Sugar. Chocolate. Meat and cheese.

We KNOW these edibles can be fattening and loaded with calories.

And when some of them are mixed together, they can be deadly to healthy diets.

Yet somehow in the face of stress, we are driven – against our better judgement – to overindulge.

It’s not your fault

What you may not know is that the very foods you crave trigger biochemical reactions in your body that deliver a feel-good cascade.

Now, this can be a good thing or it can be problematic.  Our ‘craving’ for carbs is nothing to be denied  because it is a nutrient absolutely essential to our survival.  Carbohydrate also boosts brain chemicals such as seratonin,  a neurotransmitter that plays a central role in your moods, sleep, and other functions.

No wonder you get cranky when you cut your carbs.

The problem lies with foods that overstimulate specific centers in the brain causing a hyperactivation of these pathways.  And guess what.   Modern food technologies that have delivered to us the wonder of highly concentrated edibles that easily trip the pleasure cycles of the brain pathways can draw us in like an addiction.

A biochemical cascade that gets us hooked

When you eat a highly concentrated, high sugar, high fat food, here’s what happens.

A nerve impulse is triggered that goes to the base of your brain.  This causes the release of opiate chemicals – “cousins of heroin and morphine”.  These in turn trigger the release of dopamine, the “feel good” biochemical.

Now wonder we turn to them in times of stress.

We then associate the  taste of these foods with the pleasant effects they have on the brain.  We feel helpless before them.

Understanding this phenomenon is the first step toward extraction from the grip of highly addictive foods.

Take sugar and chocolate, for example.

Fat, sugar, and chocolate, when presented together as they almost always are – in desserts, ice cream, candy, and pastries – present the perfect recipe for manufacturing and maintaining body fat stores. Without much trouble, they can stand solidly in the way of successful weight loss.

Which is why this biochemical cascade problem can be stand solidly in the way of our weight loss and body shaping goals.

Chocolate is the most craved food

Between you and me, can you see what’s going on here? In some foodstuffs there hides a drug store that carries a whole arsenal of pleasure cycles.

Chocolate, for example, brings us an extra rush of pleasure because of its ability to stimulate opiate receptors in the brain. The same can be said for other high fat, high sugar combinations.

No wonder we’re rendered helpless in the face of that Dove Bar – our experiential memory pulls us in.

Watch this informative and enlightening video by Dr. Neal Barnard, author of Breaking the Food Seduction, to find out just why certain foods are so darn irresistible if not downright addicting.

You’ll hear:

• How the same emergency room drug used to stop the effects of heroin and morphine also stop the appeal of chocolate, rendering a neutral response in human subjects.

• Sugar and “the magnetized baby” phenomenon

• Biochemical pathway problems in connection with cheese and meat.

In addition, Dr. Barnard provides the easy solution: a plant-strong diet, and a clean break with foods high in excito-toxins for 21 Days – enough time to set new patterns of taste. Just like we do in my Body Transformation Booty Camps.

Opiate activity in “innocent” food?

Caso-morphines in your milk and cheese?

Dopamine and endorphin cascades?

Sheesh, no wonder we hanker after these foods so much. Dr. Barnard explains why. Ignorance may be bliss, but it really doesn’t help us in the long run, does it?

Let me know what you think of this video presentation by leaving your comments in “Leave a Reply’ below.