If you are reading this blog chances are you are struggling to control your diet. I’m trying to shed some light on why certain foods are so hard to resist and why most of those foods are bad for you.
When we were cave dwellers and food was scarce our bodies evolved to crave foods that are high in refined carbohydrates and refined sugars by giving us a reward when we eat them. Studies have suggested that the repeated ingestion of refined carbohydrates stimulates a dopamine response in the reward center of the brain, which would explain why these foods are so addictive.
We now live in a society where processed foods, high in refined carbohydrates are readily available and in many cases are cheaper than healthy alternatives. Not only this but these foods are heavily advertised as fast food companies make so much profit from us eating them.
This is a case of our body doing the job it evolved to do so effectively, unfortunately this is incongruous with the way we live our lives today.
I’m not suggesting we start to eat like cave men but I do think it’s important to understand our bodies motivation for making us want to eat certain types of food that we know will give us instant gratification.
This also doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to make the right choices but I think that being educated as to why we eat what we eat and what is going on in our bodies will help to make an educated decision if you can catch yourself before your eat that slice of pizza or guzzle down another tub of ice-cream. Be aware of the sensations in your body and be aware of why this is happening and you can then make the right decision that supports your long term goal.
