How Does An Alkaline Diet Cure Food Addiction?

Much has been said about food addiction and weight loss, but are there any clear solutions to both that will make obesity less of  a problem?

As we now know, there are certain opioids our bodies release every time we digest sugar or fat that we consume.  We also know that the effects of these endogenous opioids are the same as those of narcotics such as morphine and heroin.   Thus, just as the way to cure drug addiction is for the drug addict to stop consuming narcotics, the way to cure  food addiction is for the food addict  to stop eating addictive food.  Now, the question is, what foods are considered addictive and what substances make them so?

The list of addictive foods is long, but most items can be summarized into sets consisting of the most common food types.  Meat or animal flesh is one.  Animal muscles contain the uric acid, trioxypurine, which is found to be more addictive than caffeine.

Chocolates, sweets and fatty foods are also addictive because they release serotonin into the brain, a hormone that influences mood, appetite and even social behavior.  Sugar itself can be addictive as suggested by a study on rats which were found to display withdrawal symptoms such as chattering of the teeth and shaking when they were no longer given sugar.

And then there’s cheese which has traces of morphine, at least, that which is made from  cow’s milk. Another addictive substance in cheese is casein which is a protein that releases during digestion casomorphins, a substance know to have opiate effects. Of course, when it comes to food addiction, coffee and other caffeinated drinks have been on the list for the longest time.  And caffeine addicts have actually displayed withdrawal symptoms when they stopped drinking their beverage of choice.

Probably the newest addition yet to the list are industrial or processed foods such as candy, junk food and even hotdog and bacon which are found to stimulate pleasure centers in the brain the way narcotics do.

If one may research on the information given  above, it can be easily learned that addictive foods are almost always acidic.   This is how an alkaline diet can help.

An alkaline diet consists of non-acidic and, therefore, non-addictive foods such as  citrus vegetables, legumes, nuts, tubers, citrus and other fruits with low sugar content.  When a person who is addicted to certain foods decides to shift to healthier eating habits,  an alkaline diet can provide all the best food options.  With an alkaline diet, the individual can be diverted from acidic food and this could be the start of the end of his addiction.

Sure, it will take some time.  Any addiction is not easy to curb, and addiction to food is no exception.  Although many people still do not believe that food can actually be addicting, science itself has proven the existence of addictive properties in certain foods.  And for those who are determined to junk their bad food habits, alkaline diets can be the way to healthier, non-addictive eating.

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Yes, Food Addiction Is Real

There have been a lot of debates regarding the issue of food addiction. Some say this is all in the minds of those who want to make a business out of it, while others are keeping their options open whether to believe or disbelieve. There have been many online articles written about the topic, and readers often find themselves being led to websites that sell products for treating or curbing food addiction.

While this may feel funny or suspicious in the beginning, people usually change their minds upon learning the truth. They can ask, is there really such a thing as being addicted to food and are all those sites claiming to help a scam? Skeptics can answer all they want but fact remains – science has evidence that food, indeed, can be addictive.

Researchers in the 1980′s first proved the theory of food addiction when they established that opioids, the same substances that make narcotics such as morphine and heroin addictive, are naturally produced by the body during digestion of sugar and fat. These endogenous opioids were also found to engage the same dopamine receptors in the brain in the same manner that alcohol and narcotics do. Furthermore, brain imaging or PET scans allowed researchers to see how the same part of the brain that lights up when an individual consumes narcotics or alcohol before a scan showed the same effect when food suspected of causing addiction was consumed by the subject.

To prove that food can cause physical cravings as do opioids found in known addictive substances, researchers made use of the opiate blocker, naloxone. When drug or alcohol addicts were administered naloxone before being offered their substance of choice, they were able to refuse and showed little, if any, interest. When obese individuals were offered sweets after being administered the same blocker, they also showed diminished interest in the food that they usually would never skip based on their own accounts. This further establishes the finding that certain foods can be addictive and that obese people may be battling more than their self-discipline.

One defining characteristic of addiction to any substance, food or not, is the increase in the addict’s tolerance to the intensity of the effect that their food or substance of choice causes. Experts now think this is the reason why people grow obese – they simply can’t get enough of the food they once only liked but are now obsessed about. This escalation of desire for certain foods is said to be fueled by the obese person’s tolerance level of satisfaction to such foods being reached or the point at which the amount that may have brought pleasure before is no longer enough to bring the same pleasure now. Because of this, a growing number of food scientists believe that obesity should be treated from the core, and that is, by curing the obese person’s food addiction.

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Telltale Signs of Food Addiction

Food addiction is real. Science has long proven that certain foods actually cause people to be chemically dependent on them. Although opioids that cause this addiction are naturally processed by the body during fat and sugar digestion, it remains a fact that people can actually get hooked to food. Long gone are the days when lack of self-discipline was the only recognized evil in any overweight person’s battle against the bulge. Now, science has proven that obesity is not entirely the obese person’s fault – he could, after all, be chemically addicted to what he eats.

Still, anybody’s weight is his own responsibility and one of the first responsible steps to make is to learn the telltale signs of food addiction.

The psychological signs that one may be addicted to food begin when there exists a strong link between the person’s eating habits and his emotions. This link can be positive or negative, but the fact that there exists such a connection between what one eats and how one feels is already a sign that he could be addicted. For example, someone who is going through a hurtful breakup could turn to food as a source of solace. When the person claims he feels better after having “eaten his troubles away”, he must be addicted.

Another psychological sign is a feeling of sluggishness or lethargy after one has eaten or inability to perform one’s routine social functions as a result of overeating. For example, someone who has had an extra hearty lunch may feel too heavy and decide not to come back to the office for the rest of the day. When a person starts to worry and be stressed by his own inability to curb his appetite, that is yet another sign of food addiction.

People who say they don’t feel well when they are not able to eat as they wish are also displaying signs of this addiction. Those who binge in between diet episodes and feel extremely guilty are also said to be addicted to food.

Although most symptoms of food addiction are psychological, physical manifestations may also be experienced by the person who is hooked. These include headaches, irritability, fatigue, agitation, depression and physical cravings which, when left unsatisfied, can bring a wave of psychological symptoms. Also common are physical symptoms that occur when a person who has begun to rein in his appetite and eat less wakes up tired, agitated, and excited to have breakfast.

There could be many symptoms of food addiction but the most important thing to remember when spotting the signs is that relationship between one’s eating habits and his sense of well-being. The moment a person’s food affects his actions, he could be seriously addicted.

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The Psychological Dimension of Losing Weight

When a person wants to lose weight, he first needs to understand what makes him gain weight and how he can avoid this. Of course, weight is a combination of a lot of factors, from genes to diet to physical exercise and physiological designs. One thing that most people leave out though when talking about how to lose weight, is the psychological aspect of the weight loss process. When it comes to the biological factors that contribute or compromise weight loss, the world is united. There is simply no refuting the fact that the weight gain factors mentioned above are what make people gain weight.

However, even when everything has been written in books and academic papers and backed by scientific evidence, there is an all-important internal force within the the individual wanting to lose weight and that is the need for support. It is for this reason that people who usually want to lose weight are usually more successful when they engage the support of those around them – family member, friends and even colleagues.

A very simple and specific example can be asking less weight-conscious family members not to keep their fattening food favorites very visible around the house. This can mean having them stash away their chips or their chocolates where they won’t have the chance to be tempt to the one who wants to avoid them. Another is by asking colleagues to join the weight watcher in the gym a few times a week. There are many ways to ask for people’s support when one wants to lose weight. And even when they say personal discipline is the be and all of fitness, one can still not discount the fact that the world will have an effect how long this self-discipline is going to hold up. Of course, anyone who wants to lose weight cannot afford to rely completely on other people. But their help will surely go a long way.

There are many ways to gain support and some of the most popular these days is by engaging oneself in a forum where other people share their views and opinions and tips and tricks on how they go about their own weight loss campaigns. Since most people are using the Internet these days, those who need more motivation can make use of this technology by joining online coaching programs such as Alkalifestyle.com where everyone with the same goal of losing weight converge to empower each other and make their their ideal weight more attainable. Yes, even strangers can help each other when they have common objectives.

It is true that anything unscientific will probably not fare well when it comes to losing weight. But the psychological dimension of the whole process should not be taken for granted. After all, it is still all about the will of the person that has the greatest influence on whether or not he decides to make a go for his plans to lose weight or if he simply allows his goal for fitness to go down the drain for good.

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Acidosis and Alkaline Diets

Acidosis is a condition of the blood whereby its normal level of acidity is exceeded. Normally, the blood is able to act on its own in controlling this level. However, certain factors contribute to the loss or impairment of this ability and cause various diseases and conditions. In the same way, there are many diseases and conditions that can contribute to the development of acidosis such as diabetes and lung, kidney or bone disorders. And then, there is a lifestyle-related factor that contributes to the development of acidosis and that is through the consumption of a highly acidic diet.

Because the blood obtains its nutrients from the food a person eats, it is natural for it to become acidic when the food is acidic. Some critics say acidosis does not necessarily result from a highly acidic diet because the blood itself will have an inherent buffer system to take care of this. The problem is, there are people whose body systems are not always in perfect condition and there are those whose buffer systems aren’t always doing their job. That means developing acidic blood is then a common possibility.

Acidosis is clearly not a condition that is to be taken lightly as it can cause various diseases ranging from respiratory disorders to strokes and even loss of bone mass. What makes the problem worse is, acidosis is usually taken seriously only when it comes as a consequence of a pre-existing condition. In this case, the acidosis will probably be corrected because health care providers will provide medical intervention to keep the blood within normal acid levels. The more serious concern is when people who think they are having the time of their life indulging in acidic food are unaware of the health implications that this will cause. Common symptoms to watch out for are drowsiness, nausea, vomiting and acetone-smelling breath which is the most definitive.

People who don’t want the trouble of dealing with acidosis can always make wiser food choices. After all, it is their health that is involved. Even the pleasure of highly acidic foods such as meat should not be enough for one to put hone’s wellness on the line.

While it’s true that acidosis is highly treatable, certain individuals could be prone to developing unique or serious reactions to the condition. Hence, it is good to be active in protecting one’s health from acidosis by consuming an alkaline diet such as pH Miracle, a creation of world-famous microbiologist Dr. Robert O. Young. Alkaline diets are beneficial in that they allow people to eat and enjoy the pleasure of food without compromising their health.

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Factors of Obesity

Many things contribute to people’s tendency to become obese. Sometimes, there is confusion as to which factors are actually involved. Different people respond differently to different situations and this is why some of them are likelier to be obese than the others. In any case, all individuals have the same body systems which are expected to work the same way, unless certain conditions are present or absent.

Issues about obesity often lead to debates among health experts and, while some obese individuals end up with the wrong solutions to the weight problem, others simply don’t have the drive to get themselves on the right track. Either way, taking the time to know and understand the reasons behind obesity can be a good way to start.

Genetic Predisposition. Perhaps the most basic reason for one to gain excessive weight is genetic predisposition. Some people are simply slow in terms of metabolizing what they eat and this gives the fat they consume all the time to be stored in their bodies. This is why some people who may have the same diet over the same period of time may gain weight in different proportions. Those who are genetically predisposed to burn fat quickly may never deal with excessive weight gain while those whose metabolism is naturally slow could just end up obese. It then follows that some people may have to work harder at maintaining their ideal weight than others simply because it is in nature’s design.

Physical Activity. There is no question about weight maintenance being significantly a matter of numbers or, specifically, the balance between caloric input against caloric output. Food comes with a certain number of calories (unit of energy) which can only be expended when one engages in physical activity that is enough to burn off that same number of calories. When more energy is consumed than burned, weight is gained. This is why the couch potato will always store more fat than the one who goes to the gym. It is also why some people who are physically active can eat a lot more food and stay fit than the one who eats smaller amounts but rarely moves.

Stress. When people deal with stress, food is a usual place of comfort that helps them as they cope. Because of this, more of them are likely to overeat when they deal with stressful events in their lives. And because the stress puts them in a psychological disposition that keeps them from thinking rationally, they tend to disregard the effects of overeating on their weight. This makes them eat even more and continue to disregard the fact that they are not only putting their social health at risk when they grow thicker waistlines, but they’re also inching themselves closer to a myriad of diseases.

Metabolic Disturbances. Some people storing more fat than others even if they consume the same diet over the same period of time may be due to metabolic disturbances that hinder food from being metabolized effectively. Metabolism is a process that contributes significantly to how food entering the body will cause weight gain or loss or neither. When a person has a metabolic disturbance, he could end up storing fat instead of burning it because the organs that are responsible for metabolizing food are not working properly. Hence, weight gain and obesity can be a natural consequence.

Diet. Of course, how much weight one gains can all begin with the food he eats. And yes, it’s not always the amount that makes one fat. It can also be about food choices because certain foods are simply more likely to cause weight gain than others. When differentiating food types in terms of their effect on weight, there are usually two main classifications – acidic and alkaline. Acidic foods are those that cause cellular environments to be acidic and the body to respond by producing fat in order to prevent corrosion of the tissues. Because highly acidic body foods cause an overproduction of fats, anyone who wants to lose weight should avoid an acidic diet. Alkaline diets are, thus, the perfect alternative. In fact, alkaline diets don’t only keep the fats away; they also pave the way for improved overall health.

The pH Miracle diet by global microbiologist Dr. Robert O.Young is today’s most popular alkaline diet that has helped changed many people’s lives just by guiding them through their food choices. The diet also proves that weight loss is not as monumental a task as most people believe. Besides, it is never a good idea to starve and deprive oneself of the joys of eating. Just by choosing food wisely through the pH Miracle diet, one can always enjoy the fuller, healthier flavors of life.

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