Lose the Fad Diet Mentality
Almost half of Americans are on a diet, yet two-thirds are overweight and one-fourth have crossed the line into obesity.
A person is obese when his or her weight is 20 percent or more above normal and is considereed morbidly obese when he or she is 50 percent or more above normal.
A large government survey, which actually weighed and measured people, found that about 5 percent of american adults are morbidly obese. Dieting doesn't work. About 85 percent of people who go on diets fail. Although they may lose weight - even considerable weight, they rarely keep it off.
Maintaining a healthy weight isn't about following fads. You have to focus on what you eat. Changing your lifestyle and your relationship to food is essential.
Your Drug of Choice
A study in the journal Nature Neuroscience argues taht high-fat, high calorie foods - like bacon, cheesecake and ice cream - affect the brain similarly to cocaine and heroin. Compulsive eating habits resemble drug addiction.
But is food addiction real?
Science has begun to accept that sugar, fat and salt have drug-like qualities in how they activate the reward and pleasure centers of the brain. Like drug addicts, food addicts can develop a tolerance to food. No matter how much they eat, they're never truly satisfied. The craving is endless. Interestingly, infants are born with the ability to taste sweets, but salt the taste of salt is acquired.
When a food addict stops eating trigger foods (whether its sugar or caffeine), he or she actually experiences withdrawal symptoms - include anxiety, agitation and physical reactions.
Do you: