huge topic:Americans keep getting fatter

[briansd1]

eavesdropper, I always enjoy your posts.

As you said the biological cannot be separated from the psychological.

I would add the cultural element also. Food is mostly cultural.

I’ve traveled around the world and I’ve observed people eat. Comfort food can mean different things to different cultures. Here in America, it’s starchy fatty stuff.

Food also need to be climate appropriate. The Western diet was developed for cold climates where people had to survive winters without heat.

Now we have central heat and A/C so we don’t need such calorie dense food.

Let me give you an example of the cultural aspect. In Thailand, people would choose an Apple or strawberries over a piece cake. Why? Because apples and strawberries have to be imported and are expensive over there.

The western diet is associated with wealth by the poor world. So, as they grow rich, they want to emulate our eating habits.

Packaged food is mostly carbs, sugar and salt.

Since you are around the university, you could take some hyphenated-American students and compare them to some newly arrived foreign students of the same ethnicity.

My bet is that American students are fatter and love brownies and milkshake whereas the foreign students don’t care for that kind of food.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=jpinpb]LOL. eavesdropper – Thanks for that very lengthy explanation. If there isn’t a connection between food and chemical reaction in one’s body, then I am at a loss to explain his happiness. But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

Sorry for the length, jp, but that’s what I get for not checking in on Piggs on a regular basis. When you get into a thread involving discussion of brain chemistry that’s been going on a while, it’s tough to know where to start.

There absolutely is a mind-body connection. Scientists are learning more about it every day and, more important, their curiosity about it keeps growing and fuels some incredible research.

However, the basics of biological function at the cellular level provide the underlying structure for homeostasis, the maintenance of the body’s internal equilibrium. With the advances in biochemistry over the past 40 years, particularly in that of the brain, and the concomitant development and marketing of neurosychological medications, it can be difficult to remember that the human body is an amazing machine. The design boggles the minds of the world’s leading physicians and scientists from a multitude of disciplines, and it is capable of a number and variety of functions that make the most intricately programmed computer look like a 10-key adding machine. Every step of each and every function of the body is a result of a nerve impulse, and requires neurotransmitters like serotonin. So before we mess with the brain’s chemistry, we need to know what we’re doing. Fortunately, the human body, despite its very function-specific design, has the ability to maintain homeostasis not only at a specific point, but across a wide range of values, and very often, can compensate for losses, shortages, and surpluses. However, health care practitioners will tell you that, every day, they see patients who have “improved” their bodies to unhealthy, and sometimes life-threatening, levels via natural methods. After all, what can be the harm in increasing levels of a substance, already existing in the human body, that is known to play a beneficial role in the health of the mind?

[quote=jpinpb] But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

The odds are very good that the chocolate could have played a part in your husband’s “happy” reaction to the cake, roles that may be based on both physical and emotional triggers. Unfortunately, I still don’t have the time to go into it, but will try to provide you with some interesting and instructive material on the subject. In the meantime, beware of what you find on the Internet, and take everything with a grain of salt (the low-sodium variety, if that’s a problem).

[quote=jpinpb] There must be something that happens from the time your taste buds get the flavor of certain foods that triggers something in the brain. Your explanation was detailed, yet I still think there’s more to it other than people just willfully and knowingly eating badly or lacking will-power.
[/quote]

Again, you are spot-on in your assumptions, but the research is very lengthy, and is incomplete. But it is fascinating, and there are many very good sources of information out there that detail some of the research that’s been going on in the last several years. The choices of what to eat, and the resulting effects, come from physical and emotional impulses, and can vary depending on cultural (thank you, Brian!), genetic, environmental, age, and other factors.

As mentioned, the research is far from complete, and the value of much of what is out there is in what research can be built upon it. But you have a natural curosity and, I suspect, the intellect to go with it, and I think you could really get into some of the available material.

[quote=jpinpb] Certain foods seem much more satisfying than others that are lacking nutrients. Probably more nutrients in an apple than chocolate cake.[/quote]

Depends what you mean by “satisfying” and it depends upon what you mean by “nutrients”. I firmly believe that there are times in a person’s life when a large piece of sinfully rich and delicious chocolate cake will provide them with much more important nutrition than the apple will. Those occasions are rare, but they do occur, and I think that it is important to recognize and respond to them as part of a well-rounded health regimen.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=jpinpb]LOL. eavesdropper – Thanks for that very lengthy explanation. If there isn’t a connection between food and chemical reaction in one’s body, then I am at a loss to explain his happiness. But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

Sorry for the length, jp, but that’s what I get for not checking in on Piggs on a regular basis. When you get into a thread involving discussion of brain chemistry that’s been going on a while, it’s tough to know where to start.

There absolutely is a mind-body connection. Scientists are learning more about it every day and, more important, their curiosity about it keeps growing and fuels some incredible research.

However, the basics of biological function at the cellular level provide the underlying structure for homeostasis, the maintenance of the body’s internal equilibrium. With the advances in biochemistry over the past 40 years, particularly in that of the brain, and the concomitant development and marketing of neurosychological medications, it can be difficult to remember that the human body is an amazing machine. The design boggles the minds of the world’s leading physicians and scientists from a multitude of disciplines, and it is capable of a number and variety of functions that make the most intricately programmed computer look like a 10-key adding machine. Every step of each and every function of the body is a result of a nerve impulse, and requires neurotransmitters like serotonin. So before we mess with the brain’s chemistry, we need to know what we’re doing. Fortunately, the human body, despite its very function-specific design, has the ability to maintain homeostasis not only at a specific point, but across a wide range of values, and very often, can compensate for losses, shortages, and surpluses. However, health care practitioners will tell you that, every day, they see patients who have “improved” their bodies to unhealthy, and sometimes life-threatening, levels via natural methods. After all, what can be the harm in increasing levels of a substance, already existing in the human body, that is known to play a beneficial role in the health of the mind?

[quote=jpinpb] But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

The odds are very good that the chocolate could have played a part in your husband’s “happy” reaction to the cake, roles that may be based on both physical and emotional triggers. Unfortunately, I still don’t have the time to go into it, but will try to provide you with some interesting and instructive material on the subject. In the meantime, beware of what you find on the Internet, and take everything with a grain of salt (the low-sodium variety, if that’s a problem).

[quote=jpinpb] There must be something that happens from the time your taste buds get the flavor of certain foods that triggers something in the brain. Your explanation was detailed, yet I still think there’s more to it other than people just willfully and knowingly eating badly or lacking will-power.
[/quote]

Again, you are spot-on in your assumptions, but the research is very lengthy, and is incomplete. But it is fascinating, and there are many very good sources of information out there that detail some of the research that’s been going on in the last several years. The choices of what to eat, and the resulting effects, come from physical and emotional impulses, and can vary depending on cultural (thank you, Brian!), genetic, environmental, age, and other factors.

As mentioned, the research is far from complete, and the value of much of what is out there is in what research can be built upon it. But you have a natural curosity and, I suspect, the intellect to go with it, and I think you could really get into some of the available material.

[quote=jpinpb] Certain foods seem much more satisfying than others that are lacking nutrients. Probably more nutrients in an apple than chocolate cake.[/quote]

Depends what you mean by “satisfying” and it depends upon what you mean by “nutrients”. I firmly believe that there are times in a person’s life when a large piece of sinfully rich and delicious chocolate cake will provide them with much more important nutrition than the apple will. Those occasions are rare, but they do occur, and I think that it is important to recognize and respond to them as part of a well-rounded health regimen.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=jpinpb]LOL. eavesdropper – Thanks for that very lengthy explanation. If there isn’t a connection between food and chemical reaction in one’s body, then I am at a loss to explain his happiness. But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

Sorry for the length, jp, but that’s what I get for not checking in on Piggs on a regular basis. When you get into a thread involving discussion of brain chemistry that’s been going on a while, it’s tough to know where to start.

There absolutely is a mind-body connection. Scientists are learning more about it every day and, more important, their curiosity about it keeps growing and fuels some incredible research.

However, the basics of biological function at the cellular level provide the underlying structure for homeostasis, the maintenance of the body’s internal equilibrium. With the advances in biochemistry over the past 40 years, particularly in that of the brain, and the concomitant development and marketing of neurosychological medications, it can be difficult to remember that the human body is an amazing machine. The design boggles the minds of the world’s leading physicians and scientists from a multitude of disciplines, and it is capable of a number and variety of functions that make the most intricately programmed computer look like a 10-key adding machine. Every step of each and every function of the body is a result of a nerve impulse, and requires neurotransmitters like serotonin. So before we mess with the brain’s chemistry, we need to know what we’re doing. Fortunately, the human body, despite its very function-specific design, has the ability to maintain homeostasis not only at a specific point, but across a wide range of values, and very often, can compensate for losses, shortages, and surpluses. However, health care practitioners will tell you that, every day, they see patients who have “improved” their bodies to unhealthy, and sometimes life-threatening, levels via natural methods. After all, what can be the harm in increasing levels of a substance, already existing in the human body, that is known to play a beneficial role in the health of the mind?

[quote=jpinpb] But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

The odds are very good that the chocolate could have played a part in your husband’s “happy” reaction to the cake, roles that may be based on both physical and emotional triggers. Unfortunately, I still don’t have the time to go into it, but will try to provide you with some interesting and instructive material on the subject. In the meantime, beware of what you find on the Internet, and take everything with a grain of salt (the low-sodium variety, if that’s a problem).

[quote=jpinpb] There must be something that happens from the time your taste buds get the flavor of certain foods that triggers something in the brain. Your explanation was detailed, yet I still think there’s more to it other than people just willfully and knowingly eating badly or lacking will-power.
[/quote]

Again, you are spot-on in your assumptions, but the research is very lengthy, and is incomplete. But it is fascinating, and there are many very good sources of information out there that detail some of the research that’s been going on in the last several years. The choices of what to eat, and the resulting effects, come from physical and emotional impulses, and can vary depending on cultural (thank you, Brian!), genetic, environmental, age, and other factors.

As mentioned, the research is far from complete, and the value of much of what is out there is in what research can be built upon it. But you have a natural curosity and, I suspect, the intellect to go with it, and I think you could really get into some of the available material.

[quote=jpinpb] Certain foods seem much more satisfying than others that are lacking nutrients. Probably more nutrients in an apple than chocolate cake.[/quote]

Depends what you mean by “satisfying” and it depends upon what you mean by “nutrients”. I firmly believe that there are times in a person’s life when a large piece of sinfully rich and delicious chocolate cake will provide them with much more important nutrition than the apple will. Those occasions are rare, but they do occur, and I think that it is important to recognize and respond to them as part of a well-rounded health regimen.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=jpinpb]LOL. eavesdropper – Thanks for that very lengthy explanation. If there isn’t a connection between food and chemical reaction in one’s body, then I am at a loss to explain his happiness. But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

Sorry for the length, jp, but that’s what I get for not checking in on Piggs on a regular basis. When you get into a thread involving discussion of brain chemistry that’s been going on a while, it’s tough to know where to start.

There absolutely is a mind-body connection. Scientists are learning more about it every day and, more important, their curiosity about it keeps growing and fuels some incredible research.

However, the basics of biological function at the cellular level provide the underlying structure for homeostasis, the maintenance of the body’s internal equilibrium. With the advances in biochemistry over the past 40 years, particularly in that of the brain, and the concomitant development and marketing of neurosychological medications, it can be difficult to remember that the human body is an amazing machine. The design boggles the minds of the world’s leading physicians and scientists from a multitude of disciplines, and it is capable of a number and variety of functions that make the most intricately programmed computer look like a 10-key adding machine. Every step of each and every function of the body is a result of a nerve impulse, and requires neurotransmitters like serotonin. So before we mess with the brain’s chemistry, we need to know what we’re doing. Fortunately, the human body, despite its very function-specific design, has the ability to maintain homeostasis not only at a specific point, but across a wide range of values, and very often, can compensate for losses, shortages, and surpluses. However, health care practitioners will tell you that, every day, they see patients who have “improved” their bodies to unhealthy, and sometimes life-threatening, levels via natural methods. After all, what can be the harm in increasing levels of a substance, already existing in the human body, that is known to play a beneficial role in the health of the mind?

[quote=jpinpb] But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

The odds are very good that the chocolate could have played a part in your husband’s “happy” reaction to the cake, roles that may be based on both physical and emotional triggers. Unfortunately, I still don’t have the time to go into it, but will try to provide you with some interesting and instructive material on the subject. In the meantime, beware of what you find on the Internet, and take everything with a grain of salt (the low-sodium variety, if that’s a problem).

[quote=jpinpb] There must be something that happens from the time your taste buds get the flavor of certain foods that triggers something in the brain. Your explanation was detailed, yet I still think there’s more to it other than people just willfully and knowingly eating badly or lacking will-power.
[/quote]

Again, you are spot-on in your assumptions, but the research is very lengthy, and is incomplete. But it is fascinating, and there are many very good sources of information out there that detail some of the research that’s been going on in the last several years. The choices of what to eat, and the resulting effects, come from physical and emotional impulses, and can vary depending on cultural (thank you, Brian!), genetic, environmental, age, and other factors.

As mentioned, the research is far from complete, and the value of much of what is out there is in what research can be built upon it. But you have a natural curosity and, I suspect, the intellect to go with it, and I think you could really get into some of the available material.

[quote=jpinpb] Certain foods seem much more satisfying than others that are lacking nutrients. Probably more nutrients in an apple than chocolate cake.[/quote]

Depends what you mean by “satisfying” and it depends upon what you mean by “nutrients”. I firmly believe that there are times in a person’s life when a large piece of sinfully rich and delicious chocolate cake will provide them with much more important nutrition than the apple will. Those occasions are rare, but they do occur, and I think that it is important to recognize and respond to them as part of a well-rounded health regimen.

[eavesdropper]

[quote=jpinpb]LOL. eavesdropper – Thanks for that very lengthy explanation. If there isn’t a connection between food and chemical reaction in one’s body, then I am at a loss to explain his happiness. But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

Sorry for the length, jp, but that’s what I get for not checking in on Piggs on a regular basis. When you get into a thread involving discussion of brain chemistry that’s been going on a while, it’s tough to know where to start.

There absolutely is a mind-body connection. Scientists are learning more about it every day and, more important, their curiosity about it keeps growing and fuels some incredible research.

However, the basics of biological function at the cellular level provide the underlying structure for homeostasis, the maintenance of the body’s internal equilibrium. With the advances in biochemistry over the past 40 years, particularly in that of the brain, and the concomitant development and marketing of neurosychological medications, it can be difficult to remember that the human body is an amazing machine. The design boggles the minds of the world’s leading physicians and scientists from a multitude of disciplines, and it is capable of a number and variety of functions that make the most intricately programmed computer look like a 10-key adding machine. Every step of each and every function of the body is a result of a nerve impulse, and requires neurotransmitters like serotonin. So before we mess with the brain’s chemistry, we need to know what we’re doing. Fortunately, the human body, despite its very function-specific design, has the ability to maintain homeostasis not only at a specific point, but across a wide range of values, and very often, can compensate for losses, shortages, and surpluses. However, health care practitioners will tell you that, every day, they see patients who have “improved” their bodies to unhealthy, and sometimes life-threatening, levels via natural methods. After all, what can be the harm in increasing levels of a substance, already existing in the human body, that is known to play a beneficial role in the health of the mind?

[quote=jpinpb] But as I was reading your first post, I was thinking maybe the chocolate had something to do w/it. Then you posted the second post about chocolate. [/quote]

The odds are very good that the chocolate could have played a part in your husband’s “happy” reaction to the cake, roles that may be based on both physical and emotional triggers. Unfortunately, I still don’t have the time to go into it, but will try to provide you with some interesting and instructive material on the subject. In the meantime, beware of what you find on the Internet, and take everything with a grain of salt (the low-sodium variety, if that’s a problem).

[quote=jpinpb] There must be something that happens from the time your taste buds get the flavor of certain foods that triggers something in the brain. Your explanation was detailed, yet I still think there’s more to it other than people just willfully and knowingly eating badly or lacking will-power.
[/quote]

Again, you are spot-on in your assumptions, but the research is very lengthy, and is incomplete. But it is fascinating, and there are many very good sources of information out there that detail some of the research that’s been going on in the last several years. The choices of what to eat, and the resulting effects, come from physical and emotional impulses, and can vary depending on cultural (thank you, Brian!), genetic, environmental, age, and other factors.

As mentioned, the research is far from complete, and the value of much of what is out there is in what research can be built upon it. But you have a natural curosity and, I suspect, the intellect to go with it, and I think you could really get into some of the available material.

[quote=jpinpb] Certain foods seem much more satisfying than others that are lacking nutrients. Probably more nutrients in an apple than chocolate cake.[/quote]

Depends what you mean by “satisfying” and it depends upon what you mean by “nutrients”. I firmly believe that there are times in a person’s life when a large piece of sinfully rich and delicious chocolate cake will provide them with much more important nutrition than the apple will. Those occasions are rare, but they do occur, and I think that it is important to recognize and respond to them as part of a well-rounded health regimen.

[briansd1]

[quote=eavesdropper]

As for chocolate cake consumption, it’s a much faster reaction than would occur with neurotransmitters alone. You’re dealing with simple carbs that have sugar molecules that break apart almost instantly and infuse the bloodstream. Simultaneously, the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use. In some people (definitely not all), this process will cause a “rush” or burst of energy. However, it is soon followed by a “crash”: loss of blood glucose can cause extreme fatigue and loss of energy. Many people feel the need to eat or drink something sweet to give them a “boost”, and the process just keeps repeating itself.
[/quote]

Eavesdropper, I shared your explanation with a friend who can’t lose weight.

I’ve told him countless time to AVOID SUGAR RUSHES and high glycemic index food.

He claims he needs the energy to do his work.

I’ve told him to avoid sugar/food rushes. As you said “the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use”.

So even as people diet and work out, their periodic sugar rushes cause energy to be stored away, thus defeating their efforts.

[briansd1]

[quote=eavesdropper]

As for chocolate cake consumption, it’s a much faster reaction than would occur with neurotransmitters alone. You’re dealing with simple carbs that have sugar molecules that break apart almost instantly and infuse the bloodstream. Simultaneously, the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use. In some people (definitely not all), this process will cause a “rush” or burst of energy. However, it is soon followed by a “crash”: loss of blood glucose can cause extreme fatigue and loss of energy. Many people feel the need to eat or drink something sweet to give them a “boost”, and the process just keeps repeating itself.
[/quote]

Eavesdropper, I shared your explanation with a friend who can’t lose weight.

I’ve told him countless time to AVOID SUGAR RUSHES and high glycemic index food.

He claims he needs the energy to do his work.

I’ve told him to avoid sugar/food rushes. As you said “the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use”.

So even as people diet and work out, their periodic sugar rushes cause energy to be stored away, thus defeating their efforts.

[briansd1]

[quote=eavesdropper]

As for chocolate cake consumption, it’s a much faster reaction than would occur with neurotransmitters alone. You’re dealing with simple carbs that have sugar molecules that break apart almost instantly and infuse the bloodstream. Simultaneously, the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use. In some people (definitely not all), this process will cause a “rush” or burst of energy. However, it is soon followed by a “crash”: loss of blood glucose can cause extreme fatigue and loss of energy. Many people feel the need to eat or drink something sweet to give them a “boost”, and the process just keeps repeating itself.
[/quote]

Eavesdropper, I shared your explanation with a friend who can’t lose weight.

I’ve told him countless time to AVOID SUGAR RUSHES and high glycemic index food.

He claims he needs the energy to do his work.

I’ve told him to avoid sugar/food rushes. As you said “the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use”.

So even as people diet and work out, their periodic sugar rushes cause energy to be stored away, thus defeating their efforts.

[briansd1]

[quote=eavesdropper]

As for chocolate cake consumption, it’s a much faster reaction than would occur with neurotransmitters alone. You’re dealing with simple carbs that have sugar molecules that break apart almost instantly and infuse the bloodstream. Simultaneously, the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use. In some people (definitely not all), this process will cause a “rush” or burst of energy. However, it is soon followed by a “crash”: loss of blood glucose can cause extreme fatigue and loss of energy. Many people feel the need to eat or drink something sweet to give them a “boost”, and the process just keeps repeating itself.
[/quote]

Eavesdropper, I shared your explanation with a friend who can’t lose weight.

I’ve told him countless time to AVOID SUGAR RUSHES and high glycemic index food.

He claims he needs the energy to do his work.

I’ve told him to avoid sugar/food rushes. As you said “the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use”.

So even as people diet and work out, their periodic sugar rushes cause energy to be stored away, thus defeating their efforts.

[briansd1]

[quote=eavesdropper]

As for chocolate cake consumption, it’s a much faster reaction than would occur with neurotransmitters alone. You’re dealing with simple carbs that have sugar molecules that break apart almost instantly and infuse the bloodstream. Simultaneously, the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use. In some people (definitely not all), this process will cause a “rush” or burst of energy. However, it is soon followed by a “crash”: loss of blood glucose can cause extreme fatigue and loss of energy. Many people feel the need to eat or drink something sweet to give them a “boost”, and the process just keeps repeating itself.
[/quote]

Eavesdropper, I shared your explanation with a friend who can’t lose weight.

I’ve told him countless time to AVOID SUGAR RUSHES and high glycemic index food.

He claims he needs the energy to do his work.

I’ve told him to avoid sugar/food rushes. As you said “the pancreas releases insulin which triggers the body’s cells to pull the glucose out of your blood and store it for future use”.

So even as people diet and work out, their periodic sugar rushes cause energy to be stored away, thus defeating their efforts.

[Coronita]

Well if you want to lose weight, don’t buy vitaminwater…. Lol…Who would have guessed, right? (sarcasm)…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html

[Coronita]

Well if you want to lose weight, don’t buy vitaminwater…. Lol…Who would have guessed, right? (sarcasm)…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html

[Coronita]

Well if you want to lose weight, don’t buy vitaminwater…. Lol…Who would have guessed, right? (sarcasm)…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html

[Coronita]

Well if you want to lose weight, don’t buy vitaminwater…. Lol…Who would have guessed, right? (sarcasm)…

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-robbins/the-dark-side-of-vitaminw_b_669716.html

[Author]

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