Hey there!
Mike Geary here from TruthAboutAbs.com with another Lean-Body Secrets Ezine.
My good friend Virgil Aponte (the
Stairs Exercises Guru) sent me this article that he wrote and I wanted
to pass it on to you because I thought he made some excellent points,
and some important things to keep in mind regarding your food choices.
One of the things I want to stress that Virgil mentions is the relationship with feeding your body nutritious foods versus the junk food devoid
of nutrition and how this affects your cravings. I've said this before,
and many people don't believe me, but the truth is that since I've
adopted the balanced high density nutrition diet that I've eaten for the
last several years, any cravings for junk food or sweets have virtually
disappeared.
Here's Virgil's article below. Enjoy!
Is sugar as addictive as cocaine?
by Virgil Aponte, the Stairs Exercises Guru
Over dinner one day a friend of one my clients asked me a very interesting question:
Why is it that people crave things
like doughnuts and sweets and not life giving, cancer fighting foods
like spinach and broccoli?
I simply said that's an awesome
question and that I've asked myself that questions many times. In fact I
also went on to say that although I'm a trainer I have many of the same
struggles with food that most people have.
It has always perplexed me
why I crave sweets and not a bowl of spinach and broccoli. I mean how
can this be that foods like broccoli, spinach, carrots etc? which
provide nutrients that are vital to our well being don't addict us like
junk food does. I just have to walk by Crispy Creme doughnuts and I
start fantasizing how delicious those little suckers will be.
In recent months I've come across
some insights as to why many are addicted to or crave junk foods.
Hopefully this information will at least motivate you to keep these
foods out of your house. Outside of your house you will be tempted with
many opportunities to eat these lifeless and addicting foods.
World famous health & nutrition
expert, Paul Chek calls this the "you can't eat just one syndrome".
First he explains in his "You Are What You Eat" audio series that junk
foods or non-foods are foods that:
1. Offer very little or no nutrition at all.
2. Force the body to the use its own nutritional stores to assimilate and digest the food.
It's amazing that you are eating to
nourish yourself with food but with non-foods you are actually
depleting yourself of more nutrients thus creating a need for more
nutrition.
These same non-foods also cause you to overeat and possibly become addicted to these foods.
The reason is as the foods enter
your mouth your brain can sense if there is actually any nutrition
(vitamins, minerals, enzymes, etc.) present in these foods. If there
isn't then the brain simply signals you to keep eating until it finds
nutrition.
The problem with doughnuts, cookies and that soda pop is that
there will never be any nutrition in that food.
So what happens is you simply eat
the whole box of cookies, or slurp down 20 oz of that soda. This then
creates a big problem with your blood sugar because you've just taken in
a great amount of worthless sugar which skyrockets your blood sugar
level and forces your pancreas to secret an enormous amount of insulin
to bring your blood sugar back down.
Your blood sugar then plummets to
very low levels and you feel horrible and guess what? Hungry again! And
what better way to bring your blood sugar level back up than with good
old worthless sugar laden nutrient-devoid junk food!
Can you see what I'm getting at here:
These non-foods actually cause an
addictive cycle similar to hard drugs and alcohol! In fact Paul Chek
even talked about how scientists found that the addictive mechanisms of
sugar and hard drugs are actually very similar.
You get high and feel great and
then you crash and feel worse than ever and crave the same substances
that got you high in the first place. This to me is amazing and very
scary.
Eventually what also happens as with hard drugs and alcohol is
that you need more to get the same high.
Now look at what's happening to
you... You're eating a food that gets you high, robs you of valuable
nutrition, makes you sick, gets you fat and on top of that makes you
crave more of it.
The same reason you crave non-foods
is the same reason you don't crave spinach and broccoli. One could
easily slug down 20 oz of soda, but try doing that with spinach juice
and you are likely to throw up. The reason for this is because with the
brain will sense the enormous amount of nutrition coming in with the
veggie juice and say it's enough. We naturally eat until we are satiated
and it doesn't happen with non-foods but happens easily with real
foods.
With real foods you eat, feel good,
don't get bloated, don't get high, don't crash, don't overeat, and just
plain nourish yourself.
So how do you protect yourself?
First let me say that we start off
at a very big disadvantage.
The very clever and powerful food companies
find many places to put their non-foods in products and the labels will
even say that these foods are healthy, low fat, "good for weight loss"
etc? They are also very good at marketing to children. Remember,
children will become the adults that eat these foods so what better time
to reach them than when they're young.
I myself grew up on powdered ice
tea, soda, crackers, pasteurized milk (which is also a non-food), and
many other sweets. I also ate some real food like rice, vegetables,
avocados and meat, but I've always had way too much access to non-foods.
The first thing is to not keep any
non-foods at home. This is especially important for your kids because I
believe it is easier for them to become addicted.
Trust me and we all
know this, but once you step outside, you will be bombarded with
temptations to feast on non-foods.
I've looked at many of my client's
kitchens and not one of them has passed my inspection.
Many don't even
pass a second time (that's how powerful these non-foods are). I mean if
scientists can compare sugar to hard drugs shouldn't that open our eyes.
Make use of a juicer and juice a
few days a week. Most people don't get enough vegetables in their diet and
juicing is one of the easier ways to do so. My favorite juice drink is
spinach, kale, cucumber, and green apples (I wished I craved it though).
Keep healthy snacks in the house
like quality fruits, cheese and yogurt. It is more expensive but isn't
your health worth it. I mean it really saddens me when someone can drive up to McDonalds in a 50,000 dollar car. They could easily have a
20,000 dollar car and just eat better quality food.
Get tested to find out what types
of foods you are suited to... We are all unique in that we require
different amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats and getting tested
can help us figure out which type we are suited to.
Eat real food... Take the time to
make yourself quality meals at dinner time. Beef, chicken, turkey and
eggs make great protein sources. Brown rice, sweet potatoes, beans,
salads and vegetables are good sources of carbohydrates.
Don't forget to
include high quality fats and oils in your diet as well like butter,
coconut oil, nuts, avocados, cod liver oil, and extra virgin olive oil. If possible try to buy organic meat and vegetables.
They are more expensive but offer more nutrition then commercial foods.
I hope you enjoyed Virgils
article. I couldn't have said it all better myself and that's why I
wanted to pass it on to you to keep these things in mind when choosing
what foods you eat daily.
If you enjoyed this article today,
please feel free to email this link on to any friends or family that you
think will benefit from it.
Stay lean, Mike Geary
Certified Nutrition Specialist
Certified Personal Trainer
TruthAboutAbs.com
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