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Toxic Foods and Food Addiction
Food Addiction Is Real, And Becoming Aware Of This Will Help Change How You Eat
Addiction is an overused term in a society that seems hell bent on making everyone a victim of something. We are quick to judge and condemn, and delight at the tisk tisking about the weaknesses of others. Someone wisely said, "forgive those who sin differently than I do." The short thesis of this subject is that if you love food, or food is your "weakness", make sure that it is food that nourishes you and that you set out to really enjoy it.
This said, food addiction is a real phenomenon. Any time you experience discomfort after stopping an addictive substance, you are experiencing withdrawl. We don't like this feeling, so we reintroduce the toxic substance to feel "normal" again. When was the last time you ate a huge salad with plenty of greens, and felt withdrawl symptoms or felt badly afterward? You probably did not, because only toxic substances create this phenomena. Withdrawl
is
detoxification. And the body does most of the work of detoxification when it is not digesting food. A big meal will put a temporary stop to this process, and the cycle begins anew.
Lots of People Have Symptoms Of Food Addiction And Don't Know It
Anyone with a diet very low in nutrients can have symptoms of food addiction, and it is often less a character weakness than it is simple bad habit. Most people don't even know they have a food addiction until they can't control their weight. A 190 pound guy who drinks a cup of coffee with milk and sugar and has maybe one bagel and one croissant to fuel up for the day will often feel symptoms of food addiction before lunch. Depending on the level of activity, the food gets digested and the calories start to burn off. This person most likely has no idea what is going on. Without a decent level of high nutrient foods, the digestion process leaves behind toxic substances in the cells. And this lays the ground work for a very slow, insidious deterioration in health over time.
Isn't That Feeling Just Hunger?
Most people who feel toxic withdrawl symptoms, or cravings, think they are just hungry. The best thing to do to learn this concept is simply test it on yourself. If you are the 190 pound guy (or know and love someone who is) that eats the coffee and bagel and croissant each morning, start keeping a journal of how you feel at 11am. Any feelings of weakness, irritability, lightheadedness, headache (that is not from drinking!). Write them down. Maybe the next day, start your day with a trip to Jamba Juice, eat a fresh fruit cup- stuff with the same sugar levels, but that is now much higher in nutrients. Maybe mix some fresh carrot juice and orange juice, have an oat bar, an apple, a banana, cut melon- anything to fill you up that is not baked at Starbucks or Einstein Brothers. Fruit is high in carbs and will give you energy. A Lara bar has nuts and other great stuff, tastes good and is about a $1.25. Easy. Just make sure you fill up on "the good stuff" and see how you feel at 11am. Keep experimenting with new foods and most importantly high nutrient foods, and see how your body reacts.
How Do I Know When I Have Made Enough Of A Change?
It depends on who you are. The purpose of this page is to simply point out this phenomenon, and some ways of combating or counteracting it. Making general changes and adjustments will help most people. If this is something you are really struggling with and you want to go into more depth,
click here
for more resources. The link will take you to a page where you can learn about a nutritional approach to food addiction developed by a physician, and you can also download a chapter of a new book that deals with this subject in depth.
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