http://naturalsociety.com/study-junk-food-deadly-war-famine-genocide/Makers of junk food know it is highly addictive, but the UNSW study proves unequivocally that junk food alters behavior by causing near-permanent changes in the brain’s reward circuiting, an alteration that can trigger obesity.
While mammals developed a natural trigger over our evolutionary history which prevents us from over-eating, a phenomenon termed “sensory-specific satiety,” the consumption of junk food overrides this natural ‘kill’ switch that allows us to regulate the calories we consume.
Junk food consumption also causes mitochondrial dysfunction and tissue inflammation, which leads to a host of other diseases. Perhaps most troubling, though, is that these fake foods also mess with our internal motivation and reward system – which causes us to seek more nutrition-less junk. It’s like programming a time bomb and just waiting for it to blow.
It is no wonder we are facing a global obesity epidemic. The United States is the epicenter of this troubling phenomenon, with 2 our of 3 Americans being clinically overweight or obese.
If we check the numbers against the Historical Atlas of the 20th Century, 203 million people died in the last century from war and oppression – including military and collateral civilian casualties from conflicts, genocide, politicide (i.e., the extermination of people who share a political belief), mass murders, and famines. This equates to an average of 2. million deaths a year – but the junk food habit kills more.
Even at the humble and likely modest estimation of the World Health Organization, at least 2.8 million people die annually from diseases linked to obesity including heart disease, diabetes, and brain stroke.
The junk food habit is killing 40% more people than wars, famine, dictators, murderers, and politicians put-together.
Rodale points to 31 completely pointless foods you can find in your grocery store, but we all know that there are thousands of toxic, genetically modified, high-fructose-corn syrup-containing, MSG-laden foods. The problem is that some of these foods are not so easily recognized.
Concerningly, most Americans have been tricked through brain-piercing marketing ploys into thinking these junk foods are healthful. For example, companies use terms like “healthy” or “natural” as a means to convince us it’s a good buy – this is one of many food tricks.
You know the modern food system is broken too, when even vegetables are now cause for concern – the GMO, pesticide-laden kind, that is.
So what can one do to counter-balance this literal food war? Start by eating unprocessed foods in organic form. It is really that simple. That, and growing your own food is essential. Eating better is the best weapon against the corporate coup which has us eating toxic junk straight into the hospital.
Eating healthy foods as opposed to junk [and maintaining a proper 'calories in/calories out' (CICO) ratio] might seem like common sense, but as you can see it's not quite as easy as it sounds.
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Re: CICO - This article,
http://authoritynutrition.com/debunking-the-calorie-myth/, basically states that CICO is a drastic oversimplification overlooking many other aspects of metabolism and weight gain.
Foods affect our bodies in different ways and go through different metabolic pathways. Not only that, but the foods we eat can directly affect the hormones that regulate when and how much we eat. Therefore, the types of foods we base our diet around are just as important as the amount of calories we are eating.
Even though it is true that obesity is caused by excess calories and weight loss caused by a calorie deficit, this is still such a drastic oversimplification that it is downright wrong. The fact is that different foods can have vastly different effects on our bodies and go through different metabolic pathways before they’re turned into energy (1). Just focusing on the calorie content of foods and disregarding the metabolic effects they have is a highly flawed way of thinking.
Different Foods Affect Our Hormones in Different Ways
In my opinion, one of the biggest fallacies in nutrition is to think that all calories are created equal. Different macronutrients (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) go through different metabolic pathways. Let me show you this with two examples… fructose and protein.
Fructose
Fructose, when it enters the liver from the digestive tract, can be turned into glucose and stored as glycogen. But if the liver is full of glycogen, it can be turned into fat… which is then shipped out or lodges in the liver. Consumed in excess, it can cause insulin resistance, which raises insulin levels all over the body. Insulin drives fat gain (2, 3). Fructose also doesn’t get registered in the same way as glucose and doesn’t impact satiety in the same way. Fructose doesn’t lower the hunger hormone ghrelin (4, 5). So… a 100 calories of fructose may increase your insulin over the long term, lead to higher ghrelin levels and increased appetite.
Protein
Then you have a 100 calories of protein. About 30% of the calories in the protein will be spent on digesting it, because the metabolic pathway requires energy. Protein may also increase levels of fullness and boost the metabolic rate (6, 7). This increased protein may even be used to build muscles, which are metabolically active tissues that burn calories around the clock.
Clearly… a 100 calories of fructose will have completely different effects on the body than a 100 calories of quality protein. A calorie is NOT a calorie.
Changing your macronutrients can affect your appetite in a dramatic way. The best example of this is seen in studies comparing low-carb and low-fat diets. Whereas people on low-fat diets must be calorie restricted in order to lose weight, people eating low-carb (and high fat and protein) can usually eat until they feel satisfied and still lose weight.
The author says more, but I think that's enough for the purpose of this post. (I feel like it's already too long.)
