If you’ve attended my lectures it is likely you’ve heard me mention TED.com. Adam Martin turned me on to the website during my first month at H3 and I’ve used it as a source of inspiration and motivation ever since.
In September of last year, Hilton Head Health hosted its own TEDx event, at which I was privileged enough to speak. It was a wonderful evening filled with a great exchange of information and entertainment. If you weren’t able to join us, please follow the link below to my first, and hopefully not my last, TED talk:
Stay tuned to H3Daily for more information on TEDxHiltonHead 2013!
Showing posts with label food addiction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food addiction. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
The Addictive Nature of Sugar
Those of you who have attended my Food Rules lecture have heard me speak about the addictive nature of sugar. In fact, I am always willing to share that I believe myself to be a recovering sugar addict.
There is burgeoning research and scientific findings confirming that food, especially sugar, can be addictive. PET scans show that high-sugar and high-fat foods work just like heroin, opium, or morphine in the brain. (i) There are also studies that show sugar addiction seems to be linked to lower dopamine receptors in the brain. (ii) This would imply that individuals with a sugar addiction need more sugar to light of the brain’s reward circuitry than people who are not sensitive to sugar.
When you look at the illustration below, it is not difficult to imagine why many people have trouble with sugar. Perhaps our environment has changed at a pace unmatched by our brain evolution. Whatever the cause, I believe it is worth examining your relationship with sugar. Start paying attention to how well you handle sugar and how much sugar you consume in a day. You may find that altering your sugar intake greatly reduces overall food cravings and assists in your weight loss.
If you do decide to reduce your sugar intake, be patient. Chances are that your set-point for sweetness is elevated so foods that are naturally sweet, such as fruit, may not taste that sweet to you for some time. You might also have some intense cravings as you reduce your sugar. Those cravings should lessen significantly within two weeks and your sweetness set-point will normalize in a few months.
If you are anything like me, you won’t miss the sugar after just 3 months without it. I’ve never looked back with longing or regret and sugar has lost its allure.
(i) Volkow, N.D., Wang, G.J., J.S., et al 2002 “Nonhedonic” food motivation in humans involves dopamine in the dorsal striatum and methylphenidate amplifies this Synapse. 44(3):175-180.
(ii) Calantuoni, C., Schwenker, J., McCarthy, P., et al. 2001. Excessive sugar intake alters binding to dopamine and mu-opioid receptors in the brain. Neuroreport. 12(16): 3549-3552.
Created by: www.OnlineNursingPrograms.com
There is burgeoning research and scientific findings confirming that food, especially sugar, can be addictive. PET scans show that high-sugar and high-fat foods work just like heroin, opium, or morphine in the brain. (i) There are also studies that show sugar addiction seems to be linked to lower dopamine receptors in the brain. (ii) This would imply that individuals with a sugar addiction need more sugar to light of the brain’s reward circuitry than people who are not sensitive to sugar.
When you look at the illustration below, it is not difficult to imagine why many people have trouble with sugar. Perhaps our environment has changed at a pace unmatched by our brain evolution. Whatever the cause, I believe it is worth examining your relationship with sugar. Start paying attention to how well you handle sugar and how much sugar you consume in a day. You may find that altering your sugar intake greatly reduces overall food cravings and assists in your weight loss.
If you do decide to reduce your sugar intake, be patient. Chances are that your set-point for sweetness is elevated so foods that are naturally sweet, such as fruit, may not taste that sweet to you for some time. You might also have some intense cravings as you reduce your sugar. Those cravings should lessen significantly within two weeks and your sweetness set-point will normalize in a few months.
If you are anything like me, you won’t miss the sugar after just 3 months without it. I’ve never looked back with longing or regret and sugar has lost its allure.
(i) Volkow, N.D., Wang, G.J., J.S., et al 2002 “Nonhedonic” food motivation in humans involves dopamine in the dorsal striatum and methylphenidate amplifies this Synapse. 44(3):175-180.
(ii) Calantuoni, C., Schwenker, J., McCarthy, P., et al. 2001. Excessive sugar intake alters binding to dopamine and mu-opioid receptors in the brain. Neuroreport. 12(16): 3549-3552.
Created by: www.OnlineNursingPrograms.com
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Food Addiction Recovery Has Arrived to Hilton Head Health
Hilton Head Health is a very successful business by many standards. You can’t remain in business for 35 years without offering a superior product or service. They have withstood the test of time while changing countless lives for the positive. I am thrilled to be a part of this very functional family.
However, my arrival here did not come without some hesitation and some pretty substantial scrutiny by the H3 staff. Likewise, I had to do some soul-searching to make sure the job they ultimately offered me (after a month-long, very demanding interview process) was a good fit for me. You see, they don’t let just anyone work here. They have a clear vision for how to help others enhance their health and are not derailed or distracted by health-enhancing fads or waves of popular research. The employees at H3 walk-the-walk and don’t promote the profuse number of quick-fix solutions that inundate all of us on a daily basis.
When I shared my story of recovery from food addiction during my interview process, the H3 staff responded positively to my experience but was apprehensive about my use of the term, “food addict.” Their concern with me referring to my struggle with food as an addiction, and my ultimate desire to share this label with H3 guests, was that it would create a negative stigma, or defeatist tone that might be counterproductive to the healthy lifestyle strategies they promote. It took some convincing on my part, and a lot of trust on the part of H3, to allow me to stick to my principles. I would move forward with my position as the new Director of Behavioral Health with aspirations of expanding the concept of food addiction within the H3 curriculum.
Fast forward seven months, I’m still here and the concept of food addiction has seamlessly made its way into several of my lectures. In fact, it has been enthusiastically embraced by many of our guests and has provided them with a new perspective on their struggles with weight. The dialogue has begun, and although it may only apply to a specific few, it may very well be life-transforming for those individuals. No longer do they have to look at their inability to control food as a defect in character or a complete lack of willpower, both of which produce shame and pervasive feelings of failure. Food addiction can be regarded as a flaw in the brain reward system, just like any other addiction, and can be managed quite successfully just like diabetes or heart disease. Fifty pounds lighter, six years now, and I can say with certainty that food addiction is treatable.
Now that the door has been opened, if you are interested in learning more about food addiction and its treatment, join me for an intensive three-day Food Addiction Recovery (FAR) workshop in June. Please take a look at the flyer and sample schedule for more details.
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