says that globally, more than 1 Billion users are now logged online, which is a 16.7% total population penetration. Astoundingly, this is a 200% increase since the year 2000, with the top 32 countries having an average of almost 70% Internet penetration rate. It is a phenomenon never seen in history, and sure to increase.

But far from being a safe way to escape the problems of life, the Internet is actually an interactive, anonymous, and completely unregulated information database. This, says the Center for Online and Internet Addiction (COLA), may make it easier for those who suffer from depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and low self-esteem, to develop compulsive habits.

In March 2004, COLA stated that addicts, sometimes known as “Internet vampires”, display characteristics of what some professionals call Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD). This includes impulsive-control problems such as addiction to adult chat rooms, online relationships, porn, and net compulsions such as gambling, day trading, or auction shopping.

What is an obsession?

Still, many argue that the internet is a powerful tool for personal use. In the past, people would visit their bank, call their broker, grab a paper or drive to work more frequently. Now, online content saves us valuable time, by being connected to services which meet our needs.

But ironically, studies also say users are becoming less productive, less respondent to people and less attentive at work or school. In other words, the internet seems to be turning on many, making them less efficient, and causing an alarming lack of control over behavior.

How this will affect us as a society is sure to invite vigorous debate, but we know that the history of the Internet has taught us to expect the unexpected.