emotional addictions and food

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JWL
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emotional addictions and food

Post by JWL » Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:18 am

I was quite intrigued by a film I saw recently called What the Bleep Do We Know?, which on one hand is horribly pretentious and bad. But it does raise several interesting questions.

My favorite is the notion that we can become addicted to certain emotions.

The argument goes like this: 1. We can become addicted to certain drugs such as heroin. 2. Heroin operates on the same neuron chemical receptors in the brain that respond to chemical changes during emotional experiences. 3. Therefore, it is reasonable to think about the possibility of becoming addicted to those negative emotional states, despite the fact that they are negative. We can actually train our brain to crave them.

So I was thinking, it follows from there that we can similarly become addicted to certain food habits, as certain foods also produce chemical changes in brain chemistry.

The key, I think to put it crudely, is to will oneself to assert new addictions that are healthy in place of the unhealthy ones.
JWL[.|@]Freakwitch[.]net

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peetie
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Post by peetie » Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:52 pm

Hi F.W., I saw the movie too and concur with your review. And I do think we are such a big combination of chemicals that they most definitely influence emotions and become addictive. You see it in depressed people all the time. They get into a downward spiral that feeds on itself. And even tho, I wouldn't go as far as to say people ENJOY being depressed, I think a lot just get USED TO IT and it becomes their "at home" feeling.

That's why I think it's so hard to change old habits with new ones. Those dang habits just get so torqued into our brains, it's really a battle.

But the only way out is through, and like you said, we just gotta push through those addictions. If they can be created, they can be UNcreated.

Peetie

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reinhard
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Post by reinhard » Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:28 am

Good point. In most cases, it's more useful to think of health as being addicted to the good, rather than being merely unaddicted.

This sounds a bit weird, and that's why I like the old fashioned term "bad habit" better than "addiction." It implies you can do something about it. It also has the more natural sounding positive corollary "good habit," which is key to overcoming it. Yes, I understand habit may involved lots of chemicals swirling around in your brain, which is what we think of when we hear "addiction," but if chemicals can cause behavior then behavior can cause chemicals, right?

I guess you could use the word addiction for "really strong habit," but I think people are too quick to resort to it. Which is funny because I think they're too slow to see habit in its milder forms. They see nothing at all until it's no longer easy to fix, at which point they give up. When you start thinking in terms of habit, you can nip it in the bud, and fight it even at its zenith.

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gratefuldeb67
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Post by gratefuldeb67 » Sat Sep 03, 2005 2:57 am

Reinhard wrote:
In most cases, it's more useful to think of health as being addicted to the good, rather than being merely unaddicted.
Duhhhhh??????? Whaaaaaaaa?????? :lol:

Rein cont...
This sounds a bit weird
Oh yeah! LOL....
I think people are too quick to resort to it. Which is funny because I think they're too slow to see habit in its milder forms. They see nothing at all until it's no longer easy to fix, at which point they give up. When you start thinking in terms of habit, you can nip it in the bud, and fight it even at its zenith.
That is really great stuff Reinhard.... Amen!!!!
This is why I joined up with you!!!!!!Please keep posting a little more..
Man you just zero right in on the most important stuff to consider and you are such a wonderful writer!!!
You are a breath of fresh air in a sea of confused and "brainwashed" overeaters...You always point out the positive side to things!!! You make it about the ways we can really change those unhealthy habits we have come to deny in some way or another, whether we do by calling them "impossible addictions" and reveal and blow away the other fatalistic "give up before even trying" self defeating behaviors so many of us have resigned to live with until finding out there is a choice! (wow I sure have bad grammar! LOL...)
I agree that behavior can change chemicals.. Why should it be a one way relationship? Very astute!

Peace and Love,
8) Deb

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