Is it the FAT that is so addicting?

[glo]

For years I thought I was a "food addict." Just could not stop eating. Mostly junk. I could not figure out why I couldn't get full. I joined a group to help with "food addiction." Almost 5 years, and still turning back and back to food. Two and a half weeks ago, I watched and listened intently to Dr. McDougall on youtube, and I thought what do I have to lose. And I thought maybe it will help with my out-of-control Type 2 Diabetes.
After day 3 of eating according to Dr. McDougall's suggestions, I am feeling so much better... physically and emotionally... and hoping my blood sugar will come down.
So was it a "fat" addiction? Was it the high fat content of the junk food that kept calling my name? Can "fat" be an addiction?
I hope this is not simply a "honeymoon" phase. - glo

[f1jim]

I think we are all attracted to the caloric density of fat. Our bodies have adapted to periods of famine that almost never happen anymore. At least not to most of us.
f1jim

[Chikiwing]

For years I thought I was a "food addict."

So was it a "fat" addiction? Was it the high fat content of the junk food that kept calling my name? Can "fat" be an addiction?
I hope this is not simply a "honeymoon" phase. - glo

Yes. People love the fat, salt and sweet. Everyone. It's built into us through evolution.

Who gets addicted and complains of eating too much to cauliflower? No one.

[viv]

I think it's not so much that the fat is so addicting, it's the lack of starch in the diet. Once you start eating all you want of potatoes, rice, corn and beans with no oil, all cravings leave. They run out the door. It did for me and many others. Thank goodness you found us, now you can save your own life.

Viv

[vgpedlr]

Check out Dr. Goldhamer's and Dr. Lisle's work on The Pleasure Trap. Book, lectures, some free. It will get you sorted in a hurry.

[Risto]

A couple of Doug Lisle's presentations about the pleasure trap on Youtube (there are many more):

Doug Lisle at TEDxFremont (17 min)

How to lose weight without losing your mind (74 min)

I found the webinar with Dr. Lisle and Gustavo Tolosa from two weeks ago great clarification to a number of questions, actually, even though I've heard these things many times before.

Dr. Doug Lisle: Questions & Answers, Webinar 17 November 2016 (53 min)

[smudgemom]

Definitely fat is addicting. Salt. Oil. Sugar. It creates a depth & also a nice mouth feel. I read on the FB forum where someone (long-term McDougaller) said it can take several weeks to get over that feeling.

[glo]

I'll get it straight eventually. And I should have known that "fats" are addicting. DUH!
Thank you all for your patience and for your support! Oh and for your suggestions and links. - glo

[patty]

I hope this is not simply a "honeymoon" phase. - glo

No, If you work a program of application for addiction, the dominos stop with fat/oil. Food and money are the last interchangeable seat on the addiction bus. And nobody gets thrown off the bus. Food and money are the microcosm of macrocosm of the world today. I feel Dr. McDougall is like Dr. Bob and Bill W. of AA. Alcohol and drugs you can put them on a shelf, but food/money has to be walked through out the day. It is time to eradicate the insanity/heart disease of the world with what you put into your mouth. Think of the butterfly effect, where the wave of the wings effect the other side of the earth. As Dr. McDougall shares plants survive all seasons starch based. Summer doesn't' oppose winter. it is to look beyond the seasons which satiety from starch allows.

This is from Dr. McDougall's "Starch Solution":

THE QUEST FOR ANSWERS AND A SINGLE SOLUTION

Governments, businesses, local groups, and individuals are seeking answers to our environmental problems through reducing the use of fossil fuels— coal, oil, and natural gas— and by trying to get industrial waste under control. At the same time, we are waging a war on chronic diseases with strategies to reduce smoking, the use of alcohol and drugs, toxic environmental chemicals, and infectious diseases. But where is the effort to fix the food?

It would not take much for us to solve these individual and global problems in one fell swoop. All it takes is one big U-turn back to where we came from. Back to our roots. Back to what we once knew was healthy and natural: a diet based on starches and other plants, including fruits and vegetables. At the root of both human and environmental health is what we eat. Food is plentiful. We just need to choose the Starch Solution.

As you seek to achieve your personal goals of dropping a few (or even a hundred or more) pounds, bringing your blood pressure and blood sugar under control, weaning yourself from medications for high blood pressure or diabetes, battling cancer or staving off a recurrence of it, relieving your joints that ache from arthritis, easing your depression, increasing your energy, or simply slipping gracefully into your swimsuit this summer, consider your immense contribution to the world around you. As you switch to a starch-based diet, think about the positive impact of what you are doing will have on your children and grandchildren, and on generations yet to come. If you get stuck along your path and find yourself heading back to old eating habits, reflect on how far you have come and what a difference you have already made. You are now helping billions of people beyond yourself. You are helping all of planet Earth.

Vote for a Better
World at Your
Dinner Table

Protest world hunger: Stop eating meat.
Protest environmental pollution: Stop eating dairy.
Protest destruction of the oceans: Stop eating Fish

Aloha, patty

[patty]

Listening to Dr. Greger's "How Not to Die", what he was sharing reminded me of HALT, don't get too Hungary Angry Lonely and Tired. Note there is a difference between being alone and lonely. There is a feedback loop from the food industry to the medical and each of us is the most important component. This with where the internal buck stops. 95% of our day is habit, 95% of hospital visits are lifestyle.

Preparing Yourself for Healthier Habits

First, you need to know your own psychology. There are certain personality types that do better when they go all in. If you tend to have an “addictive” personality, or if you are the kind of person who takes things to extremes— for instance, you either don’t drink at all or you drink in excess— it’s probably best for you to try to stick with the program. But some individuals can get away with “social smoking,” for example; they can light up a few times a year and escape nicotine dependence. 45 The reason we as physicians advocate for smokers to quit completely is not because we think that one cigarette every once in a while is going to do irreversible damage but because we’re afraid that one cigarette may lead to two, and, before long, the unhealthy habit has taken hold. Similarly, one (well-cooked) hamburger is not going to kill anyone. It’s what you eat day to day that adds up. You have to take stock of your disposition to know if you can overcome the risk of sliding down the slippery slope.

There’s a concept in psychology called “decision fatigue” that marketers use to exploit consumers. It appears humans have a limited capacity to make many decisions in one short stretch of time, and the quality of our decisions will deteriorate to the extent that we eventually begin making downright irrational choices. Ever wonder why supermarkets stack the junk food at the checkout counter? After wading through the forty thousand items in the average supermarket, 46 we end up with less willpower to resist impulse purchases. 47 So making rules for yourself and sticking to them may help you make more sensible choices over the long run. For instance, making a strict decision to never cook with oil, to avoid meat entirely, or to eat only whole grains may paradoxically make for sturdier life changes. By not having junk food in the house, you remove the temptation by removing the choice. I know if I get hungry enough I’ll eat an apple.

There may also be a physiological argument for not wildly deviating from a well-planned diet. After a vacation cruise during which you indulged in all manner of rich foods, your palate may get dulled to the point where the natural foods you enjoyed just the week before no longer deliver the same taste satisfaction. For some, this may simply require a period of readjustment. But for others, this departure from an otherwise healthy diet may lead back to a dietary glut involving added salt, sugar, and fat.

Greger, Michael, MD; Stone, Gene (2015-12-08). How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (p. 266). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition.

Aloha, patty

[Chumly]

It's been my experience that it isn't just fat, but the combination of fat, salt and sugar that drives the cravings and the desire to overeat. If you haven't logged your food in a program to see where your calories are coming from, I think its a good idea to try it. It was an eye opening experience for me. The foods that I crave the most have a combination of fat, refined (usually) carbohydrates, and sugar and or salt. It is this combination that is in most of the problematic foods. I can't overeat potatoes on their own or eaten with a little ketchup, but I can easily eat over 1000 calories of French fries.

Michael

[Atheria]

Personally for me... it's fat. I don't crave salt or sugar. I have been known to eat margarine and coconut oil straight.

[colonyofcells]

We are all addicted to food since food is essential to our survival. Our ancestors definitely liked high fat foods bec of seasonal food scarcity so it was a good idea to have food reserves stored in the body. Nowadays, we have a constant supply of food every day so it is no longer a good idea to eat high fat foods. Can probably eat high fat foods if practicing some kind of deliberate undereating regularly to offset the overeating on fatty foods days. Fat will accumulate every year if overeating on fatty foods and never undereating.

[patty]

Personally for me... it's fat. I don't crave salt or sugar. I have been known to eat margarine and coconut oil straight.

From "How Not to Die", Dr. Greger:

I’ve never had so much a sweet tooth as a grease tooth. Pepperoni pizza. Chicken wings by the basket. Sour cream– and-onion potato chips. A Hardee’s bacon cheeseburger nearly every day during high school. Anything oily and fatty— and all washed down with an ice-cold Dr Pepper. Okay, so maybe a little sweet tooth. I also really liked strawberry-frosted doughnuts.

Greger, Michael, MD; Stone, Gene (2015-12-08). How Not to Die: Discover the Foods Scientifically Proven to Prevent and Reverse Disease (p. 255). Flatiron Books. Kindle Edition.

Aloha, patty

[patty]

We are all addicted to food since food is essential to our survival. Our ancestors definitely liked high fat foods bec of seasonal food scarcity so it was a good idea to have food reserves stored in the body. Nowadays, we have a constant supply of food every day so it is no longer a good idea to eat high fat foods. Can probably eat high fat foods if practicing some kind of deliberate undereating regularly to offset the overeating on fatty foods days. Fat will accumulate every year if overeating on fatty foods and never undereating.

I feel Dr. McDougall nailed it when saying the body's metabolic biological dollar is fat and oil. We no longer can live like Kings and Queens, to eat like Daniel's diet of gruel.

Aloha, patty