After many dieters read what researchers are saying about weight loss, they will use all of their mental facilities instead of the mythical ten percent or whatever small percentage many urban legends claim humans use.
In a paper published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, researchers at Rush University in Chicago conclude that health professionals need to focus on healing the “brain-based processes” of patients seeking to lose weight.
It is well-known that some people who suffer from debilitating eating disorders have well-documented mental disorders on top of the physical stress such a lifestyle places upon them. Even recent studies have linked fast-food with the release of the same dopamine chemicals that scientists observe in drug addicts. Thus, this paper will only add to the wealth of research that proves that food-related issues are not exclusively physical but psychological.
According to WebMD, responses to food are linked to many different urges, which the government happens to regulate for the “common good.”
The researchers present three brain processes that are associated with both overeating and obesity: food reward, inhibitory control, and time discounting.
Food reward, which includes both the pleasure of eating and the motivation to eat, has been linked to the same brain processes that control our urges for sex, gambling, and substance use. People with a greater reward sensitivity will likely have stronger food cravings, particularly for fatty and sweet foods, the researchers write.
Even though neither gambling nor drugs (we are on the fence about sex) are mandatory requirements for sustain human life, we are now starting to understand clearly that many people only have a slim chance to reduce their weight in a culture that places no regulations on unhealthy food yet stigmatizes overweight people unfairly.
Many Americans love to talk about personal responsibility when it comes to their abundance of frivolous choices but consider this: Most humans’ first introduction to fatty, salty, and/or sugary foods are by their most trusted role models — their parents. Unfortunately, we don’t have to imagine what happens to an infant’s system when it’s bombarded with toxins from legal substances like cigarettes or alcohol. Where does personal responsibility come into account when the American government subsidizes fast-food operations, then tells people to Let’s Move and eat healthier foods yet signs into legislation major cuts to social programs and health care, which help people survive the effects of living addicted to salt, sugar, and fat from infancy to old-age.
Either America legalizes everything and allows people to truly maintain or destroy their health or properly regulate the sell of foods laced with unhealthy fats, too much salt, and/or processed sugar.
We cannot live in a society that prides itself on freedom of choice yet has blatant hypocrisies when it comes all sorts of illicit and legal vices. Granted, food is hard to regulate, but it is not hard to educate people on the dangers of unhealthy food choices.
