How I'm Spending The Weekend

I've made my way down to San Francisco to take a weekend seminar from this man.  I've heard great things about his technique, but what finally swayed me was the look in his eye.  The first step in eliminating pain, so it seems, is to intimidate it.  


I'll post more as I go.  It should be a fun weekend.


More soon,


B

http://www.myofascialrelease.com

Why Is a Cheeseburger Cheaper Than a Green Pepper?

Ever wondered why a cheeseburger is cheaper than a green pepper?  Does that seem odd to you?  On one hand you have to grow wheat, make buns, grow corn, use that corn to raise beef, turn that beef into hamburger, milk cows and make cheese out of it, not to mention the ketchup, mustard, pickles..etc.  On the other you have to plant a seed and water it.  


I just came across an article that lists the 9 foods that the american government spends the most money subsidising.  By pumping money into these foods, it keeps the cost down.  While there can be some good reasons for governments to do so (there haven't really been any domestic famines), it also helps explain why the poorest of them can still manage to be chubby.


Here's a list of the foods the government is paying for their people to eat and how much of these the average american will consume in 1 year.  I wonder how far off we are up here in Canada?


Soy bean and sunflower are on the list, but no estimate as to how much people are chowing down.


Sunflower: consumption not listed.
Barley: 203 beers.
Peanuts: 13 lbs of peanut butter.
Cow: 66 lbs of beef (28 of it was ground beef).
Dairy: 106 litres of milk.
Rice: 21 lbs of rice.
Soy: amount consumed not listed.
Wheat: 150 lbs of flour.
Corn: 33 lbs of corn products, of which 20 lbs is high fructose corn syrup consumed in soft drinks.


I'll allow you to draw your own conclusions here.


B

What does ice cream and heroine have in common?

If there's one thing that's become clear to me in the short time I've been a parent, it's how intimately linked food is with comforting.  From the minute we're born, the act of nursing simultaneously feeds us and eases our pain.  In light of this it's no surprise then most of are to some degree emotional eaters.


I hear you ask "why is this so, Dr. Bentham?", well I'm glad you asked.  It turns out that the act of nursing causes both mother and baby to release endorphins.  If you want to know what endorphins do, they are our body's natural version of morphine, codeine, heroine, and oxycontin.  These drugs are known to ease pain and infamously for their addictive properties.  The reason they work is because they mimic our natural endorphins, only much more intensely.

As an aside, the reason these can become addictive is that when prescribed for physical pain, they also ease emotional pain.  As with any other drug, when withdrawn, people experience the opposite effect as the drug - ie pain.  So even after the physical pain is gone, when the drug wears off, the emotional pain floods back stronger than before, and the addiction cycle begins.


As I work with patients who are in the process of re-shaping themselves (read lose weight), it can be helpful to talk about why we feel compelled to eat.  Dopamine is a part of it, and so are the endorphins we get from certain foods.  Fortunately there are other ways to give the body its' fix of endorphins.  For example, a good run will do the same thing.


Until next time,


Bryn

Dopawhat?

Continuing on from some of my other posts about motivation, I figure it's only right that I introduce you to a dear friend of yours you may not know about - the neurotransmitter Dopamine.  If it's helpful, you can picture him as one of the little beings that like Homer, we carry around on our shoulders.  

Dopamine's a sweetheart and means well, but he's also a bit gullible and easily manipulated.  Despite his best intentions, he sometimes ends up causing more harm than good.  One of his main jobs is to ensure our survival and he does so by positively re-inforcing (or rewarding) behaviours that favour getting our genes into the next generation.  Consider for example what happens in your brain when you tub out on brownies. Brownies are high in calories so not only do they taste good, but when we eat them Dopamine makes us feel really good about it, so that we do it again.  Then in instances when we're hungry and little-D is feeling low he rears his head and says "give me more brownies!" and we experience the rush of thinking about brownies, and engage in the compulsive act of seeking them out.  Come on, you know you've done it.  

This same pleasure/incentive/reward system is also at play in any behaviour that can become addicting.  Activities ranging from sex, to work-a-holism, to surfing the internet.  If you've ever found yourself meaning to go to bed at 10 but you ended up clicking your way to 3:30 am on your computer, you've experienced the same reward system.  That impulse you get when you see a link, and then the reward you experience when you do provides an instant mini hit of dopamine.  

So why am I writing about it?  As you can imagine, dopamine plays a major role in addiction, and for those who tend to be a little lower in dopamine, they theoretically are more susceptible to behaviours and substances that give them the dopamine hit.  As you can likely tell by now I'm fascinated by the things that drive our behaviour.  Harnessing the reward system can be a powerful tool in making changes that favour health and living in accordance with our values.  


Best,


Bryn