How to escape the dietary pleasure trap! (Good read)

[Guest guest]

Learn how to escape the dietary pleasure trap!

 

By Douglas Lisle, Ph.D.

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[Even Vegans and Vegetarians fall into unhealthy diet modes when they consume

processed foods. This article (and attached website) does a good job of pointing

out why many Americans are in such poor health, and how they can get back on the

road to optimal health. Rick.]

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When you climb into a hot tub, it pays to edge in slowly. The water can be so

hot as to be unpleasant—until you get used to it. Then it will feel pleasant.

When you step into a swimming pool, the water sometimes feels cold. But after a

few minutes, you get used to it. The scent of pine trees or fragrant flowers is

wonderful—at first. But then you get used to it, and soon you may hardly even

notice it.

 

How is it that our internal experience can change so dramatically, even when our

environment is staying the same? How is it that we so easily “get used to”

things? It turns out that scientists have carefully studied this striking

phenomenon, which they refer to as neuro-adaptation. This process is called

“neuro-adaptation” because it involves nerves and adaptation.

 

Our sensory processes are dependent upon the activation of sensory nerves. It is

through the activation of various sensory nerves that we are able to see, hear,

smell, sense touch, and to taste. The activity of these various sensory nerves

tells our brains what is going on, and to what degree of intensity. For example,

when you are sitting in a dimly lit room, and you turn on more light, your

visual nerves become more active. They help your brain to notice an increase in

brightness. Similarly, if you increase the volume on your stereo, your auditory

nerves become more active. They help your brain to notice the increase in sound

intensity. This same principle works for all of the five senses.

Relative perception

We tend to think that our nerves provide us with a very accurate depiction of

real-world stimulation, but surprisingly, this is not the case. Let’s go back to

the example of sitting in a dimly lit room. If you turn on all of the lights, it

will seem very bright. However, if you later go outside into full sunshine, that

will seem brighter still. When you go back inside, it will seem dim—even though

all of the lights are still on. Clearly, your nerves are not providing you with

an “accurate” depiction of reality in these instances. They are providing a

relative depiction. Your senses are highly responsive to change. They tell you

when a new stimulus is brighter or dimmer, louder or softer, hotter or colder,

and so forth, but not precisely how bright, or loud, or hot. Perception is

largely a gauge of relative change.

 

The reason our nerves provide us with relative—rather than absolute—information

is partly because our nerves are designed to adapt to a steady level of

stimulation. When there is a sudden increase in stimulation, your nerves

increase their rate of “firing” (the basic mechanism that communicates sensory

information to the brain). Any change in the intensity of a stimulus results in

a change in the firing rate of the appropriate sensory nerves. For example, when

you brighten the lights, your visual nerves will increase their firing rate.

When you later dim the lights, the firing rate will be reduced.

Dangerous adaptations

In this article, we shall focus on an aspect of “getting used to” things that

can lead to enormous—often deadly—problems.

 

After we brighten the lights in a room, our visual nerves increase their firing

rate—but only for a little while! After a few minutes, the firing rate will slow

down, or “adapt,” to the new, higher rate of stimulation. Sometimes, the nerves

may even slow down their response to the level that they were previously firing

at the lower level of illumination. This is why even a brightly lit room will

seem merely “normal” after your sensory nerves adjust to it.

 

All of our sensory nerves work in this manner. When we first enter an office, we

might be distracted by a noisy air conditioner. But after a while we will likely

cease to notice it. When a person first starts smoking cigarettes, he is acutely

aware of the smell of the smoke. He smells it on his fingers, in his clothes,

and in his car. But before long, he won’t notice it at all. He will have “gotten

used to it.” He may never notice it again unless he quits smoking. Only then

will his sense of smell re-calibrate to a more smoke-sensitive state. Then he

will be able to smell the smoke—just like everyone else does.

Taste troubles

Like our other sensory nerves, our  taste buds also will “get used to” a given

level of stimulation—and this can have horrific consequences. The taste buds of

the vast majority of people in industrialized societies are currently

neuro-adapted to artificially high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt animal and

processed foods. These foods are ultimately no more enjoyable than more

healthful fare, but few people will ever see that this is true, because they

consistently consume highly stimulating foods, and have “gotten used to” them.

If they were to eat a less stimulating, health-promoting diet, they soon would

enjoy such fare every bit as much. Unfortunately, very few people will ever

realize this critically important fact!

A gruesome tale

If a frog is placed in a pan of water, it often just sits there. If the pan is

heated, ever so slowly, the frog may never notice that the water temperature is

rising. He will “get used to” the increasing heat—and may be unaware that

anything is amiss. Even with no barrier to his escape, he is as likely as not to

sit in the pan—and boil to death. His sensory capabilities may fail to

adequately warn him that action is required for his survival, and he may only

survive if the heat is turned down.

 

For the past several decades, the modern American diet has been increasing in

animal protein, animal and vegetable fats, refined carbohydrates, and added oil,

salt, and sugar. In just the past two decades, our caloric intake has slowly

escalated by 650 calories per person, per day. Not surprisingly, obesity and

other diseases of dietary excess are at all-time highs. But just a few decades

ago, our nation’s dietary habits were remarkably different. Meat was an

expensive commodity—for some, a “treat.” The same was true for refined flour

products, refined sugar, and oils. But times have changed. Today, almost

everyone in America can have all they desire of these rich foods—and they do,

virtually every day.

 

From the perspective of our natural history, a daily life with such dietary

choices is extraordinary. For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancient

ancestors scratched and scraped, struggling against the harsh forces of nature

in order to get enough food to survive. Even today, in undeveloped countries,

significant food shortages are still a great concern, with millions dying each

year from starvation. Yet, in a mere blink of history’s eye—in just a few

decades—industrialized societies have arisen from environments of scarcity and

have transformed themselves into societies of unprecedented abundance. The most

striking feature of that abundance is a virtually unlimited supply of food.

Artificial appeal

An abundance of food, by itself, is not a cause of health problems. But modern

technology has done more than to simply make food perpetually abundant. Food

also has been made artificially tastier. Food is often more stimulating than

ever before—as the particular chemicals in foods that cause pleasure reactions

have been isolated—and artificially concentrated. These chemicals include fats

(including oils), refined carbohydrates (such as refined sugar and flour), and

salt. Meats were once consumed mostly in the form of wild game—typically about

15% fat. Today’s meat is a much different product. Chemically and hormonally

engineered, it can be as high as 50% fat or more. Ice cream is an extraordinary

invention for intensifying taste pleasure—an artificial concoction of pure fat

and refined sugar. Once an expensive delicacy, it is now a daily ritual for many

people. French fries and potato chips, laden with artificially-concentrated

fats, are

currently the most commonly consumed “vegetable” in our society. These

artificial products, and others like them, form the core of the American diet.

Our teenage population, for example, consumes 25% of their calories in the form

of soda pop!

 

Most of our citizenry can’t imagine how it could be any other way. To remove (or

dramatically reduce) such products from America ’s daily diet seems

intolerable—even absurd. Most people believe that if they were to do so, they

would enjoy their food—and their lives—much less. Indeed, most people believe

that they literally would suffer if they consumed a health-promoting diet devoid

of such indulgences. But, it is here that their perception is greatly in error.

The reality is that humans are well designed to fully enjoy the subtler tastes

of whole natural foods, but are poorly equipped to realize this fact. And like a

frog sitting in dangerously hot water, most people are being slowly destroyed by

the limitations of their awareness.

A pleasure trap

Figure 1 (above left) depicts a devastating dietary trap. People consuming a

whole natural foods diet will experience a normal range of pleasure from eating

low-fat, high-fiber, unprocessed foods—shown as Phase I. However, if

concentrated, adulterated, processed foods are consistently allowed in the diet,

they quickly will become preferred.

In Phase II, we see that these products are typically experienced as better—that

is, more pleasurable—than natural foods. This is the result of the heightened

pleasure-inducing characteristics of artificially-produced foods. However,

within a short period of time (a few weeks), the taste nerves adapt to this

higher level of stimulation, and reduce their firing rate. This reduces the

pleasure experience of artificially-stimulating foods back down to normal levels

(Phase III).

 

Phase III is the culmination of a process of extraordinary importance. It is

within Phase III that most people live out their lives. And it is from within

Phase III that most people will engineer their own health crises. Phase III

occurs when we have become used to the extreme levels of stimulation present in

artificial foods, yet ultimately experience no more pleasure than had we

remained on a simpler, more healthful diet! Yet, we will rarely notice this

process—just as we rarely notice the process of getting used to a brightly-lit

room.

A challenging escape

Once in awhile, a person may actually become aware of important dietary

knowledge. Despite the tremendous commercially-motivated misinformation

campaigns waged by the dairy, cattle, and processed food industries, sometimes a

person actually comes to understand the truth about diet. At such times,

determined individuals might attempt to change their diet toward whole natural

foods—in spite of dire and unfounded warnings from their families, friends, and

doctors.

 

But along the way, they are likely to be met with a formidable obstacle—their

own taste neuro-adaptation to artificially-intense foods. This challenge is

depicted as Phases IV and V, wherein a change to less stimulating foods

typically will result in a reduced pleasure experience. In the early stages,

this process is dramatic because natural foods often are not nearly as

stimulating.

 

Scientific evidence suggests that the re-sensitization of taste nerves takes

between 30 and 90 days of consistent exposure to less stimulating foods. This

means that for several weeks, most people attempting this change will experience

a reduction in eating pleasure. This is why modern foods present such a

devastating trap—as most of our citizens are, in effect, “addicted” to

artificially high levels of food stimulation! The 30-to-90-day process of taste

re-calibration requires more motivation—and more self-discipline—than most

people are ever willing to muster.

 

Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of

discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary

habits—and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of

their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more

healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory

pleasure—thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. This is an

extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation that I describe as a

“pleasure trap.”

A fast way out

For many people, knowing how this trap works is a great ally to their

self-discipline. But for others, this trap can seem just too difficult to

manage. For them, the road may seem too long, and even minor indulgences often

keep them in the trap. Fortunately, there is a second method for escape—one that

greatly speeds up the process of taste re-calibration.

A properly-supervised period of water-only fasting is a safe and effective way

to quickly re-sensitize taste nerves so that whole natural foods can be fully

enjoyed. At the Center for Conservative Therapy, we have noted that for most

people, one week of consuming nothing but water in an environment of complete

rest is enough to substantially re-calibrate their taste buds. Patients find

that after a fast, healthful fare tastes as good as the artificially-intense

foods that they may have been eating previously. Sometimes natural foods taste

even better.

Avoiding the trap

The modern American diet contains concentrations of chemicals that we were never

meant to consume. As food manufacturers have sought to compete with each other,

foods have become increasingly artificial—loaded with ever-higher concentrations

of pleasure-inducing chemicals, such as sugar, salt, and fat. But curiously,

though the concentrations of these chemicals have escalated, the actual pleasure

from eating has always stayed about the same. We now understand why.

 

As our modern foods have become increasingly stimulating, our taste nerves are

becoming desensitized—neuro-adapting to the modern diet’s excessive stimulation.

This sets the stage for a devastating trap, wherein a health-promoting diet is

relatively unappealing.

Fortunately, you now understand what it takes to escape this deceptive dietary

trap. With consistent discipline, or perhaps an occasional period of supervised,

water-only fasting, you can always get yourself back on track. In doing so, you

will discover—or perhaps re-discover—that the diet of our natural design can be

very enjoyable.

 

For more information, see our WEB page at: www.healthpromoting.com