Microblog: How Food Addiction Is Unavoidable

Watch the clip here.

Watch the full interview here.

If we undereat and have familial dieting histories, we become susceptible to disordered eating. If we’ve dieted our whole life, we are also susceptible.

🥘But even if we’ve always had a healthy relationship with food and our families ate natural, whole foods, we are still susceptible.

🧠A lot of our desires for tasty foods are neurologically based.

👨🏻‍🍳Chefs, whether they understand the chemistry of how sweet, salt and fat work so well together for our pleasure receptors, these flavors hit our dopamine receptors—wanting us to experience more of that same pleasure.

🧬The body uses dopamine as a way to reward survival behaviors. Dopamine is a chemical that causes feelings of pleasure and happiness.

Interestingly, dopamine is released twice with food.

1️⃣The brain releases dopamine when we imagine eating the food. The highest peak of dopamine isn’t when we taste the food but the moment we mentally “give in” to these foods.

🎉Think of the excitement you feel on the way to the grocery store/restaurant. The excitement is in the pursuit. And that first bite is all dopamine.

🥀Unfortunately, we know how short-lived this is when we don’t feel as good and the emotions of regret and shame kick in.

2️⃣The second release is when the food hits the stomach. The more nutrient-dense a food is, the more satisfied you will feel when the food hits your stomach.

💡This is why junk foods always have us craving for more. It’s palatable but insufficient nutrients for the body.

🧠The brain uses dopamine as a reward system to reinforce certain survival behaviors. Sex releases high dopamine because it’s important for procreation.

🍭It’s why kids like sugar—it’s a source of energy to survive another day.

⚠️The problem with processed foods is that the brain loses its ability to produce dopamine and depends on substances to create it.

🚨We refer to this as addiction. We continue to do things even when we know it’s harmful.

🍟And our modern-day processed foods, which rev up the first dopamine release but not the second, make every person susceptible to food addiction.

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📺YouTube: https://youtu.be/pEsmf0a8Ago

🎙Podcast: https://nutritionwithjudy.buzzsprout.com/