Have you ever noticed how bananas and strawberries don't cause cravings? You never feel guilty about eating too many apples or carrots. Why ? Because natural foods balance the body and physical cravings are caused by biochemical imbalance. Caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, salt, saturated fat, refined sugars and starches cause cravings because they imbalance the body's chemistry.Addictive substances cause the body to become dependent on an unnatural substance for homeostatic balance. Removing it will cause withdrawals. During a withdrawal, the addict suffers through the painful readjustment as the body cries out for the missing substance in a desperate attempt to maintain homeostasis (chemical balance). The body demands the very substance that caused the imbalance.
Eating natural foods allows the brain's chemistry to function normally. Natural foods assist homeostasis, supplying vitamins, minerals and enzymes to assist the body in maintaining balance. In a balanced state, hunger is in relation to the body's need for nutrition.
Eating processed foods create cravings for processed foods. When we eat chocolate, we crave more chocolate. Eating foods filled with sugar in return makes us crave sugar filled foods. Eating chips makes us crave that salt and fat. These artificial pleasures satisfy for moments, but in reality they are stealing valuable nutrition from our diets by feeding our bodies with empty calories.
In nature, foods that taste good are good for us. I was just reading something that I found really interesting. Sweetness is an indicator of calories. Saltiness is an indicator of mineral content. A bittersweet taste, like lemon, is a sign of cleansing acids and vitamins. We like foods with fats and oils because they supply calories and essential fatty acids. Natural oils and fats are high in calories and fat-soluble vitamins. Healthy food has a wholesome taste, a pleasure intended to reinforce healthy behaviour.
When coming off of a long fast, our bodies do not crave foods like refined sugars and processed foods - instead we desire to eat wholesome foods. It's amazing, isn't it!
Have you ever eaten a pomegranate before? Yum, they are my favourite fruit.
10 comments:
You are really knowledgable in this area. I love the information you are giving us. It's true that when you feed your body crap, it just craves it more and more. I have been making a huge effort to eat better. I haven't seen any weight loss benefit yet though. I know it will come if I stick to it.
Thanks for your comment on my blog. I will write one just for you!
Sarah, I know you're gonna beat this! I'm so happy that you're going to stick to your plan even though you haven't yet seen the physical benefits. It's so hard, but consistency really does pay off in every way. I'm so excited about what God is doing here.
Ok, so I'll just keep on checking your blog then. Well, I check it anyway... even when you don't post for weeks and weeks and weeks and weeks...hahaha.
Your post is an excellent promotion of whole foods and the development of positive habits. However, your description of the cause of addiction is misdirected.
While withdrawal is a component of some addictive substances, it is by no means the main cause of addiction. If it was all merely due to homeostatic balance, then addicts would be cured simply by restraining for a couple days.
Addiction is really an extremely strong triggering of the learning process. Certain drugs cause addiction because it usurps this learning process by tampering with the dopaminergic learning/reward system.
Food addiction is a bit more complicated. Basically it comes down to the fact that we weren't evolved to deal with today's high sugar/salt/fat processed foods.
Our brain says eat a certain amount of food and especially target food rich in sugar/salt/fat (these send signals to your brain saying "yes eat more of this!"). This is a good goal for hunter-gatherer societies, but not so good for mcdonalds-starbucks societies.
Anyway, keep up the blogging, and I hope you do well to overcome your struggles with food addiction.
Colin,
Thanks for your comment. I first just want to say that I am learning, and in no way do I profess to be a doctor in the subject. I appreciate your knowledge on the subject of addictions and I thank you for sharing some of it with us.
I completely agree with what you've talked about here. I wasn't insinuating that withdrawal was the main cause of addiction.
I've recently been learning about neurotransmitters, such as dopamine, which control how the brain works and what we feel, as well as it's powerful ability to form triggers. Serotonin is another amazing neurotransmitter that I've learned has a sedating effect.
I believe that through discipline, we can control our neurotransmitters. But as I said, I am learning. This is a very complex and complicated subject.
I am always eager to learn more; please feel free to comment anytime.
Yeah, I got some pomagranates because I found out how high in vitamines and minerals they were. Well, I did not know what they looked like the first few times I went looking for them. Once I learned what they looked like I did not know how to tell which ones were good or ripe. The kids and I tried the flesh-oow-bitter. Then we tried the seeds-mmmm-yum but seedy. They are quite pricy unless on sale and the juice is very expensive.
Anyways, I am glad you know how to eat them and are getting all that goodness!
Grace and Peace I pray to you and yours in Jesus' mighty name:
Donna
Hi Donna,
That's funny. I've never actually tried the flesh part :) I never knew what pomegranates were until I met Aerie. He grew up eating them often. We always look forward to Nov/Dec when the pomegranates go on sale for like, $1.99 or less and we usually eat one or two every week for a treat. And of course, my mother in law is always bringing pomegranates over for the boys! They LOVE it! Peeling through the layers is such a tedious little job, but having two little boys sitting there waiting with excitement makes it a really fun tradition. And like you said Donna, they are rich in vitamins and they contain high levels of antioxidants.
I think that pomegranates are THE most beautiful fruit! I love the colour and the taste is so refreshing.
Hope you have a great weekend Donna. I'll see you on Sunday!
Bless you!
I wouldn't even know what a pomegranite looks like. The juice is good in martini's though, probably takes away all the health benefits though:)
I always have one pomegranate in the fridge and when I have the urge to snack on chips or popcorn, I eat the seeds instead to satisfy the crunch I'm looking for. I also love putting the seeds in salads...delicious!
Hey Pam,
Putting the seeds in salads is a really good idea that I am going to have to try someday :)
Sarah (McOolong)... okay, my new mission is to get you to taste a pomegranate. It's gonna be another Oolong! You'll love them.
Love,
McCrack
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