TIL: Why it's not your fault

I've decided that I want this blog to be more helpful to others, not just me.  It's been pretty egocentric as of lately, just posting about my experience and my food and blah blah me me me.

While I'm sure that's FASCINATING stuff, I figured I'd spend more time sharing what I'm learning while prepping for the Whole30 on May first.  And if I'd like to get really hopeful, I'd like to see if anyone else is interested in joining or at least starting their own journey.  These next few weeks I really want to tackle the biological and psychological reasons behind paleo.  My psych and bio friends will really enjoy this, I bet!  All of my information is cited in It Starts With Food  which has tons of empirical and peer-reviewed evidence.  Let's get started!

Today I Learned: Why it's not your fault.

The first few chapters I read about today dealt with the psychological loop you're caught in with the modern food industry.  This is also explained in Hungry For Change, which is available on Netflix.

To start off, your body and brain have been hardwired to search for three tastes: sweet (a safe source of energy), fatty (a dense source of calories) and salty (a means of conserving fluid).  Sound familiar?  These are the tastes you're most craving when a desire to binge hits!  The problem?  The sources we find those tastes in are *not* the natural food we're looking for.

They're found in Oreos, cheesecake, and salty potato chips.
"Well Chrissy, those foods just taste better."
I know.

That's right, I know!  That's because they're engineered to be a "supernormal stimulus" which arouses our taste receptors more intensely than anything found in nature. Trippy, huh?  So your body thinks it's doing you a favor when it sends you signals to eat more of those foods.  The issue?  THEY ARE NUTRITIONALLY VOID.  You could eat 5,000 calories of Oreos but your body would still be starving.

Right?  Poor body.  It's so confused!  These superstimulus foods tell your brain to release dopamine (neurotransmitter associated with pleasure center [whaddup psych friends!]).  Dopamine is responsible for that little rush you get before you even get to your food.  In the car, waiting in line to get some Chick-Fil-A... don't tell me you're not excited.  Once you unwrap that sandwich and take a bite of it (this is even making ME hungry), your brain releases opioids in the form of endorphins (endorphins make you happy, and happy people don't shoot their husbands)

So those endorphins lower your stress and make you feel gooooood.  After a while, this process becomes so hardwired in your brain that a want turns into a need.

How do we fix it?  Well, I'm still reading the book and am now on the section of hormones (which I will do another write-up when I have a full comprehension on it) and obviously not anywhere near finished.  The Whole30 is supposed to bring back the appreciation of natural tastes and flavors, break the psychological addiction to these Frankenfoods, and bring you back your freedom.

(Again, I must reiterate, the Whole30 is NOT a diet.  It is not a "quick fix."  It is a jump start  into paleo eating and a body reset.)