Thursday, April 23, 2009

My friend Margaret sent me this article & we were both laughing about it so I had to share it with you! OK, maybe I should not laugh & I guess this may be a real "disease or addiction of some sort", but I just call it wanting to eat yummy foods that I like but will add pounds to my 5'1'', 51 year old hormone ravaged, perimenopausal body!!!!! Heck, you don't even have to be 51 or hormone ravaged for this to apply!!!!!!!

OK, here we go! "Food hijacked Dr. David Kessler's brain. Not apples or carrots. The scientist who once led the government's attack on addictive cigarettes can't wander through part of San Francisco without craving a local shop's chocolate-covered pretzels. Stop at one cookie? Rarely." Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, right there, I say to myself, don't at least 90%+++ of people feel like this about some food they love? Do we need to go back to Diet Blog & read about Barriers vs. Obstacles .. meaning what excuses can we make up to eat what we want to eat.

Dr. Kessler has a new book coming out that says some people have a harder time resisting bad food with a combination of fat, sugar and salt. Hey, isn't that most of us!!!!! Yes, I am fit & eat healthy but it does not mean I still do not crave the foods I love to eat but don't eat unless I plan for them as a big ole treat! I know research & experts like to say that the longer you have eaten healthy, the less you crave the foods you used to eat. Well, I am really good at following my food program but I still crave many of the things I used to eat when I was younger & fat. Now, being healthy & fit is more of a reward to me & I also can plan for those things I want to splurge on.. but I still wish I could eat them more. They taste good just like Dr. Kessler points out but it does NOT mean that I am a conditioned hypereater!

The doctor also states: "At issue is how the brain becomes primed by different stimuli. Neuroscientists increasingly report that fat-and-sugar combinations in particular light up the brain's dopamine pathway — its pleasure-sensing spot — the same pathway that conditions people to alcohol or drugs." OK, I am trying not to fall off my chair laughing right now! Yeah, I get pleasure out of that food for sure! What a surprise! AND, I know what some of you are thinking about that pleasure-sensing spot comment.

"Kessler, now at the University of California, San Francisco, gathered colleagues to help build on that science and learn why some people have such a hard time choosing healthier:

_First, the team found that even well-fed rats will work increasingly hard for sips of a vanilla milkshake with the right fat-sugar combo but that adding sugar steadily increases consumption. Many low-fat foods substitute sugar for the removed fat, doing nothing to help dieters eat less, Kessler and University of Washington researchers concluded.

_Then Kessler culled data from a major study on food habits and health. Conditioned hypereaters reported feeling loss of control over food, a lack of satiety, and were preoccupied by food. Some 42 percent of them were obese compared to 18 percent without those behaviors, says Kessler, who estimates that up to 70 million people have some degree of conditioned hypereating.

_Finally, Yale University neuroscientist Dana Small had hypereaters smell chocolate and taste a chocolate milkshake inside a brain-scanning MRI machine. Rather than getting used to the aroma, as is normal, hypereaters found the smell more tantalizing with time. And drinking the milkshake didn't satisfy. The reward-anticipating region of their brains stayed switched on, so that another brain area couldn't say, "Enough!"

Now, he does say the "overeaters" can be retrained & must take responsibility. He actually said this: "Retrain the brain to think, "I'll hate myself if I eat that," Kessler advises." OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Is he crazy!!!! Tell yourself you hate yourself! Does he have any brains himself!

And he said this: "Make rules to resist temptation: "I'm going to the mall but bypassing the food court." I am telling you... that does nothing for a person. There is a lot more to it than saying that. Bring good food with you. Know your choices for healthy foods there. Plan for it and more.

I really want to hear from you on this. To me, is this more excuses for people to say why they can't stop eating this or that? Do you think this is valid? Tell me your thoughts & yell at me if you think I have been harsh.

All I can say is I was a fat kid & ate all kinds of REALLY FATTENING foods. I lost weight in high school the wrong way & it took me years to get it all right but I had to take responsibility for my own actions & the foods I put in my mouth!

I can't wait to hear what Cranky Fitness has to say about this!!!! Josie, maybe this is what is ailing you with cake and pizza (HA!)! Tell me what you think!

Again, thanks to Margaret for sending me this article!!!! Read the whole thing here: When Unhealthy Foods Hijack Overeaters' Brains