how we eat

 
Tony Schwartz with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy., The way we're working isn't working: the four forgotten needs that energize great performance, 2010
pp.100-102, pp.102-103, 
p.100
The End of Overeating, 
former FDA commissioner David Kessler
certains foods “hyperpalatable” can be as addictive as drugs such as cocaine and heroin.  Nor is it just sugar that seduces us. 
p.100
In a series of experiments beginning in the 1980s, a University of Washington researcher, Adam Drewnowski, 
we are even more drawn to sugar in combination with fat. 
“Fat”, Drewnowski explains, “is ‘responsible’ for the characteristic texture, flavor, and aroma of many foods and largely determines the palatability of the diet.”
p.100
“Hyperpalatable foods are hyperstimulants”, writes Kessler. “And when a stimulant produces reward, we want more of it. Foods high in sugar, fat, and salt promote more of everything:  more arousal ... more thoughts of food ... more urge to pursue food ... more dopamine-stimulated approach behavior ... more consumption ... more opiod-driven reward ... more overeating to feel better ... more delay in feeling full ... more loss of control ... more preoccupation with food ... more habit-driven behavior ... and ultimately, more and more weight gain.”  Kessler terms this phenomenon “conditioned over eating”
p.101
writer Michael Pollan “Eat. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
p.101
   The foods that sustain us best are those that are released slowly into the blood stream, which keeps our energy steady.  The glycemic index (GI) was developed in the early 1980s by researchers trying to help people with diabetes.  The GI rates the effect of specific foods on our blood sugar levels.  Foods that break down into glucose rapidly have a high GI, while those that are released into the blood stream slowly have a low GI.  Most fruits and vegetables, with the exception of potatoes, carrots, and watermelon, are low-GI foods.  Foods including white rice, sweet potatoes, and whole wheat products have mid-range GIs.  So do most milk chocolate bars and cookies, because their high sugar content is offset by fat, which is digested more slowly.  The worst GI offenders are simple carbohydrates such as white bread, corn flakes, baked potatoes, French fries, potato chips, and beer. 
p.102
“When layer upon layer of complexity is built into food, the effect becomes more powerful”, explains Kessler.  The psychologist Walter Mischel refers to his phenomenon as a “hot stimulus”.  Foods highest in fat, sugar, and salt generate the hottest stimulus of all. 
p.102
   Cinnabon, 
A Cinnabon roll, contains three different kinds of sugar, including granulated white sugar, brown sugar in the sticky filling, and powdered sugar applied on top, along with cinnamon syrup, cream cheese, vanilla, lemon, and salt. 
p.102
The speed with which we lose weight rarely matches the speed with which we regain it.  Along the way, we run our blood sugar levels up and down, which costs us energy in the short term and wreaks havoc on our bodies over the long term.
pp.102-103
“Focusing single-mindedly on not eating eventually pushes us to eat more”, explains Kessler.  “Feeling deprived only increases the reward of food and then usually gives way to indulgence and often to abandon.”
The cycle is self-reinforcing. 
“The emotional drivers of wanting”, Kessler explains, 
      struggle with the desperate desire to resist temptation.  Behavior activating messages that urge pursuit clash with internal messages demanding control.  Our brains become battle grounds.  Ultimately our decision to reach for that food ── to relax our struggle for restraint, to give in to consumption ── becomes the only possibly relief from the anxiety of a war within.  But the satisfaction doesn't last.  By responding to a salient cue with action that generates immediate reward, we only strengthen the association between the cue and its reward. 
. 
p.103
The secretaries who could see the chocolates all day long ate 71 percent more than those who could not. 
p.103
Or, as Russell Fazio, a psychology professor at Ohio State, explained it to Kessler:  “Many times our resources are sufficiently taxed in day-to-day life that we just can't engage in that kind of motivated overriding of our impulses.”  Deprivation, Kessler concluded, is our real enemy. 
“When you use all of your emotional energy to void a behavior, you can become anxious and tense .... We can't sustain a change in behavior if it leaves us hungry, unhappy, angry, or resentful.”
    (Schwartz, Tony, 1952-, HF5549.5.P37S39 2010, 658.3'128—dc22, copyright © 2010)
(The way we're working isn't working : the four forgotten needs that energize great performance / Tony Schwartz, with Jean Gomes and Catherine McCarthy. — 1st Free Press hardcover ed., 1. performance., 2. work — psychological aspects., 3. organizational effectiveness., 4. personnel management., )
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