Eating healthy is not easy. Our brain often mediates the type of food we choose to eat depending on how we feel. Brain and food have a direct relationship; an association that we do not always give the importance it deserves. We are also urged to pay attention to our diet to meet certain beauty standards or to choose those supposed "superfoods" that will take the best care of our health. Now, there is something we should consider. When it comes to food, we should pay more attention to how it makes us feel than to how it produces changes in our body image. Because the truth is that the brain also modulates the type of food we choose depending on how we feel, which does not always play in our favor.
In that sense, instead of obsessing about following certain diets or choosing apparently healthy products, it would be advisable to pay attention to another approach. Regulating and managing emotions is as important as choosing what we put on our plates every day. If there is one thing the brain loves, it is fat, sugar and salt. For our distant ancestors, it was complicated to access these resources so useful for survival; thus, it seems that we are somehow programmed to consume as many as we can when they are available to us. The way in which their consumption activates our reward circuits is very great, we could even say that they are very powerful reinforces.
Likewise, every time we go through difficult times and our mood shows ups and downs, it is common to try to activate our reward circuit by this way. Junk food, rich in fats, salt and sugars, gratifies the brain and gives us instant pleasure. However, this delight is brief and also addictive. Little by little, we drift into eating styles that are harmful to our physical and psychological health. In fact, it would be wonderful to have a brain that would always motivate us to choose the healthiest option to include in our diet. However, the way we eat comes from our upbringing, our culture and our biology. The brain does not exactly help us to maintain a correct diet.
In the same vein, society, education, work, stress, culture. All these elements affect how we eat and this, more than genes, affects our health. The brain is shaped by what we see, what we feel and what society transmits to us. Nowadays, eating well requires time and this is an element that we lack today. Our lifestyle, based on haste, worry and pressure, invites us to feed the emotions, not the organism. Emotions are also eaten, or rather, they urge us to choose some products over others. This also invites us to reflect on the fact that, in reality, we cannot differentiate between "good" and "bad" foods. The problem lies in the quantity and in the difficulty of eating a varied and balanced diet.
In conclusion, the brain and food feedback in two ways. On the one hand, we know that the way we feel affects which products we choose to eat in each moment and situation. Now, what we give our body also mediates how we feel. We cannot escape from food, it is necessary in all stages of life, but there are healthy ones and others that are harmful to our organism. The dilemma is that if we choose one over the other, they can provoke different reactions in our brain. Lack of time leads to more frequent consumption of fast food and convenience products. Therefore, eating habits are becoming less and less healthy. These changes have a negative impact, facilitating the development of metabolic diseases.
Do you think the brain and food are related?
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No doubt, that fatty, salry and sweet gives up pleasure. Even people say eat chocolate and you will feem happy. Nice article and well written. Thanks for sharing.