Have we as a society become nutritional idiots?

Or, have we just become lazy and apathetic when it comes to our daily food choices?

It really is of no surprise that most people do not eat healthy diets anymore when you look at the abundance of high calorie, low nutrition foods we are surrounded by nowadays. Our grocery stores, convenience stores, and other retail outlets almost always have large displays of junk foods to pique our appetites. And this is not by accident. As with flavorings added to alcohol and tobacco products, the food industry is doing the same thing to bring in repeat customers.

Everywhere we turn, we are bombarded with advertisements and displays of highly palatable foods that provide little to no nutritional value, yet we still gobble them down. When we encounter highly palatable foods, our appetite instantly kicks into high gear, and this is when we must put on the brakes. Is it any wonder there is such a thing as the Yale Food Addiction Scale, 69% of our population now have a weight problem, and the American Heart Association now recommends bariatric surgery as a viable option for those who are severely obese?

How is all of this happening?

How did we become a society where we now have obese children with type 2 diabetes and other adult onset diseases? Our palates are not just out of tune with our nutritional needs, they are out to kill us. In the U.S. it is estimated that we have 300,000 premature deaths every year as a result of obesity. American eating habits cause as much preventable disease and death as cigarette smoking. Our nutritional habits are causing us heart disease, type 2 diabetes, several types of cancer, and musculoskeletal disorders including osteoarthritis of the knees. All of these are directly related to our excessive and unhealthy eating.

We often raise hell over the cost of medical care, yet the annual bill for obesity related health problems is about $117 billion as a result of medical bills and lost wages. And this is largely because we have become massive consumers of fast and heavily processed foods instead of low calorie, nutritionally dense foods that actually do us good. We have to take responsibility for ourselves and our children. The food industry is not going to change, it is entirely up to you in making healthy changes. You have to become aware of all that you are eating and then leave out the bad. And a part of this equation is that you also need to become aware that a good portion of the foods we eat nowadays are addictive in nature. We really are not nutritional idiots, we are a nation addicted to poor food choices!

Food Addiction

“A repetitive behavior that some people find difficult to quit.”

We have a problem where it has become too convenient to go to your favorite drive through in order to find inexpensive and highly palatable foods. It is not uncommon to see multiple fast food places in a single block in many cities across America. And now, grocery manufacturers are also in a race with the fast food industry to the bottom, that rewards profits over health.

Food addiction is deeply enmeshed with memory. The memories we connect to certain foods are typically stronger and longer lasting than any other substance we might have had problems with. Childhood memories of food can have considerable power over our lives. Is it even possible to forget the yummy goodness of our grandmother’s home baked cookies?

Over the course of the last four decades, food researchers have engineered foods full of  sugar, unhealthy fats, and salt which we find immensely alluring. Through their brilliant marketing, we are now easily manipulated to eat even when we are not hungry.  Because of our addictive natures, we must learn to take control over our impulses to eat. And this all begins with learning as much as you can about nutrition, and then implementing that new found knowledge for the betterment of your health. And no, this is not going to be easy.

But, we can do something!

You are not a nutritional idiot, but you are going to have to be accountable for your health.

Our entire bodies are designed to not only like the taste of foods, but to also to make us want more and more of it. We have evolved over thousands of years to seek out foods that are not only sweet, but which are also loaded with calories. Today, we also enjoy the benefit of finding these foods in relative convenience, at low cost and with a wide variety. From the beginning of time, we have thrived with the nutrition of the time. It has only been  about the last forty to fifty years that being hooked on food has begun to cause us harm. Our food supply has been drastically altered, and now we all are paying the price.

Food companies have learned to exploit our addictions to fast, easy, and fattening foods. but we do not have to resort to eating them. There are still healthy, whole foods that we can cook for ourselves. No one, but yourself, is forcing you to make poor food choices. Follow us here at David’s Way to Health and Fitness, and you will learn how to kick all the poor nutritional practices you have had to the curb. We are always a free resource to all who want to lose weight in a healthy manner and then to keep it off. You are not a nutritional idiot, but you might need a little help.

Sugar Addiction