Culinary Medicine Coaching 1
UNIT 2 |
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Problem Solving as Coach
The Standard American Diet Eat As If Your Life Depends On It Intensive Therapeutic Lifestyle Change Doing the Right Thing Better Emotional Eating Hormones and the Addiction Cycle Change is Possible |
GOALS
OBJECTIVES
LEADING QUESTIONS
REFERENCES
- Encourage students to develop effective coaching strategies
- Appreciate the growing practice of culinary medicine in health care
- Introduce the beginning of faulty eating habits
- Explain the benefit of intensive care nutritional approach
- Introduce Emotional eating and Food addiction
OBJECTIVES
- To describe problem solving using coaching strategies
- To understand the challenges in beating cultural changes in faulty eating habits
- To explain the difference between fast and slow intensive care nutritional approach
- To understand the role of emotional eating and food addiction in behavior change
LEADING QUESTIONS
- What could be the most effective approach for patients to adhere with positive behavior change?
- How can culinary coaching be helpful in beating the changing cultural food preferences and eating patterns?
- How can culinary medicine in general, help patients get through food addiction?
REFERENCES
- Eat Plants Feel Whole, George E. Guthrie, MD
- Lifestyle Medicine Manual, Beth Frates, MD
Culinary Medicine in Medical Schools
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Medical schools are continuously increasing nutrition education through culinary medicine. It's a fast growing field utilized in managing chronic disease through culinary medicine coaching.
Tulane University is leading the way in crediting culinary medicine in more than 15% of medical schools in the United States. There is a growing number of course offering in the United Kingdom, Australia, South America and now in Asia. |
Solving Problem like a Coach
Reference: Lifestyle Medicine Handbook by Beth Frates
Experts love to solve problems. That is why many physicians go into medicine. Solving problems and finding solutions can be enjoyable and rewarding, especially if it saves someone's life or helps them to heal.
When using the coach-like approach, the mystery is also compelling. Coaches, however, do not have a microscope or lab values to help them find the solution to the problem with which they are concerned. Instead, they must rely on information given to them by their patients, as well as rely on their own patience to draw it our of them.
Instead of diving in and trying to solve the problem, as if it were an emergency, the coach has work with the patient by asking open-ended questions, listening, and discovering the solution. For example, if a problem exists with someone not exercising, that person might come by to visit and say, "You know what, I wanted to exercise five days a week, but I only exercised one. I mean I put my sneakers on other days, but I just couldn't get out the door."
Coaches do not have to interrogate patients about every detail to try and solve the problem. In fact, interrogating patients can lead to discomfort and resistance. Asking an open-ended question, however, such as, "What were the circumstances when you could not get our the door?" can be helpful. As a rule, in such a patient might say, "One time, I got a phone call and needed to stay at home to talk to my friend, because she was going through a divorce, you know." Hearing feedback can help practitioner to better understand how to help the patient.
After listening to the patient talk about a particular problem, it can be tempting to spew out solutions that may work for the practitioners, such as. "The next time that happens, if you get phone call, and you're ready to go for a walk, use your cell phone. you can walk and talk at the same time with your cell phone." Now, that suggestion might work. it might resonate with that particular patient. However, it could also be of putting or alienating, especially if the person does not have a cell phone.
Another technique that is in alignment with the coach-like approach might be to ask another question that calls upon the wisdom inside the patient. "Hmm, what could you do, if next time you're going for a walk, you've got your shoes on, and your phone rings? What do you think you could do differently?" In this instance, the solution a patient might give is, "Tell my friend I will call her back, when I am done walking, invite my friend to come over and walk with me, or take a walk to my friend's house." Arguably, those are great solutions, too. In reality, people are more likely to stick with solution that they created or that they selected from a series of options. Brainstorming ideas together and asking patient to think about solutions, along with you, can work well, too. In the end, the patients needs to select the solution they like best and the one they think will work best for them. The point is that it is essential to honor the autonomy of the patient, instead of the practitioner imposing their own solution on that individual.
Experts love to solve problems. That is why many physicians go into medicine. Solving problems and finding solutions can be enjoyable and rewarding, especially if it saves someone's life or helps them to heal.
When using the coach-like approach, the mystery is also compelling. Coaches, however, do not have a microscope or lab values to help them find the solution to the problem with which they are concerned. Instead, they must rely on information given to them by their patients, as well as rely on their own patience to draw it our of them.
Instead of diving in and trying to solve the problem, as if it were an emergency, the coach has work with the patient by asking open-ended questions, listening, and discovering the solution. For example, if a problem exists with someone not exercising, that person might come by to visit and say, "You know what, I wanted to exercise five days a week, but I only exercised one. I mean I put my sneakers on other days, but I just couldn't get out the door."
Coaches do not have to interrogate patients about every detail to try and solve the problem. In fact, interrogating patients can lead to discomfort and resistance. Asking an open-ended question, however, such as, "What were the circumstances when you could not get our the door?" can be helpful. As a rule, in such a patient might say, "One time, I got a phone call and needed to stay at home to talk to my friend, because she was going through a divorce, you know." Hearing feedback can help practitioner to better understand how to help the patient.
After listening to the patient talk about a particular problem, it can be tempting to spew out solutions that may work for the practitioners, such as. "The next time that happens, if you get phone call, and you're ready to go for a walk, use your cell phone. you can walk and talk at the same time with your cell phone." Now, that suggestion might work. it might resonate with that particular patient. However, it could also be of putting or alienating, especially if the person does not have a cell phone.
Another technique that is in alignment with the coach-like approach might be to ask another question that calls upon the wisdom inside the patient. "Hmm, what could you do, if next time you're going for a walk, you've got your shoes on, and your phone rings? What do you think you could do differently?" In this instance, the solution a patient might give is, "Tell my friend I will call her back, when I am done walking, invite my friend to come over and walk with me, or take a walk to my friend's house." Arguably, those are great solutions, too. In reality, people are more likely to stick with solution that they created or that they selected from a series of options. Brainstorming ideas together and asking patient to think about solutions, along with you, can work well, too. In the end, the patients needs to select the solution they like best and the one they think will work best for them. The point is that it is essential to honor the autonomy of the patient, instead of the practitioner imposing their own solution on that individual.
The Standard American Diet
Reference: Eat plants Feel Whole by Dr. George Guthrie
In the early 1900s, when Americans were just starting to understand nutrition, science and government were most concerned about people getting enough calories. Our great-grandparents learned that calories were important, so they focused on cookies, cakes, pies, and the like as the best place to get them. By the 1950s to 1960s, policymakers began to worry that, in the future, there might not be enough food for all citizens. Since one of the government’s job is to make sure that there is adequate nutrition for the population, industry was encouraged to focus on making calorie-dense foods with a low spoilage rate.
Keeping foods fresh and being able to store them for long periods of time became primary concerns. Refined foods were an important part of the answer. To save space and keep foods from spoiling removed the fiber and avoided oils that became rancid. We now know that this was a grave mistake. Not only did food need to last, they reasoned, but industry also wanted consumers to enjoy their “value-added” products and come back for more… and more. They looked for what is now called “the bliss point,” which would lead people to crave more of the product. To keep costs down and profits up, industry also looked for ways to spend less. This led to even more refinements.
In the decades of the 950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, Americans learned that saturated fats raised cholesterol and increased the risk of heart disease and that refined sugar could cause obesity and diabetes. Industry stepped in and found “solutions” for these problems, too: they supplied trans fats in place of stable saturated fats that would not spoil, and developed artificial sweeteners to address the sugar issue. Trans fats are unsaturated fats that act like saturated fat in food preparation. Indeed, the unhealthy diet that most Americans follow today is a result of these forces (and others) over time.
It is now becoming clear that the more a farmer’s produce is modified and the more removed the final product is from the original whole plant, the more problems develop and the less healthy our food is. Indeed, it appears that the more “value” is added by the manufacturer, the sicker we become. The standard American diet, sometimes fitting referred to as SAD, has focused on foods that are high in calories, saturated fat, trans fats, and refined carbohydrates, and low in fiber.
In the early 1900s, when Americans were just starting to understand nutrition, science and government were most concerned about people getting enough calories. Our great-grandparents learned that calories were important, so they focused on cookies, cakes, pies, and the like as the best place to get them. By the 1950s to 1960s, policymakers began to worry that, in the future, there might not be enough food for all citizens. Since one of the government’s job is to make sure that there is adequate nutrition for the population, industry was encouraged to focus on making calorie-dense foods with a low spoilage rate.
Keeping foods fresh and being able to store them for long periods of time became primary concerns. Refined foods were an important part of the answer. To save space and keep foods from spoiling removed the fiber and avoided oils that became rancid. We now know that this was a grave mistake. Not only did food need to last, they reasoned, but industry also wanted consumers to enjoy their “value-added” products and come back for more… and more. They looked for what is now called “the bliss point,” which would lead people to crave more of the product. To keep costs down and profits up, industry also looked for ways to spend less. This led to even more refinements.
In the decades of the 950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, Americans learned that saturated fats raised cholesterol and increased the risk of heart disease and that refined sugar could cause obesity and diabetes. Industry stepped in and found “solutions” for these problems, too: they supplied trans fats in place of stable saturated fats that would not spoil, and developed artificial sweeteners to address the sugar issue. Trans fats are unsaturated fats that act like saturated fat in food preparation. Indeed, the unhealthy diet that most Americans follow today is a result of these forces (and others) over time.
It is now becoming clear that the more a farmer’s produce is modified and the more removed the final product is from the original whole plant, the more problems develop and the less healthy our food is. Indeed, it appears that the more “value” is added by the manufacturer, the sicker we become. The standard American diet, sometimes fitting referred to as SAD, has focused on foods that are high in calories, saturated fat, trans fats, and refined carbohydrates, and low in fiber.
THE DEFICIENCIES OF SAD
Nutritional science informed industry that some of the nutrients removed in the refining of grains are essential for human life. Hence, we have “enriched” flour, which replaces a few (not all) of the vitamins and minerals that were removed to keep it from spoiling.
Calcium is added to some foods because we believe it helps to prevent osteoporosis. At the same time, the food industry and regulators have overlooked the importance of other nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and fiber.
Most people are magnesium deficient, but magnesium is absolutely necessary for a whole class of important cell-level enzyme called kinases. And then there is potassium deficiency, it turns out that more and more population are not getting adequate amounts from their diet. And now the fiber, especially the soluble fiber, is extremely important to the health of the bacteria in our intestines. Removing fiber has led many of the bacteria in our intestines. Removing fiber has led many people to have too much bad bacteria, butyrate, is the preferred fuel for the cells lining the colon. Without enough butyrate, these cells lose some of their tight junctions – the connections between the individual cells – which cause an inflammatory response that can make the entire body sick.
It’s interesting that magnesium, potassium, and dietary fiber are all found in whole, unrefined, plant-based foods and are not generally present in more refined products. In out attempts to meet caloric, food-storage, and convenience needs, we have stripped our foods of what makes them perfect fuel for a healthy body.
Nutritional science informed industry that some of the nutrients removed in the refining of grains are essential for human life. Hence, we have “enriched” flour, which replaces a few (not all) of the vitamins and minerals that were removed to keep it from spoiling.
Calcium is added to some foods because we believe it helps to prevent osteoporosis. At the same time, the food industry and regulators have overlooked the importance of other nutrients such as magnesium, potassium, and fiber.
Most people are magnesium deficient, but magnesium is absolutely necessary for a whole class of important cell-level enzyme called kinases. And then there is potassium deficiency, it turns out that more and more population are not getting adequate amounts from their diet. And now the fiber, especially the soluble fiber, is extremely important to the health of the bacteria in our intestines. Removing fiber has led many of the bacteria in our intestines. Removing fiber has led many people to have too much bad bacteria, butyrate, is the preferred fuel for the cells lining the colon. Without enough butyrate, these cells lose some of their tight junctions – the connections between the individual cells – which cause an inflammatory response that can make the entire body sick.
It’s interesting that magnesium, potassium, and dietary fiber are all found in whole, unrefined, plant-based foods and are not generally present in more refined products. In out attempts to meet caloric, food-storage, and convenience needs, we have stripped our foods of what makes them perfect fuel for a healthy body.
EVEN MORE PROFITABLE
To make a living, a businessman needs to add value to a raw product so he can sell it for more than he paid for it. Timely transportation is one such value-added element of high-quality produce. Let’s look at potatoes as an example. If they are cleaned, and damaged/smaller potatoes are removed, the cook is saved the inconvenience of planting, harvesting, sorting, and finding just the right potato for baking. Many people are willing to pay for that service, especially when the grocer absorbs the cost of spoilage and transportation damage.
But it’s even more profitable if less raw product is prepared in large quantities and sold at higher prices. So, the enterprising businessman takes the small, misshapen, damaged potatoes he couldn’t sell and turns them into a paste, adding oil and salt. The mixture is squeezed out and flattened in the form of “chips” and then fried to a perfect crispiness.
These chips are tested and their food formulas tweaked until the manufacturer finds the right combination of salt, fat, and sugar so people will want to eat more and more of them. The question of healthy is not part of the business calculation. It only matters if it makes money.
Unfortunately, with each refining, the product becomes less healthy and more likely to cause disease. In the refining process, food manufacturers commonly remove some nutrients and concentrate others in ways that become harmful. Evidence now shows that a diet largely comprised of these “value-added” foods leads to significant chronic disease: diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and so on.
The foods out great-grandparents ate were quite different; most came straight from the garden. Except for intermittent calorie-laden holiday meals, our forefathers consumed minimally processed or home-cooked foods rather than the highly processed foods we eat today.
So where does that leave you and me? Typically, people leaving in the industrialized societies are becoming more exposed and accustomed to SAD leaving their traditional diet behind.
To make a living, a businessman needs to add value to a raw product so he can sell it for more than he paid for it. Timely transportation is one such value-added element of high-quality produce. Let’s look at potatoes as an example. If they are cleaned, and damaged/smaller potatoes are removed, the cook is saved the inconvenience of planting, harvesting, sorting, and finding just the right potato for baking. Many people are willing to pay for that service, especially when the grocer absorbs the cost of spoilage and transportation damage.
But it’s even more profitable if less raw product is prepared in large quantities and sold at higher prices. So, the enterprising businessman takes the small, misshapen, damaged potatoes he couldn’t sell and turns them into a paste, adding oil and salt. The mixture is squeezed out and flattened in the form of “chips” and then fried to a perfect crispiness.
These chips are tested and their food formulas tweaked until the manufacturer finds the right combination of salt, fat, and sugar so people will want to eat more and more of them. The question of healthy is not part of the business calculation. It only matters if it makes money.
Unfortunately, with each refining, the product becomes less healthy and more likely to cause disease. In the refining process, food manufacturers commonly remove some nutrients and concentrate others in ways that become harmful. Evidence now shows that a diet largely comprised of these “value-added” foods leads to significant chronic disease: diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, obesity, and so on.
The foods out great-grandparents ate were quite different; most came straight from the garden. Except for intermittent calorie-laden holiday meals, our forefathers consumed minimally processed or home-cooked foods rather than the highly processed foods we eat today.
So where does that leave you and me? Typically, people leaving in the industrialized societies are becoming more exposed and accustomed to SAD leaving their traditional diet behind.
Eat As If Your Life Depends On It
Eating patterns can be viewed as either therapeutic or maintenance. Therapeutic diet focus on healing those with significant diseases. Evidence shows that making drastic changes to both diet and the rest of an individual’s lifestyle can lead to a reversal of many diseases. For example, Dean Ornish discovered that people who followed a 100 percent plant-based diet, managed their stress, and exercised regularly were able to reverse the damage from heart disease. By adjusting their lives to include these good behaviours, participants were able to pull cholesterol deposits out of their arteries and improve their heart health. The benefits were still present five years later, especially in those who continued with the study’s lifestyle treatment plan.
Many people who adopt healthy diets, exercise programs, or other lifestyle modifications and move from illness to health make these aggressive changes as a therapeutic means to achieve whole health, much like a prescription from a doctor. These folks suffer from renal disease and want to reverse the effects of their diseases. They don’t want to hurt, they don’t want to miss out on living full lives, and they don’t want to die. They are motivated to make major lifestyle changes because they need a cure. What would motivate you to make healthy lifestyle choices a permanent part of your life to restore wholeness?
Many people who adopt healthy diets, exercise programs, or other lifestyle modifications and move from illness to health make these aggressive changes as a therapeutic means to achieve whole health, much like a prescription from a doctor. These folks suffer from renal disease and want to reverse the effects of their diseases. They don’t want to hurt, they don’t want to miss out on living full lives, and they don’t want to die. They are motivated to make major lifestyle changes because they need a cure. What would motivate you to make healthy lifestyle choices a permanent part of your life to restore wholeness?
Intensive Therapeutic Lifestyle Change
A personal health crisis happens when people discover something about themselves or their disease that scares them, and their response generally provides an opportunity for an intervention. The crisis is often induced by a dire diagnosis, a scary medical event, or even the addition of a new medication. The crisis is an ideal point for a lifestyle intervention because people have come face-to-face with the fact that their health and quality of life is being significantly disrupted. Here are a few scenarios to demonstrate what often happens.
A person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and receives a prescribed medication. Each time a new medication is added, expenses increase. But when insulin becomes necessary, most people feel a true sense of crisis, which often motivates them to make significant lifestyle changes. At each new crisis point (eye problems, where one can actually go blind; reduced kidney function and eventual dialysis, etc.), people are more willing – and more likely – to significantly alter their habits and behaviour.
With heart disease, in approximately one fourth of the cases, the first intimation of a problem is when a person has a heart attack and dies. In most of these case, there is little or no opportunity for intervention. In other cases, people who experience a nonfatal cardiac event are provided with at least a few opportunities that may serve as incentives for therapeutic lifestyle change. The same is true for hypertension and strokes. Each provides several “crisis point” opportunities to motivate people to make drastic lifestyle changes.
Obesity provides opportunities for intervention, but because weight accumulates quite slowly in most people, the crisis point leading to lasting change are fewer and less impactful until it may seem to be too late.
How drastic the crisis must be to motivate change depends on the person. Once someone determines that he or she absolutely must change, there is generally a fifty-day window for a lifestyle intervention to make inroads in that person’s life. The sooner a lifestyle intervention is embraced, the more likely it is to stick. The longer it takes for someone or something to intervene, the less likely it is the person will change. The more time that passes after the crisis point, the more time the person has to rationalize emotions, allay fears, and settle back into unhealthy patterns. The urgency is lost, and the person doesn’t care anymore.
This is not to say that people cannot change in response to smaller events. Intensive lifestyle change can improve the lives of people who have not yet had their big crisis.
A person is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and receives a prescribed medication. Each time a new medication is added, expenses increase. But when insulin becomes necessary, most people feel a true sense of crisis, which often motivates them to make significant lifestyle changes. At each new crisis point (eye problems, where one can actually go blind; reduced kidney function and eventual dialysis, etc.), people are more willing – and more likely – to significantly alter their habits and behaviour.
With heart disease, in approximately one fourth of the cases, the first intimation of a problem is when a person has a heart attack and dies. In most of these case, there is little or no opportunity for intervention. In other cases, people who experience a nonfatal cardiac event are provided with at least a few opportunities that may serve as incentives for therapeutic lifestyle change. The same is true for hypertension and strokes. Each provides several “crisis point” opportunities to motivate people to make drastic lifestyle changes.
Obesity provides opportunities for intervention, but because weight accumulates quite slowly in most people, the crisis point leading to lasting change are fewer and less impactful until it may seem to be too late.
How drastic the crisis must be to motivate change depends on the person. Once someone determines that he or she absolutely must change, there is generally a fifty-day window for a lifestyle intervention to make inroads in that person’s life. The sooner a lifestyle intervention is embraced, the more likely it is to stick. The longer it takes for someone or something to intervene, the less likely it is the person will change. The more time that passes after the crisis point, the more time the person has to rationalize emotions, allay fears, and settle back into unhealthy patterns. The urgency is lost, and the person doesn’t care anymore.
This is not to say that people cannot change in response to smaller events. Intensive lifestyle change can improve the lives of people who have not yet had their big crisis.
THE FAST WAY
If you’re an all-in type of person, make it a challenge. Let everyone in your house know, “we’re going to do this for three weeks.” Maybe everyone will agree to try it for a month or six weeks! Whatever time frame you agree on, start by figuring our how to record what each person feels during the challenge. Keep track (on a calendar, etc.), noting, “Great day; lots of energy,” “Tough day; my cravings got the best of me,” and so on. That way, it is easier to see progress as improvements happen. The whole family could benefit from this kind of tracking.
If you go all in right away, the initial changes are quite dramatic, but the payoff is even more dramatic. Often many patients would say “I was doing great, but that hamburger [or piece of cake, or whatever it was] looked so good!” They said to themselves, “I’m healthy enough to handle it now. Just one won’t hurt.” Then they eat. The response for those who go all in is, “I feel terrible. I feel sick. I don’t ever want to do that again.” Doing things quickly has its benefits and can make it easier to stick with healthy choices.
If you’re an all-in type of person, make it a challenge. Let everyone in your house know, “we’re going to do this for three weeks.” Maybe everyone will agree to try it for a month or six weeks! Whatever time frame you agree on, start by figuring our how to record what each person feels during the challenge. Keep track (on a calendar, etc.), noting, “Great day; lots of energy,” “Tough day; my cravings got the best of me,” and so on. That way, it is easier to see progress as improvements happen. The whole family could benefit from this kind of tracking.
If you go all in right away, the initial changes are quite dramatic, but the payoff is even more dramatic. Often many patients would say “I was doing great, but that hamburger [or piece of cake, or whatever it was] looked so good!” They said to themselves, “I’m healthy enough to handle it now. Just one won’t hurt.” Then they eat. The response for those who go all in is, “I feel terrible. I feel sick. I don’t ever want to do that again.” Doing things quickly has its benefits and can make it easier to stick with healthy choices.
THE SLOW WAY: The Benefits of Small Steps
Some people who consider switching to a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle are not necessarily facing an immediate health crisis. They understand the benefits of this eating pattern. They may want to lose weight, prevent illness, have more energy, be healthier or improve longevity. Maybe they have watched other family members struggle with lifestyle disease, and they want their lives to be different. Whatever the case may be, they are ready to make the transition.
If you’re kind of person who struggles with change or if rapid change isn’t possible (for example, if your family is resistant, so you need to introduce change gradually), that’s okay. Just remember that the changes you feel will be gradual as well, and there will be a tendency to prolong the “emotional pain” of the change.
One way to ease into change is to move slowly and incorporate healthy recipes and creative food combinations into the family’s eating pattern, one meal at a time. When you transition slowly, you can make it a family event in which everybody helps identify healthy replacement meals.
It’s fun to discover the incredible variety of healthy meals. Look at food from other cultures, such as Spanish, Italian and Asian. What whole-food, plant-based foods do they use that will make healthy and fun choices for you and your family? Most families eat twelve to fifteen different meals on a random rotational basis. That is doable! If you adopt one new healthy meal each month, complete change could happen in a little over a year. After a while, all your meals will be healthy.
After you have transitioned your everyday meals, start working on healthy meals for holidays. How can you make those meals healthier? Start with everyday meals and build something extra special on that.
Some people who consider switching to a whole-food, plant-based lifestyle are not necessarily facing an immediate health crisis. They understand the benefits of this eating pattern. They may want to lose weight, prevent illness, have more energy, be healthier or improve longevity. Maybe they have watched other family members struggle with lifestyle disease, and they want their lives to be different. Whatever the case may be, they are ready to make the transition.
If you’re kind of person who struggles with change or if rapid change isn’t possible (for example, if your family is resistant, so you need to introduce change gradually), that’s okay. Just remember that the changes you feel will be gradual as well, and there will be a tendency to prolong the “emotional pain” of the change.
One way to ease into change is to move slowly and incorporate healthy recipes and creative food combinations into the family’s eating pattern, one meal at a time. When you transition slowly, you can make it a family event in which everybody helps identify healthy replacement meals.
It’s fun to discover the incredible variety of healthy meals. Look at food from other cultures, such as Spanish, Italian and Asian. What whole-food, plant-based foods do they use that will make healthy and fun choices for you and your family? Most families eat twelve to fifteen different meals on a random rotational basis. That is doable! If you adopt one new healthy meal each month, complete change could happen in a little over a year. After a while, all your meals will be healthy.
After you have transitioned your everyday meals, start working on healthy meals for holidays. How can you make those meals healthier? Start with everyday meals and build something extra special on that.
Doing the Right Thing Better
Those with advanced disease, in crisis, and ready to change will often get the most benefit from a more aggressive transition to a whole-food, plant-based dietary pattern than someone who has not had a crisis. The sicker you are, the greater the benefit will be if you do the right thing. Identifying and doing the right thing can be a challenge but it is very important. You cannot solve problems by doing the wrong thing better. Our goal here is to direct you to the right thing, to point you in the right direction. You supply the motivation, and we will show you what most evidence points to as the best way to reverse chronic diseases and maintain wholeness.
If we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting what we got. And so we recognize that to appropriately deal with the diseases that are caused by poor lifestyle choices, we need to change our diet and lifestyle. What we need is to do the right thing better
If we keep doing what we are doing, we will keep getting what we got. And so we recognize that to appropriately deal with the diseases that are caused by poor lifestyle choices, we need to change our diet and lifestyle. What we need is to do the right thing better
Emotional Eating
Many people struggle with the same issue of mindless snacking, overeating, or consuming whatever is most convenient. Food can be addicting. Not only are potentially addictive substances present in food, but refined foods are often designed to stimulate the pleasure centers in our brain and bring us back for more. Food is manufactured to the precise balance of salt, fat, and sweet to hit the “bliss point” so consumers will not be able to stop with just one and will, of course, buy more of the product. Examples of chemically addicting substances in foods include casomorphins (protein fragments from the digestion of the concentrated milk protein casein found in many cheeses) that stimulate the morphine receptors in the brain, or stimulants like caffeine that many people depend on to pick them up in the morning. Then there are internal hormone substances released through emotional eating. These things tend to drive us to overconsumption, and all have the potential to cause addictions. That’s the way addiction work.
If you were to use a substance like heroin, you would discover that it tends to make you feel good by releasing the pleasure hormone, dopamine, into the brain. As that effect wore off, however, you would feel low – lower than the “normal” experienced previously. To enjoy the feel-good effect again, you would want to take more. This is an addictive cycle. It can happen with different substances, and it happens with food as well: fatty foods, salty foods, and sugary foods or other simple carbs like white flour. We experience this addictive cycle with sugary foods partly because they increase the amount of dopamine released in the brain. Often called the pleasure neurotransmitter, dopamine is key to feeling pleasure. Because we like that feeling, our brains associate it with what we’ve eaten, and we eat it again and again as we seek to re-create that pleasurable feeling.
Emotional eating has a similar cycle that involves dopamine and other brain messaging substances. Understanding how this process works can provide clues about how to overcome food addictions.
If you were to use a substance like heroin, you would discover that it tends to make you feel good by releasing the pleasure hormone, dopamine, into the brain. As that effect wore off, however, you would feel low – lower than the “normal” experienced previously. To enjoy the feel-good effect again, you would want to take more. This is an addictive cycle. It can happen with different substances, and it happens with food as well: fatty foods, salty foods, and sugary foods or other simple carbs like white flour. We experience this addictive cycle with sugary foods partly because they increase the amount of dopamine released in the brain. Often called the pleasure neurotransmitter, dopamine is key to feeling pleasure. Because we like that feeling, our brains associate it with what we’ve eaten, and we eat it again and again as we seek to re-create that pleasurable feeling.
Emotional eating has a similar cycle that involves dopamine and other brain messaging substances. Understanding how this process works can provide clues about how to overcome food addictions.
Hormones and the Addiction Cycle
Many of use experience stress in our lives. One of the main neurotransmitters that is released in the presence of stress is called vasopressin. Under stressful conditions, it’s released from a little organ in the brain called the amygdale. When we’re afraid, anxious, or stressed, this hormone communicates to the frontal lobe, where logic and reason are housed. Logic evaluates stress and decides how to respond.
When stress is long-term and overwhelming, the frontal lobe may not have the logic to overcome it, and it looks for help. The vasopressin effect takes over, and the body feels the results in a steady stream of adrenaline and vasopressin. If this continues for a long time, it’s hard on the body, and the brain starts looking for something to restore peace and happiness. With all the stress and emotional pain, help is needed. Enter dopamine, the pleasure hormone in the brain – under circumstances of chronic stress, people do things that they may not normally do. Maybe it’s something as innocuous as a piece of chocolate, or perhaps it’s a favorite ice cream treat that “I deserve” after the hard day at work. In really bad situations, it could even be an addictive substance like heroin.
Unfortunately, the presence of vasopressin and stress tends to shut down the logical control of the brain’s frontal lobe. Maybe you’ve noticed it. I know I have! That first bite of ice cream is really good. The second bite is really good too, but not quite as good as the first one. The third bite is a little less flavorful and pleasant.
This seems to be where and how the addiction cycle begins. It is an underlying drive for pleasure, especially in the presence of prolonged real or perceived stress and the resultant effects of vasopressin.
When stress is long-term and overwhelming, the frontal lobe may not have the logic to overcome it, and it looks for help. The vasopressin effect takes over, and the body feels the results in a steady stream of adrenaline and vasopressin. If this continues for a long time, it’s hard on the body, and the brain starts looking for something to restore peace and happiness. With all the stress and emotional pain, help is needed. Enter dopamine, the pleasure hormone in the brain – under circumstances of chronic stress, people do things that they may not normally do. Maybe it’s something as innocuous as a piece of chocolate, or perhaps it’s a favorite ice cream treat that “I deserve” after the hard day at work. In really bad situations, it could even be an addictive substance like heroin.
Unfortunately, the presence of vasopressin and stress tends to shut down the logical control of the brain’s frontal lobe. Maybe you’ve noticed it. I know I have! That first bite of ice cream is really good. The second bite is really good too, but not quite as good as the first one. The third bite is a little less flavorful and pleasant.
This seems to be where and how the addiction cycle begins. It is an underlying drive for pleasure, especially in the presence of prolonged real or perceived stress and the resultant effects of vasopressin.
Change is Possible
Good health is one of our most precious gifts. We don’t know what a blessing it is until we lose it. When we are not well, everything else seems to suffer – career mobility, finances, and relationships with family and friends.
Of course, reprogramming our minds and bodies to accept the fact that we are eating to live instead of living to eat involves both motivation and a big adjustment in understanding and perspective that differs significantly from today’s persistent messaging – advertisements, news, internet, TV shows, holidays and life milestones. Our culture seems to be centered on unhealthy food and inactivity. So much rides on grasping and understanding a different worldview and bringing the right tastes and habits into practice in our lives. This may seem daunting or even impossible at first, but it is doable and much easier than you may think. The good news is that new habits can be formed, and new tastes can be acquired, and the benefits to well-being and vitality will come much faster than you may expect.
We tend to think that we eat what we like, but science tells us that we like what we eat. That is, our taste buds adjust to the things we eat. You may have experienced this in the past. People who choose to follow a low-salt diet think their food tastes bland for days or even weeks, but later when they taste that old casserole from the bottom of the freezer, their immediate response is, “that is way too salty.” This phenomenon is a good news because it demonstrates that tastes can change. Emotionally embrace the challenge of teaching your tongue to enjoy new flavours and textures. It really isn’t that hard.
Another physiologic fact that may be helpful is that of neuroplasticity. We used to think that the brain was static and could not grow and adapt, that habits are forever. We now know that the new pathways and neurons (brains cells) are constantly being made. Not only that, but a healthier lifestyle – healthy food, exercise, emotional wellness – makes the process of neuronal generation and regeneration much more efficient. Some evidence suggests that lifestyle changes can help to avoid or even reverse some chronic diseases. It is easier to make good habits when we choose a healthy lifestyle, and every positive change makes it easier to make the next healthy choice.
If you are struggling with a significant change, if you have enough understanding to know that your diabetes or heart disease may be reversed, if your quality of life is being significantly curtailed by the effects of your disease, and if hope has risen in the very center of your emotional heart, then you are likely ready to embrace the lifestyle-focused intensive care now that will allow you to avoid the hospital intensive care ward in the future. You will jump in with an all-or-nothing attitude and now it, and the changes will be dramatic. The positive changes that I see happening in people who choose to aggressively adopt the best lifestyle appear amazing, almost miraculous, even after all my years of experience.
Some people are not ready to drive into this new lifestyle. They may be skeptical, afraid, hopeless, and addicted, and their path to health has many, many twists and turns. For these people, the benefits will not be as rapid, but by moving in the right direction, the benefits will nonetheless accrue. Each positive change will make the next change easier.
Either way, you need good information. Knowing that you cannot solve problems by doing the wrong thing better, I have tried to steer you on the right path. You need to do the right things, the best things, to get the greatest benefit. The time and energy you put into the process will be wasted if you focus on doing things that are not best.
Whether you start slow or go all in, you will probably want to discuss your new approach with your primary healthcare provider, especially if you are on medications. As the body begins to respond to healthy, healing foods and practices, the doctor may need to adjust medication dosages.
Of course, reprogramming our minds and bodies to accept the fact that we are eating to live instead of living to eat involves both motivation and a big adjustment in understanding and perspective that differs significantly from today’s persistent messaging – advertisements, news, internet, TV shows, holidays and life milestones. Our culture seems to be centered on unhealthy food and inactivity. So much rides on grasping and understanding a different worldview and bringing the right tastes and habits into practice in our lives. This may seem daunting or even impossible at first, but it is doable and much easier than you may think. The good news is that new habits can be formed, and new tastes can be acquired, and the benefits to well-being and vitality will come much faster than you may expect.
We tend to think that we eat what we like, but science tells us that we like what we eat. That is, our taste buds adjust to the things we eat. You may have experienced this in the past. People who choose to follow a low-salt diet think their food tastes bland for days or even weeks, but later when they taste that old casserole from the bottom of the freezer, their immediate response is, “that is way too salty.” This phenomenon is a good news because it demonstrates that tastes can change. Emotionally embrace the challenge of teaching your tongue to enjoy new flavours and textures. It really isn’t that hard.
Another physiologic fact that may be helpful is that of neuroplasticity. We used to think that the brain was static and could not grow and adapt, that habits are forever. We now know that the new pathways and neurons (brains cells) are constantly being made. Not only that, but a healthier lifestyle – healthy food, exercise, emotional wellness – makes the process of neuronal generation and regeneration much more efficient. Some evidence suggests that lifestyle changes can help to avoid or even reverse some chronic diseases. It is easier to make good habits when we choose a healthy lifestyle, and every positive change makes it easier to make the next healthy choice.
If you are struggling with a significant change, if you have enough understanding to know that your diabetes or heart disease may be reversed, if your quality of life is being significantly curtailed by the effects of your disease, and if hope has risen in the very center of your emotional heart, then you are likely ready to embrace the lifestyle-focused intensive care now that will allow you to avoid the hospital intensive care ward in the future. You will jump in with an all-or-nothing attitude and now it, and the changes will be dramatic. The positive changes that I see happening in people who choose to aggressively adopt the best lifestyle appear amazing, almost miraculous, even after all my years of experience.
Some people are not ready to drive into this new lifestyle. They may be skeptical, afraid, hopeless, and addicted, and their path to health has many, many twists and turns. For these people, the benefits will not be as rapid, but by moving in the right direction, the benefits will nonetheless accrue. Each positive change will make the next change easier.
Either way, you need good information. Knowing that you cannot solve problems by doing the wrong thing better, I have tried to steer you on the right path. You need to do the right things, the best things, to get the greatest benefit. The time and energy you put into the process will be wasted if you focus on doing things that are not best.
Whether you start slow or go all in, you will probably want to discuss your new approach with your primary healthcare provider, especially if you are on medications. As the body begins to respond to healthy, healing foods and practices, the doctor may need to adjust medication dosages.
Unit 2 Task (Application)
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