“People who are emotionally attached to cooked foods aren’t actually addicted to them since it is physiologically impossible to be addicted to something that is harmful to us. The body simply is not put together that way. It is designed to thrive and cannot become addicted to a harmful substance.

The human psyche, however, can become very much addicted to the shift in perception that occurs after we ingest certain substances. A yearning for that shift in perception is the ever-present illusion that lures us to eat cooked foods.”

What about the adrenaline rush that happens when we eat something that doesn't agree with our body? Excerpt from The False Fat Diet:

"ADRENALINE RUSH
One of the most disruptive of these other chemical reactions is the release of adrenal hormones. You may remember that when your body is under allergic assault, it counters the effects of this assault with adrenal hormones, such as adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol. When these stimulating hormones hit your bloodstream, you feel good. They boost your energy level and mood. They directly stimulate your glands and organs and help convert stored blood sugar into energy.

As these adrenal hormones course through your system, your heart beats faster. In fact, one of the tests for food reactions is to take your pulse after you eat. If it's elevated, it means that you probably ate a reactive food. Unfortunately, though, your adrenal rush fades as fast as your endorphin high. When it's gone, you drop into a slump of fatigue, irritability, and mental lethargy. This makes you want to eat more of your false fat foods, but when you do eat more, you tend to have an even stronger reaction to them, because you no longer have enough adrenal hormones to protect you from your food reactions."

Now read a description of how smoking is addictive, it is almost the same as the adrenaline rush from some foods: (This is from The Health Secrets of a Naturopathic Doctor by M.O. Garten)

"One of the greatest misapprehensions about smoking is that it is a stimulant - in fact it is a severe depressant.

The apparent lift the smoker feels is in reality a letdown with the constant demand on body reserves needed to counteract the intake of poisons. The adrenal glands play an important part in this drama of maintaining the forces of life. This gland pours adrenalin into the blood stream in order for the liver to respond and release the stored-up sugar into the blood. . . It is true that nicotine for a short time does increase the blood sugar level. But, so does stychnine for that matter."

Doug Graham really needs to have a fact checker on his team, but lacking that, he should anonymously post his thoughts on message boards and read the responses to get free fact checking BEFORE he blows his credibility.

Nevetheless, I think the point in the quote is
about emotional attachments; and how it's not
the food people are addicted to, but rather, a
particular state of mind. But food gets the blame.

Suggested Reading: The Fantasy Bond by Roy Firestone.

Steve
[www.meetup.com]
[www.rawgosia.com]

I resonate with it, and reminds me that certain foods aren't physiologically addictive but can be emotionally addictive.

People associate certain meals or sweets with emotional experiences, ie given candy as a child when hurt, therefore we associate foods or special meals we had as a child with pleasant happy emotional experiences, we crave the experience therefore the food reminds us of the pleasant experience we want to repeat, but it is not the food that is physiologically addictive but the emotional experience we want to create

lilianswan:

<<Doug Graham really needs to have a fact checker on his team, but lacking that, he should anonymously post his thoughts on message boards and read the responses to get free fact checking BEFORE he blows his credibility.>>

what graham said and what you have quoted in the articles are not mutually exclusive
they go hand in hand

a "shift in perception" does take place due to chemicals that are exogenous, endogenous or exogenous chemicals stimulating endogenous metabolic reactions that lead to chemicals released from within

i don't see how he can blow his credibility
the only people who blow their credibility are those who feel that other people exclusively hold the answers

everyone is ultimately accountable to themselves

So we can become addicted to the shift in perception, I'll agree with that, sometimes it's nice to deaden emotions. How does one do that without food? Did he go on about that Suvine?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2008 08:53PM by Lillianswan.

The key is not to deaden emotions but to know thyself, and achieve a state of harmony within thyself. Certain foods can be mentally balancing. Certain foods can be numbing. Trying to recreate a harmful effect will have negative consequences. If you are in balance, you will not wish to deaden emotions. Look at the cause of the emotions, sit with them, see what they have to tell you, learn form them.

You can also realize them as products of the mind/body/ego complex and that you are not them.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/26/2008 09:21PM by SatCitAnanda.

How do we do that? We block out our own internal REALITY!!!
We don't fully experience what's really going on, internally,
on an emotional basis. We alienate ourselves from our
own experience, and then we rationalize all that happens
to us without taking responsibility for the thoughts and
choices we make. That, in a nutshell, is essentially what
people do any time we act/think/feel something in healthy
ways; rather than merely being authentic. It's that self-
authenticity we're afraid of; so we cover up it up with
all sorts of immature, perverse, depraved, etc. thoughts/
feelings/actions. (That's the highly-condensed, abridged
version anyway.)

Suggested reading: The Disowned Self by Nathaniel Branden

Steve
[www.meetup.com]
[www.rawgosia.com]

LILIAN, I DO NOT KNOW, IT IS FROM A BOOK


yOU GUYS ARE SO SMART!!!

lillianswan:


<<So we can become addicted to the shift in perception, I'll agree with that, sometimes it's nice to deaden emotions. How does one do that without food?>>

there are plenty of ways to have a shift in perception just as there are plenty of ways to deaden emotions

some ways are good
some ways are better
some ways are even better yet

sometimes deadening emotions are not a bad thing and is kind of necessary like when someone passes away who you love a great deal and you miss a lot

one kind of needs to just NOT feel for a while
and then when one is ready just feel a little by little to sort things out

i don't see anything wrong with that

sometimes it is really hard to handle things all at once

there was one time when something happened to a friend
and i couldn't stop crying

and i saw how dangerous it was for me to continue crying and crying
so i had to kind of say " that is enough crying for now, i'll handle the rest of it later"

otherwise i would have gone insane if i felt everything ALL at once

but food just wouldn't have cut it

cuz ... well, it just wouldn't have

but talking to the friend about my feelings
and talking to other friends
and just doing other things to get stuff healed helped me

i don't know
people are complicated

so is the human emotions

and spirit

its really profound
and sometimes

well, most times

quite beautiful

like usually you don't cry over other people unless they really mean something to you

something like that

okay, i'm just rambling

anyways my main point is that everyone has a good point here

that's all

paragon1685 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Suggested reading: The Disowned Self by Nathaniel
> Branden
This may be IT. I don't think Branden mentions
Diet, but whatever Diet we follow affects our Mental
Condition, and therefore our Self-Esteem. It goes much
deeper than just that. To achieve the highest Spirituality,
every item in our diet has to resonate with the "AMEN"......WY

This quote is totally wrong. Sorry. I know from first hand experience. One can become very addicted to things they are allergic to. One can become addicted to sweets when they have a fungal and yeast imbalance. One can become addicted to starches since they temporarily raise serotonin levels - Often times people who are depressed seed treatment in food rather than medication. It would be nice if it was as simple as Graham points out. But there undeniably is a very physiological component of addiction.

Oh - I also don't buy it that all cooked foods are bad and harmful. I think that thinking is extreme and inaccurate.

dancerinthenight Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Oh - I also don't buy it that all cooked foods are
> bad and harmful. I think that thinking is extreme
> and inaccurate.
This reiterates my Point. We, and we alone,
decide what's right. Be Honest now.....WY

One more clarification. I am not denouncing this way of eating at all. Otherwise I would not be here. It resonates with me. But there are many healthy, evolved, wise people who live very full and beautiful lives with cooked food. They believe in what they are doing. Just as the persons here believe in what they are doing. Belief and faith is a big part of the game.

i wonder if he is including drugs and alcohol

<<it is physiologically impossible to be addicted to something that is harmful to us.>>

paragon1685 Wrote:

> Suggested Reading: The Fantasy Bond by Roy
> Firestone.

paragon1685 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Suggested reading: The Disowned Self by Nathaniel
> Branden

Thanks for the reading suggestions! I tried to look these books up in Google books and they had no preview, but I'll keep them in mind. While I was in Google books I came across "Anatomy of a Food Addiction" The Brain Chemistry of Overeating - An Effective Program to Overcome Compulsive Overeating"

So that's what I'm reading now. It goes into the nervous system and explains how addictive substances can actually permanently (?) change the nervous system so we become dependant on them. It's really great about going into how to approach your family and explain to them that you are changing your diet and that common foods are a poison to you and then how to deal with having items with sugar in the house (you lock them up). It also goes into how to deal with your freinds and other people.

It would be a great candidate for a raw food course even though it's not raw.
[books.google.com]

Even though substances like alcohol and drugs and caffeine are physiologically addictive because they affect brain chemicals like serotonin dopamine and many others, those brain chemicals are also linked to regulating emotions, ie schizophrenia is sometimes linked with excess dopamine.

So I still think even if something is proved to be physiologically addictive it is relateed to dumbing down emotions ie people do drugs and alcohol to dumb out painful emotions. Cacao is often linked as substitute for love. Stuffing with food is probably also another way of stuffing down the emotions

it possible to get addicted to foods, but I feel sure it has an emotional element



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2008 07:35AM by Ariel55.

Oh yeah and wheat is addictive but it has chemicals in it similar to opioids so it can have an effect on the emotions. Dr Abram Hoffer an orthomolecular nutitionist who studied schizophrenia found many people got completely better and drug free when they cut out wheat.

Also it was discovered withmany cases of autism at a study centre in scotland that studies the effects ofmilk and wheat with people with autism. Almost every person with autism, had a problem digesting these substances and they were in the blood stream, cutting them out usually lead to an improvement in moods. Wheat being worse than dairy in the autistic group.

If you get a change in emotion, I think you would get a change in perception, so I kind of see what he is saying.

cooked foods being addictive or not being addictive is too wide a statement though,not all cooked foods are addictive, only some. Some raw ones are too like cacao and alcohol if it is wine



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2008 08:06AM by Ariel55.

Doug Graham has a very bad case of Tunnel Vision. He sees the whole world through his eyes and has no peripheral vision.
If we were animals in the wild where the whole species is exactly alike - and the weak and sick die, then he would be correct, but the human race is such a diverse race that to make sweeping generalisations about everything is ridiculous.

For the books, try Amazon.com:

The Fantasy Bond: Structure of Psychological Defenses
[www.amazon.com]

The Disowned Self (sells for $.01 + shipping)
[www.amazon.com]

Steve
[www.meetup.com]
[www.rawgosia.com]

peter b. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Doug Graham has a very bad case of Tunnel Vision.
> He sees the whole world through his eyes and has
> no peripheral vision.
Doug Graham has a loyal following, so he can't
be all wrong. I think he promotes his 80/10/10 Diet to be
the best diet for an Athlete. The tranquil Meditator might
not want that much stimulation.
> If we were animals in the wild where the whole
> species is exactly alike - and the weak and sick
> die, then he would be correct, but the human race
> is such a diverse race that to make sweeping
> generalisations about everything is ridiculous.
Actually, all Humans are Physically similar
and could eat the same Diet. We're Mentally dissimilar,
so that 'Perfect Diet' we all eat varies with each
individual.
Let's give all these Health Gurus their proper Due. It's
a Tough Business......WY

dancer--
Very good point. My mate is a good example of what you're talking about: he eats mostly cooked food, and he's one of the healthiest, most vital 65 year olds I have ever met. Apart from having a hereditary condition he was born with, retinitis pigmentosa, he's the picture of health, and when he goes for check-ups his doctor always says 'Jonathan, whatever you're doing, keep it up, because it's working.' He has enormous discipline and control over his eating, eats the same meals day-in and day-out (he won't eat processed food and he avoids heavy carbs)and I really don't think he's ever eaten more than about 1800 calories a day.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

i believe addiction is a coupling of psychological and physical
dependence. the latter being a state in which the body relies on
the substance for functioning...

as in the phenomenon of crack babies.

That's a lot more eloquent than calling something "yukky" [sic]

suvine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> “People who are emotionally attached to cooked
> foods aren’t actually addicted to them since it is
> physiologically impossible to be addicted to
> something that is harmful to us. The body simply
> is not put together that way. It is designed to
> thrive and cannot become addicted to a harmful
> substance.
>
> The human psyche, however, can become very much
> addicted to the shift in perception that occurs
> after we ingest certain substances. A yearning for
> that shift in perception is the ever-present
> illusion that lures us to eat cooked foods.”


I somewhat understand what he's implying with the quote, but I don't agree that you cannot become physiologically addicted to something. What about drugs? And using food as a drug? Which is at the crux of the obesity problem in the U.S. and most of the western world for example. Sugar as we all know is a chemical drug that you can become physiologically addicted to above and beyond anything emotional. True you have to get to the core of emotions in healing addiction, but there's definately a physiological component. I don't get where he's coming from completely and I suppose I don't have to. Just my opinion. :-)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2008 07:20PM by rawangel.

Lately I have been eating The Amazingly good RawFOOD prepared at my own home. I used to be a chef and have now weened my way into uncooking my food. However I notice when i eat raw food my energy skyrockets and I get these chills all over my body! is this normal? I mean my hairs stick up i feel alive and ready for action. I love this feeling and for a little bit my hands do get a bit cold but im never cold. Just a feeling that i should be cold kinda thingy? NOT COLD but hands are cold to touch! better said. IF anyone else expeierences this feeling could it possibly be adrenaline. I have been showering in the cold and been getting a wonderful adrenaline rush from that, is it possible that the same rush im getting from eating foods is linked to my previous rush of being cold? Interesting how the body works i fking love itt

JCD Wish I were you