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Life is filled with all types of traps, but one of the most insidious is the Pleasure Trap. In the book of the same name Drs. Lisle and Goldhamer reveal how both health and happiness are subverted by hidden forces in modern life. The book's goal is to assist readers in taking charge of their lives in order to combat these destructive forces.
In explaining what life is all about, the authors begin with the motivational triad, a system that encourages all creatures to seek pleasure, avoid pain, and conserve energy. These emotional factors are linked to the creatures' physical tools for survival and reproduction.
With pleasure as the ultimate goal, the path to this pleasure needs constant reinforcement with moods of happiness. Happiness provides the feedback to let the creature know that it is headed in the right direction toward pleasure.The Pleasure Trap
In seeking pleasure humans fall into traps with drugs. The pleasure that is induced by recreational drugs leads to a desire for continued use that results in addiction and abuse. In order to reduce pain, modern medicine has focused on prescription drugs that may harm the body as they reduce pain.
Through much of mankind's history people suffered dietary deficiencies. Now the abundance of food and the pleasure associated with eating has provided still another trap that has led to the "Diseases of Kings,"-- heart attacks, strokes, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, gout, and cancer. Dietary excess with an abundance of animal products and high fat, high sugar processed food is the underlying cause of the "Diseases of Kings."
Throughout the book the authors emphasize "subtracting our way to health" by cutting the foods of excess from the diet. These foods are meat, fish, fowl, eggs, dairy products, oil, salt, sugar, and refined carbohydrates. Replacing these foods are fresh fruits, vegetables, tubers, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds.
In sidebars they discuss the successes of Drs. John McDougall, Dean Ornish, and Caldwell Esselstyn in helping patients to reverse heart disease by replacing the diet of the kings with a plant-based regimen.
In coping with this dietary pleasure trap, the authors outline a program of "Five Keys to a Healthy Path."
Strategy #1: "No Junk Food in the House!" If these high-sugar, "drug-like foods" are not constantly available, they won't end up inside the stomach.
Strategy #2: The Weekly Menu. Having a menu plan and shopping list will help you avoid the temptations of commercially prepared foods to satisfy hunger.
Strategy #3: Cook in Quantity. Conserve energy by freezing foods for additional meals.
Strategy #4: Create a "Car Pack." Instead of going to a fast food restaurant or eating junk snacks, prepare a lunch box of healthy snacks for your car.
Strategy #4: Getting Help. Hire a cook to prepare weekly portions of healthy foods.
Employing these strategies is a part of the program that will help people set their internal compasses back to True North where they recognize the pleasure traps and avoid their temptations. Other important aspects of achieving True North are sufficient sleep and regular exercise.
squealcat wrote:Just wanted to say to Moonlight that I have gained 4 pounds easily while on vacation even though I ate pretty well. I believe it IS the sodium. I even experimented and weighed myself daily for a few days after the vacation and that weight dropped fast and i even lost a little more after that ! So don't worry ! If you return to your regular habits, that weight will fall off!
-Marilyn (squealcat)
Debbie wrote:
Program outlined in the MWL book, page 60.
1. Eliminate All Animal Foods
2. Eliminate All Oils
3. Eliminate All High Fat Plant Foods: Nuts, Nut Butters, Seeds, Seed Butters, Avocados, Coconut, & Olives.
4. Eliminate All Flour Products
5. Eat Whole Grains and Potatoes
6. Eat Legumes
7. Make Green & Yellow Vegetables One-Half to One-Third of your meal
8. Eat Uncooked Foods
9. Restrict Fresh Fruit to No More Than Two Servings a Day, and Avoid Dried Fruit, Fruit Puree, and Fruit Juice
10. Use Simple Sugar Sparingly
Arewethereyet wrote:202.2 if I'm not too late. Down 1.2
amandamechele wrote:Moonlight - I look forward to hearing how your exercise goes, if you wish to share it.
amandamechele wrote:Hi All,
Give yourselves a big pat on the back for a week of focused effort and determination.
I'm hoping to hear a bit more about how each of you are finding the program, specifically the food portion of your adherence? We all know that the closer we come to the recommended guidelines, the better our health and weight loss will be. As Dr McDougall says It's the food.
Jobet wrote:Amy, take it from this fashionably late cool kid, that looks like one incredibly delicious dinner! All my favorite foods. Yummmmmmmy!! (Can you tell I haven't had breakfast yet this morning? I'm drooling on my keyboard looking at your photo!)
My only regret since switching to this WOE is that I didn't start it eons ago!
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