06/18/2021
Dr. Hyman does a great job as an explainer!
We’re up against powerful biochemical mechanisms created by food addiction. Willpower becomes useless when industrial junk food and sugar are in charge of your brain chemistry.
Fake foods we’ve been introduced to in the 20th century – many of which contain high-fructose corn syrup and other added sugars – have hijacked our brains, our hormones, and our metabolism. These Frankenfoods have literally created a vicious cycle of hunger and cravings.
There is no such thing as junk food. There’s just junk, and there’s food.
I have a simple yet radical proposal: Let’s send the trillion-dollar junk food industry a message and eat real food. That means foods nature created, which don’t come with barcodes, fake ingredients, or an ingredient list at all.
To do that, we need to rewire our brains. A researcher at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) told me the real regulator of our weight and metabolism isn’t our stomach, but our brain chemistry. The right foods send a message to your brain to shut down hunger and cravings so you burn fat and feel great. Sugary, processed foods send the opposite message.
We can start to do this by eating whole, real foods. Make sure that every meal consists of 75% plant foods, healthy fats, and sustainable protein. And try to avoid anything high in sugar, high in starches, and processed foods.
