Food addiction you're not imagining it....

Let's shed the limiting beliefs
We are often quick to say that we were too tired or didn't have time to eat a healthy meal, as if somehow eating an apple is far more time consuming and taxing than eating a Mars bar.  These are the type of stories we tell ourselves based on deeply embedded self-limiting beliefs and based on products that are cleverly designed to trick our brain into wanting more, the combination of sugar and fat is strangely addictive isn't it?

We're being programmed to be overweight
Dr. David Kessler a Harvard educated doctor and author of best selling book “The End of Overeating” outlined how the food industry and restaurant chains engineer foods to be just as "addictive" as cigarettes by working with the brain to get us hooked on sugar, fat and salt.  The big players of the food industry use science to engineer the perfect taste, colour, texture, look and smell, creating the ‘bliss point’, a common industry term. If you think a bag of chips is a simple snack, think again. A lot of research dollars go into designing these unnatural foods that trigger the reward system in the brain. And it’s a very powerful drug to battle.  Taking a bag of chips as an example, they don't just (or even effectively) satisfy hunger and deliver calories. The combination of salt, sugar and fat make them perfectly addictive. The starch in the chips cause glucose levels to rise, which results in a craving for more, hence it being close to impossible to stop at one. Snacking on  food like chips  also results in the brain releasing  dopamine  – dopamine is the same ‘feel good’ brain chemical released if you do cocaine!  And as to why you crave that next pack of Thins?  Think of Pavlov's dogs!  With continued exposure, the brain gets to like being flooded with feel good chemicals. When you see the pack in the supermarket, or if someone even mentions them, you brain starts craving it's next hit of chips to get that dopamine fix!  

Acknowledging is the first step
Knowledge is power as they say.  Knowing that there is a physical reason which has been engineered to make you eat something that is so detrimental to your health, helps put these junk/processed foods in their correct category right beside cigarettes. Just as cigarettes have been fine honed to make people feel increasingly addicted, so have all of the processed foods on our shelves.  This doesn't mean we should hide behind this or use it as an excuse.  It means we need to decide that we deserve to live a long healthy vital life, looking and feeling the way we want to.  Empowerment not deprivation is the focus.  We are not really denying ourselves anything but the life of a junky when we turn away from junk food are we?

*Some great easy tips

I came across these great healthy eating infographics recently, I highly recommend you check them out , particularly if you're a visual person.  Some great reminders and quick and easy meal tips at a glance  go to this link and check them out.  It's good to have a clear picture of how healthy eating can look for you, print some of them out - and use them as part of your "new life vision board"

If you have deeply embedded beliefs and attitudes about your relationship with food and you think you need help getting on the right track, I can help you.  In Melbourne Hypnotherapy is becoming increasingly popular in line with the global trend.  A properly trained and accredited Hypnotherapist (such as myself :) ) will be able to help you work through underlying emotional issues and create a mindset that makes a healthy attitude to food and lifestyle become your natural default.  I'm located in Mentone, and I also provide Skype sessions.   I currently offer two weight loss programs, you can check them out in further detail at this page.  Contact me on 0435 923 817 or using this contact form.  

You know you deserve to be the best version of you, don't put it off any longer.


​* Results may vary