Philosophy of Food or the Scientific approach to weight loss
Why can’t we stop eating?
Why are we obsessed with food?
The Withdrawal Effect…
What is the withdrawal effect? Let’s put the Science aspect of nutrition aside and talk about the philosophy of food and what it really means for many people. Many people are obsessed with food, including me. I don’t really need a great variety in meals; I just want to eat. If I’m feeling happy, I want to share the happiness with my digestive system, and If I’m not feeling good, I still want my stomach to be pleased. However, in reality, I do not satisfy my stomach at all; in turn, I considerably punish my body with an overload of energy. The only organ I am really pleasuring is my brain. No matter how we feel, we are always hungry, and even if we are not, we are always thinking about food. But why? To be more precise, we kind of want to get high, and we need to release the endorphins so we would feel good again. It is like a narcotic withdrawal effect. When we eat, endorphins are released, and we feel good again. This is like taking drugs, and with every dose, we need more and more. It is the same story with food, but here, we are getting big, bigger, overweight, obese, and eventually, we develop diabetes and then DEATH. So, what is really behind the philosophy of nutrition or the philosophy of food? Is there such a thing as a philosophy of food? The real question is; why do we always feel hungry?
Hormone Ghrelin is a hunger Hormone that is in our stomach.
Hormone Leptin is in our fat cells that is a satiety hormone that tells our brain that you are not hungry.
However, the most strongest signal of satiety is stomach stretching.
Satiety: feeling full.
If you are feeding yourself throughout the day and still feel hungry, for the most part, it is your mind that is playing games with you. All you should do is just to find a creative solution on how to manipulate it, and this is the most challenging part; otherwise, everyone would use this technique. Nevertheless, you must find your innovative solution. You must teach yourself by listening to what your body is telling you, and you should know for certain if you are really hungry. So, before defining hunger, ask yourself, is hunger a mental or physical response to your addiction? Dependence? Need? Habit? Craving? Or, is it just an involuntary response to your survival? Because every time you get a hunger signal, your mind is going crazy.
Our minds are constantly playing games with us. Eat this, don’t eat that, too many calories, I need to exercise, I will start in 2 weeks, and these are the thoughts going through our minds. Many of us are confused about what to do and who to listen to, and you should be confused. Most of us learn everything about the diet from TV and radio commercials, infomercials, and TV shows. There are lots of so-called nutritional experts who tells us what to eat and how to lose weight. All those quick-fix-diets, weight loss pills, cleansing shakes, and other “garbage” systems that are focused on only one thing, for us to buy those products. We are the guinea pigs, and we will do “anything” to get with the program, and hope, maybe this time it will work. I call this masochism. Why? Because we love to torture ourselves. We get those so-called “science” tips about weight loss programs from the TV, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, Billboards, our friends, and even Medical doctors. In general, when it comes to nutrition and diets, suddenly, we are all experts. Even my mom is an expert, we are all experts, but somehow, we are all gaining weight. We feel and look uncomfortable when we gain weight. This extra weight puts us in a constant inflammatory state; we also develop metabolic disorders, insulin resistance, joint problems, hypertension, kidney disease, fatty livers, atherosclerosis, and all that leads to diabetes. After all, “we are what we eat”. Oh, this food tastes good; there is no way it is terrible for me; how could that be if this tastes good? Just ask yourself, how many times have you been in this situation or heard someone said? “It tastes sooo good” My kids always say that. But in reality, how good is that food really is?
Exercise makes you less hungry because during physical activity your body removes energy from your blood and transports it into your cells-tissue-organs. This is very simplified explanation
There is no point in talking about what calorie is, what fat is, what carbohydrate is, or protein for that matter, and how all those macronutrients are metabolized in our body, and what you should eat or what you should not eat. You can get all that information simply by searching on the internet, and whatever comes up first, you will accept that web information as a fact. In some cases, it will be correct information, sometimes misleading, and sometimes ridiculously improper. For that proper science-based information, please visit my STUDY GUIDE educational YouTube channel “Nutrition IN You” the Chernotes.
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