“Doctor, why do so many people struggle with excess weight these days?” I hear this question frequently, and people are often looking for a single, simple answer. Wouldn't it be nice if things were so simple? No surprise, reality is a bit more complicated. In fact, it is quite complex! But to simplify as much as possible, I tell people that weight is the result of our genes, plus our environment. “Nature plus Nurture.” Our biology, and the world in which we live. And research now highlights that we are living in “the perfect storm” for weight gain - exposed constantly to tempting calorie-dense foods, high-stress lives, sleep deprivation, often sedentary lifestyles, and more. Our current world sets us up for trouble. Experts often say “genes load the gun, and the environment pulls the trigger.”
Many people feel guilty and ashamed if they have trouble controlling their intake of high-calorie, fatty, carby/starchy/sweet foods. These addictive, super-tasty foods are called “hyperpalatable foods” in research - and for good reason! Some of us are neurologically “wired” so that our brains “go crazy” when exposed to these foods. This can create a feedback loop which makes us feel out of control. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51722471_The_Addiction_Potential_of_Hyperpalatable_Foods
If you are “wired” to feel a strong desire to eat when faced with tempting, tasty food, you face a real challenge in our modern world, where we are bombarded with “addictive foods” everywhere - on tv, at gas stations, shopping centers, at work, sometimes at school - and sometimes even in our own homes! Research has shown that certain foods can create an “addictive response” in the brain chemistry - and this response can happen by simply SEEING the foods, or thinking about them - even if we dont’ eat them! Our modern world is the “perfect storm” to lead to excess weight gain and poor health. Researchers call the modern environment “obesogenic” - it leads to excess eating of foods high in fat, carbs, and dense in calories, that can create inflammation throughout our bodies, and our appetite centers in our brains (causing them to malfunction, and not register “fullness” appropriately.) Inflammation is tied to metabolic syndrome, belly fat gain, prediabetes, diabetes, cancer risk, and more health risk.
Some of us have inherited genes (and have had these genes activated, sometimes even before we are born) which create an extremely strong neurologic reaction - a powerful biological urge - to eat these hyperpalatable foods, while other people simply do not have the same brain response. Those who aren’t wired this way do not have the same cravings, or the same “drive” to eat fatty/carby/starchy/sweet foods. Neurologically they have it easy - they don’t experience the same “urge” to eat in excess. They can walk right past a box of donuts and not really care whether they pick one up or not. And if they do decide to pick on up, they can easily “stop at one bite”, almost effortlessly. And here is the frustrating thing - trying to explain what cravings feel like, to those who don’t have them, is like trying to explain “color” to someone who is colorblind! They just don’t “get” it. I suppose we can’t really blame them, though, can we? It is hard for anyone to understand what someone else is experiencing (empathy is tough!) It’s not their fault - or their willpower - that allows them to easily control their eating. It’s just neurobiology (and a new field of science called “epigenetics”.) But here is the thing - we don’t have to blame them, but we do have to “protect ourselves” from well-intentioned - but misguided and uneducated - comments and actions that can sabotage our efforts to eat and live healthfully. When they are critical and offer “helpful advice”, they generally “don’t know what they don’t know.” When they say silly things like “you should be able to keep ice cream in the house, but just don’t eat it”, or “you can eat a piece of coffee cake, just stop at one small piece”, you need to recognize that they don’t understand the biology, the neurochemistry - or the psychology behind what they are saying. Never feel guilty for being wired to love food. It is what it is, as they say, and the good news is that we can control our cravings and food drive by setting up our lives so they are not constantly seeing/smelling/thinking about hyperpalatable food. And more good news - even if we can’t completely create a healthy environment, can’t remove all addictive food triggers, there are still things we can do to make our world a “safer, easier place” to be healthy! And sometimes we can even educate those around us, so they can help, rather than harm, our efforts to be healthy.
It is absolutely CRITICAL for success, to clear out the “junk” triggers from your environment as much as possible - get the fatty, carby, starchy, sweet stuff OUT of the house, OUT of the work environment, etc, as much as possible. And if the “trigger” addictive foods cannot be removed completely, at the very least “hide” them away, out of sight, out of reach. If the junk isn’t there - you can’t eat it! If the junk is hard to reach, you’ll be less likely to fall victim to it. And if you can’t see it, it won’t trigger brain chemical surges and cravings (research shows that simply THINKING about junk food can cause your neurochemicals to spike out of control.)
Family, friends, co-workers and others can inadvertently sabotage your success by bringing trigger foods into your environment. If they don’t have the “wiring” to eat addictive foods in excess, they often don’t understand how much they are contributing to the problem. They don’t understand the biology, the neurochemistry, and since they don’t feel the addictive response/cravings themselves, they can have a hard time understanding what it feels like in others. Even parents can accidently set their children up to “fail”, when they do not understand that they have to remove “addictive food” from the home. Parents (and others) can help contribute to success by removing triggers, and replacing them with healthy, tasty, simple options. Human nature is such that we will naturally “go to” what is easiest, tastiest, and most fun. Rather than fight human nature, we have to honor and accept it - and set our lives (and homes) up for success. We need to make the HEALTHY options the EASY options, in order to succeed! We need to make the UNHEALTHY options less available - out of sight, out of mouth, as they say.
They same goes for healthy activity. If you have to spend an hour getting ready for and driving to a gym, you are less likely to do it. You are more likely to do an activity when it is simple to get to, simple to do, kind of fun, and not stressful!
The bottom line is that it is important to know yourself - your own past experiences with eating and exercise - and use these NOT to feel guilty, but instead to SUCCEED. Make it HARD to get to unhealthy food, and make it EASY to get to the “good stuff”! Surround yourself- at eye level - with healthy choices, and get unheatlhy options out of the house (or at least out of sight.) If you watch cooking shows, make sure it is only those featuring HEALTHY recipes. Ask your friends/family/coworkers to help your efforts by offering ONLY healthy options to you - and if you must, tell them that offering you “treats” is like offering alcohol to an alcoholic. It’s not “nice” to do that, it is really mean. Tell them if they want to be nice, and “treat you”, they can help you make healthy snacks and meals. They can go to the farmer’s market with you. They can offer to go with a walk with you on a local trail or beach, or bike, or do something else active and fun! Ask them to offer positive options, and if they wouldn’t mind, keep the critical comments to themselves, since research shows that criticism leads to MORE weight gain! Smile and say, “It’s all about the science - and thanks, I appreciate your help!”
If you would like help setting up your own personal environment so it is "safe for healthy living" - give us a call any time! Our goals are to help people establish simple, realistic, healthful lifestyles which make it easier to make healthy choices every day. Read more about our program: healthyweightcenter.com
Call any time: (603) 379-6500.
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References:
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51722471_The_Addiction_Potential_of_Hyperpalatable_Foods The Addiction Potential of Hyperpalatable Foods, by Gearhardt, Davis, Kuschner, Brownell
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06511, USA.
Current Drug Abuse Reviews 09/2011; 4(3):140-5. DOI: 10.2174/1874473711104030140
Source: PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Sugar+addiction%3A+pushing+the+drug-sugar+analogy+to+the+limit
"A little acceptance is good for your health: Interpersonal messages and weight change over time" http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/pere.12050/abstract
http://healthyweightcenter.blogspot.com/2015/08/summer-stress-syndrome-sugar-fat-and.html?q=addictive+foods
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