Is Food Love?

Is Food Love? Are You Ready to Love Yourself?

How many of you got a cookie from mom for being “good”? How many of you get home from a long day at work and want a “special treat” to make you feel better and turn to ice cream or chocolate? From childhood, we are taught that food is a reward. Be a good kid and get dessert.  Mom baked you cookies to make you happy if something bad happened. You got to go out for a special meal when you scored a goal in soccer. Many turn to sugary foods when they are happy, upset, bored, or lonely.

Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food? 

Do you often feel over-stuffed after eating or find that you don’t have an “off” switch when eating? Do you plan big “cheat meals”? Are there certain foods that you would be absolutely unwilling to give up?

Basics on how blood sugar works:  You eat something sweet. Your pancreas sends out insulin which is a hormone telling your cells to receive glucose. Your cells accept the glucose and use it for energy. Insulin and glucose levels go down. You feel satisfied, lean, energetic and youthful.  This is how it’s SUPPOSED to work.

How it works in many people eating a modern diet: You eat lots of sweet things. Your pancreas is tired but sends out lots of insulin in hopes of bringing down this high blood glucose level. Your cells have been bombarded with so many signals from insulin that they no longer pay attention to it. They are “insulin resistant”.  Blood glucose and insulin levels stay high. You still feel hungry because your hormone leptin which regulates your appetite and metabolism, is no longer “heard” from your cells. There are other hormones which can also become out of wack in our bodies in response to our modern lives. Cortisol is the stress hormone that is released when we are anxious or have little sleep. It increases blood pressure and lowers immune activity. It can also increase fat storage.  People walking around with insulin and leptin resistance are always hungry, moody, and usually overweight. They crave sugar and other carbohydrates which quickly raise blood sugar, then leave them feeling tired and craving more.

Sugar is addictive.

Sugar is more addictive than cocaine.¹  Behavioral tests in rats confirm this. Drug addiction often includes three steps. A person will increase his intake of the drug, experience withdrawal symptoms when access to the drug is cut off and then face an urge to relapse back into drug use. Rats on sugar have similar experiences. Researchers withheld food for 12 hours and then gave rats food plus sugar water. This created a cycle of bingeing where the animals increased their daily sugar intake until it doubled. When researchers either stopped the diet or administered an opioid blocker the rats showed signs common to drug withdrawal, such as teeth-chattering and the shakes. Early findings also indicate signs of relapse. Rats weaned off sugar repeatedly pressed a lever that previously dispensed the sweet solution. Sweets, like drugs, can activate an “incentive system” in the brain that helps reinforce behaviors. ²

What about fruit? It’s a natural sugar, so I can eat lots…right?

The sugars found in fruit (largely fructose) are metabolized by the body differently than glucose. Fructose, is first processed by the liver and then what the liver can’t store is directed to fat storage. Excess fructose consumption is associated with hypertriglyceridemia insulin resistance and intra-abdominal fat accumulation; these effects are not observed with glucose- or starch-based diets.³ This means fruit can make you fat in the tummy, while eating plant starches like sweet potatoes or even pure dextrose does not.  High sources of fructose include: dates, dried figs, grapes, agave nectar and honey. Fruits with less fructose content are apricots, pineapples, nectarines and cantaloupe.

What else is making me fat?

In addition to sugar, wheat can also play a big role in food addiction and weight gain. Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back to Health, answers the question:

“Wheat contains amylopectin A, which is more efficiently converted to blood sugar than just about any other carbohydrate, including table sugar. In fact, two slices of whole wheat bread increase blood sugar to a higher level than a candy bar does. And then, after about two hours, your blood sugar plunges and you get shaky, your brain feels foggy, you’re hungry. So let’s say you have an English muffin for breakfast. Two hours later you’re starving, so you have a handful of crackers, and then some potato chips, and your blood sugar rises again. That cycle of highs and lows just keeps going throughout the day, so you’re constantly feeling hungry and constantly eating. Dietitians have responded to this by advising that we graze throughout the day, which is just nonsense. If you eliminate wheat from your diet, you’re no longer hungry between meals because you’ve stopped that cycle. You’ve cut out the appetite stimulant, and consequently you lose weight very quickly. I’ve seen this with thousands of patients.”

Tere are other regulatory hormones like leptin which cells can become resistant to. When this happens, you don’t get the chemical message that you’re full and satisfied. In this situation, insulin and glucose both remain high after a meal, and you are still hungry. Welcome to type 2 diabetes!

So, what’s a person to do?

Well, simply stop the cycle and cut out all wheat, sugar, and excess fruit. Try this for 30-days and see how you feel.  These foods are not necessary for humans and are actually robbing your body of nutrients. I repeat, you do not need wheat and sugar to live. Many people are actually addicted to them. Common side effects in the early stages of this elimination diet are a feeling of tiredness, some sleep disturbances, headaches, skin rashes, and irritability. These generally last about a week or so. After this time however, you will notice an incredible boost in energy. When you are no longer on the “blood sugar roller coaster”, you have sustained energy that lasts all day long. No mid-afternoon nap urges or sugar cravings!

If you suspect that there may be an emotional component to your eating, like compulsive overeating, try reading “Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything by Geneen Roth” Dr. Emily Deans, a Massachusetts Psychiatrist and advocate of the primal diet suggests Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, by Lilian Cheung, and Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program That Works, by Elyse Resch.

For many people, it comes down to “Are you ready to love yourself?”. No nutritionist or book can do that for you. I meet people all the time who can’t comply with a new eating lifestyle because they simply aren’t ready to take the step of loving themselves. It’s the clients who have heard my name, read up on what I do, and then waiting until they were seriously committed to loving themselves that see the results. This Valentine’s Day, do yourself a favor and decide to love yourself. Commit to honoring your body and giving yourself the gift of optimal nutrition.

For more support, try Diane Sanfillipo’s 21 day sugar detox or contact me to make an appointment for a customized diet, food journal and blood chemistry analysis, and supplement protocol.

References:

1. Lenoir M, Serre F, Cantin L, Ahmed SH. Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward. (2007) PLoS One 2(8): doi:10.1371/journal.pone.00069

2. Arineiello, Leah., Brain Breifings, (2003)Society for Neuroscience.

3. SE Perez-Pozo, J Schold, T Nakagawa, LG Sanchez-Lozada, RJ Johnson, J Lopez. Excessive fructose intake induces the features of metabolic syndrome in healthy adult men: role of uric acid in the hypertensive response. International Journal of Obesity (2010) 34, 454-61.

Drewnowski A, Krahn DD, Demitrack MA, Narin K, Gosnell BA. Taste responses and preferences for sweet high-fat foods: evidence for opiod involvement. Physiol Behav 1992:51:371-9.

Yeomans MR, Wright p, Macleod HA, Critchly JAJH. Effects of nalmefene on feeding in humans. Psychopharmacology 1990:100, 426-32.