Health Update: Highly Processed Foods as Addictive as Tobacco
RVAchironeuro • February 20, 2023
Hello once again everyone:
As consumers, we need to be aware that just because it is allowed to be sold as some type of edible ‘food like object’, does not necessarily mean that it is actually good for us. When it comes to highly processed foods (HPF’s), it is exactly the opposite: highly processed foods are destroying the health of any of us that consume them. Most of us are aware that these HPF’s are manufactured to be addictive, and this fact is becoming recognized at the clinical level. They state:
“Food addiction explains so much of what we see in clinical practice, where intelligent people understand what we tell them about the physiology associated with a low-carb diet, and they follow it for a while, but then they relapse,” said Jen Unwin, PhD explaining the difficulties faced by around 20% of her patients who are considered to have food addiction.
As an explanation of what is going on, the authors clarify the situation:
“They consider certain foods according to the primary criteria that have stood the test of time after being proposed in 1988 by the US Surgeon General to establish the addictive potential of tobacco: (1) they trigger compulsive use, (2) they have psychoactive effects, and (3) they are reinforcing.
They have updated these criteria to include the ability to trigger urges and cravings and add that “both these products [tobacco and HPFs] are legal, easily accessible, inexpensive, lack an intoxication syndrome, and are major causes of preventable death.”
For example, with compulsive use, tobacco meets this criterion because evidence suggests that most smokers would like to quit but are unable to do so. Likewise, write authors Gearhardt and colleagues,
even “in the face of significant diet-related health consequences (eg, diabetes and cardiovascular disease), the majority of patients are unable to adhere to medically recommended dietary plans that require a reduction in HPF intake. “
Bottom Line:
Now that we know that HPF’s are so addictive and harmful to our health and future, it would be wise to totally avoid them. If you are having trouble getting off them, it now becomes a bit more obvious as to why it is so difficult. What I have seen work is to gradually remove them and no longer bring them into the house while you supplement with blood sugar stabilizing nutrients. It does take some real work and determination. For the mental component, what has worked for me is to use a mindfulness approach of asking questions: there is no right question or wrong question, just ask:
· Does this food support my health?
· Is this food really something that is good for me
· Will I feel good or bad emotionally just 10 minutes later?
· Does this food support my goals and future?
A ‘no’ to any of these makes it easier to put it down or throw it away. The next step is to have a healthy alternative readily available. One of my favorite alternatives is plain old water…yeah…I know…that sounds ridiculous…but it works for me. Good alternative snacks that are ready to go are things like an organic carrot, an apple, avocado, or celery with hummus. At any rate, it takes a while to develop a consistent discipline and along the way we will all make some poor choices…so, relax, start over and gradually kick those foods to the curb. For the average person, it usually takes 3 weeks to 3 months to break the cycle of HFP’s plus along the way our taste buds wake up quite a bit so that clean foods are really tasty again. Chewing 25 to 30 times and savor each bite is very helpful also.
PS: This includes drive through food!! No, nope, never, nada, zip, zilch, zero to that stuff!!
PPS: You can do this!!
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Health News Update: Tending Your Temple 12.22.25 Hello everyone, and Merry Christmas to you! Health Update: Predictable Crisis Hello everyone: As we celebrate this Holy time and the start of a new year, I want to just speak to you heart to heart. Most of us know that our physical body has been deemed to be the Temple for us to experience this worldly life. Additionally, we are meant to be stewards and caretakers of this awesomely wrought and magnificent Temple. While this may mean different things to each of us, most of us agree that taking care of the Temple involves a health promoting lifestyle. From interviewing thousands of patients, I have seen that deep within each of us there is a feeling or a knowingness of how well we are tending our Temple. And what emerges from these discussions is that most of us have never been taught or shown or educated on the concept of the need to be good stewards and how to do that. For me as a healthcare practitioner, science allows me to peer into God’s creation and be filled with awe and wonder. And yet as great as science has gotten at treating the leading causes of death and disability, it seems to have forgotten that recovery depends upon our innate healing abilities which in turn depends upon our food choices. Chronic unhealthy food choices really do affect your quality of life as well as what diseases or disabilities you may get, along with your ability to recover from them or to even prevent them. On top of that, science now recognizes how food choices have shifted over time and how this is leading to environmental destruction and contributing to climate change. The old saying “Let Food Be Thy Medicine” now applies to each of us as well as the planet. We Have Created a Predictable Crisis Nowhere can this be as easily seen as with the mismatch we are creating between what our body needs and what we are feeding it. Poor food choices, lack of physical activity, and stress drive the leading causes of death and disability. These facts are undeniable, and science has verified this many times over. What do we think will happen when we put diesel fuel into the gas tank? What are we thinking when we put drive-through into a Holy Temple? Each of us can do better and we all should try every day. Poor nutrition is now known to be the leading cause of death and chronic illness…and thus massive and needless suffering. Today, 8 out of 10 of the causes of death and disability are chronic inflammatory degenerative illnesses that are caused, perpetuated, aggravated, and sustained by food choices. Our societies current reactive approach to health care, without improving the underlying health of the patient, is expensive and has led us to the era of predictable yet unnecessary chronic illness, death, and disability. I am truly fortunate to have witnessed people recover their health through simple dietary upgrades. These people were patient, committed, and took one small step at a time until they had transformed their health, their kitchen, and in many cases, they assisted in the transformation of their entire family to better health and wellbeing. This transformation is available to you, too. If you have a chronic health condition, or want to avoid one, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain by going predominantly plant based. Go into this upgrade with a 100% commitment for 6 months and see how it goes. Don’t you owe it to yourself to live a life congruent with your true nature? Shouldn’t we have the self-respect to make the best choices as to how we tend our Temple? Simply by making your food choices compatible with your nature, it is possible for you to massively improve your health and simultaneously feel better about your stewardship of the Temple and the planet that sustains it. Consider for a moment, how good it will feel to live in alignment with your true Nature. If you can imagine that, then you can achieve it! All of us here at Richmond Chiropractic Neurology wish everyone a healthy, safe, happy, and loving Holy Day and Blessed New Year!
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Your Brain on Food
