Humans are built to survive in a feast or famine world. Our ancestors had to go through periods of feast, when food was abundant, and periods of famine, when food was scarce. Our bodies adapted to this by storing extra fat during times of feast, so we could survive during times of famine. However, in modern society, we rarely experience famine. Food is abundant and easily accessible, so we tend to overeat and store more fat than our bodies need.
The ways we function all trace back to survival in hunter gatherer times. Our brain plays the most important role in this and has a system designed to not only help us survive but also reproduce. This system creates a strong desire and drive to do things that will help us achieve those aims, such as eating, seeking shelter, and having sex. The neurotransmitter responsible for our drive and motivation to fulfil these impulses is called dopamine.
What’s a neurotransmitter? Think of neurotransmitters like messengers in your brain. They're the ones responsible for sending messages between different cells in your brain and body. Just like how you send messages to your friends through your phone, your brain sends messages through neurotransmitters.
Dopamine is released whenever we encounter rewards, or "natural reinforcers," that help us survive. These include things like food, sex, novelty (new things may lead to new survival-boosting benefits), and friendship (you’re more likely to survive in a group). When we encounter one of these rewards, a neural pathway is created in our brain.
What's a neural pathway?
Think of a neural pathway like a path in a forest. If you walk down a path in the forest many times, it becomes easier to walk down that path every time you go through the forest. Your brain works in a similar way - when you think or do something repeatedly, your brain creates a pathway that becomes stronger and easier to use over time. This is why habits can be hard to break - they're like well-worn paths in your brain that you automatically follow without even thinking about it. The more you repeat a certain behaviour, the stronger the neural pathway becomes, and the harder it can be to change.
Dopamine keys in on the reward system in our brain, and drives us to repeat the same behaviours that helped us attain those rewards previously. The more something helps with our survival and reproduction, the stronger the drive to repeat the behaviour.
For example, different types of food release different levels of dopamine. During feast and famine times it made evolutionary sense to load up on as many calories as possible while the getting was good. Foods high in fat and sugar provided the most energy benefits, so our ancestors’ brains evolved to release a lot of dopamine when they encountered high fat and high sugar foods. Our brains continue to do the same thing in the modern world, which is why we often crave sweet, carby, and high fat garbage, even when we know they're not good for us. This can make it difficult to choose healthier options, like a salad, over a pizza.
The problem with this is that pizza is always an option now. Our bodies were not designed to handle the constant feast that is available to us today. Our brains still have the same reward system that motivates us to seek out high-calorie foods, but now we have access to these foods all the time. This leads to overeating, weight gain, and an increased risk of preventable chronic diseases.
The Food Companies Profit System
Food companies are very aware of how our feast and famine mentality works and they use it to their advantage by creating hyper-palatable, highly processed foods that are specifically designed to hijack our brain's reward system. These foods are typically high in sugar, fat, and salt, which are all natural reinforcers that trigger the release of dopamine in our brains. When we eat these foods, we experience a surge of dopamine, which makes us feel good and reinforces the behaviour of eating these foods.
Companies also use marketing tactics to make us believe that these foods are scarce or time-sensitive, creating a sense of urgency to purchase and consume them. For example, limited-time offers or seasonal items create a feeling of scarcity that makes us want to buy more before they are gone.
And then there's the use of deceptive labeling and packaging to make their products appear healthier than they actually are. They may use terms like "natural" or "organic" or use images of fruits and vegetables on their packaging, even if the product is highly processed and full of artificial ingredients. If something is healthy, it doesn't need to be stated on the packaging. We all know broccoli is healthy without any packaging.
Overall, food companies understand our natural drive to seek out high calorie foods and use it to their advantage by creating and marketing super tasty processed garbage that are designed to keep us coming back for more like crackheads or dope fiends. It's important to recognise that our bodies are still adapted to survive in a feast or famine world, but we must adapt to the modern world by making healthier food choices and practicing mindful eating habits.
Agriculture F*cked Us
Have you ever thought about how the food you eat impacts not just your own health, but also the health of the environment and other living species? Well, looking at food and eating through an ecological lens can give us a whole new perspective on the Western diet and the changes it has undergone in the past 150 years.
When we think of a species' environment, we usually think in terms of geography, predators, prey, and the weather. However, one of the most critical components of any creature's environment is the nature of the food available to it.
For us, the first big change came ten thousand years ago when we invented agriculture. This change in our food environment devastated our health, leading to an influx of deficiencies and infectious diseases that we've only managed to get under control in the last century or so.
You'd think we'd learn from that, but nope, humans are habitual meddlers. Next came the invention of the modern diet. Before the creation of agriculture, humans lived mainly on whole, unprocessed foods. But with the rise of industrialisation, we started processing foods in ways that allowed them to last longer, look prettier, and be more convenient.
The modern diet has undergone five fundamental transformations to our foods and ways of eating.
Let's dive in:
- From Whole Foods to Refined: Up until 1870, all grains were stone ground. But then we figured out how to remove the germ and create beautiful white flour that lasted for months. Unfortunately, the finer that the flour is ground, the more surface area is exposed to digestive enzymes, so the quicker the starches turn to glucose. Hence, refined flour is the first fast food. And bread, which used to have a few simple ingredients, now has a long list of additives and preservatives.
- From Complexity to Simplicity: Today, four crops (corn, soy, wheat, and rice) account for two-thirds of the calories we eat. This radical simplification has led to a lack of diversity in our diets, which can lead to deficiencies in essential nutrients. Before industrialisation, we ate a much wider variety of foods. For example, Thomas Jefferson grew over 150 species of fruit and 330 vegetables on his estate! Shoutout to Thomas jefferson, unless he owned slaves, his name gives me slave owner vibes. Now that I think about it, to maintain all those crops he probably had slaves so I take back my shoutout. Google update: This guy owned over 600 slaves! but also tried to abolish it during his time as president, I see it's going to take more than a 60 second google to get to the bottom of this. Time I don't have.
- From Quality to Quantity: With our rush to produce more food faster and cheaper, the quality has gone down. The cause? Industrial farming practices degrading the soil quality. To put this in more concrete terms, you now have to eat three apples to get the same amount of iron as you would have gotten from a single 1940 apple. An apple a day keeps the doctor away doesn't hit the same in the 2020s.
- From Leaves to Seeds: Short story here: We used to eat a LOT more leaves than seeds. Now, we eat a crazy amount of seeds. (Note: Grains (corn + soy + wheat + rice) are seeds.) This leads to a whole host of issues, including omega-3 and omega-6 imbalances which disrupt our bodies. Solution: Eat more leaves!! big ass salads are your friends.
- From Food Culture to Food Science: We used to trust our culture for food wisdom (i.e. mum). Now it's all about the food scientists. But are we better off with these new authorities telling us how to eat than we were with the traditional authorities they replaced? The answer should be clear by now. PS. My nans cooking is undefeated.
Final Thoughts
You cannot exercise or supplement your way out of a bad diet. Food is medicine or it is poison... actually, I just remembered I've been doing a war theme throughout this series.
Let me wrap this up in the context of war. Your body is a battlefield, and the war for your health is raging. But victory is not won through quick fixes or miracle supplements. No, the key to winning this war is through the power of high-quality nutrition.
Think of your body, your cells and organs as an army, with your brain as the command centre. It may only weigh three pounds, but it is the most critical part of your body, using 20-30 percent of the calories you consume. To function at its peak, it requires high-quality fuel - the kind that comes from whole, nourishing foods. But if you feed your troops toxic, addictive, processed garbage food, you're essentially sabotaging your own army. You're providing useless tools to do a critical job, leaving your cells and organs incapacitated.
This is not just about weight or appearance, it's about your health, your energy, your vitality. So choose your weapons wisely - fuel your body with the right kind of food, and win the war for your health.
Final Final Thoughts
Health isn't hard, being sick is hard. I watched my nan go through dementia, she lost her mind, her body and her dignity. It's estimated that dementia could nearly triple by 2050 because of our lifestyle choices. So i'll say this again, as hard as you think health is, there's nothing harder than being sick.
Final Final FINAL Thoughts
Always remember, you were born to be the hero of your story.
Free you outlaw.