Open up Instagram, Twitter or Pinterest and you’re almost certain to come upon someone’s perfect photo of their food. Or food that they would LOVE to have at the moment that they posted it. It strikes me funny that we call this fascination to photographed food as “food porn” because food and sex seem to be the two most powerful pleasure drives that we have as humans. At least, nowadays. We have become so enamored of our favorite foods, that we will exude the same ferocity in a heated discussion about them that we would about religion or politics.
But, is this normal? Better question – is this healthy?
Well, not really. But, a couple of things are in play here some of which many people don’t know about or even care about.
Biologically and historically speaking, our bodies were trained and designed over so many years to eat as much as possible when food was available so that the body could store it as energy (aka fat) for when there wasn’t enough food. So, now, there’s this system in place that just keeps chugging along, storing fat for that famine state that is outdated in this day and age in most of the Western world. Worse yet, our bodies are pretty much refusing to release some of this storage because there’s no telling when that food apocalypse will hit and we need to be ready for it. Even worse? We have access to food anytime, day or night whether it’s cooked for us or if it requires a car trip down to the 24-hour grocery store. Deeper down this rabbit hole we go…
All this food that we have at our fingertips on our smart phones that trigger our cravings that urge us to order up some delivery? It’s starving us. Our bodies aren’t getting the nutrients they need in order to hit that blissful reset button that sends out the message “stop storing fat” also. We are overeating and indulging in foods that contain more “empty calories” than actual nutrients and we’re using those same foods as rewards to ourselves:
- “Oh, it’s been such a shitty week so I’m going to just finish off this whole bag of Cheetos™ because I deserve it, dammit.”
- “I’ve been soooo good all week, I totally deserve this hot fudge brownie sundae.”
- “I don’t care how unhealthy it is, I want to enjoy my food. I want to live to eat!”
Sound familiar? What are we doing to ourselves? Well, every story has more to it, right? Well, at least good stories. These foods are not just a way for people to cope with life’s stresses but they are being “manufactured” and “engineered” (yes, those are the words I want to use) to make people want them and want MORE and MORE of them. Preservatives, sugars, salt, certain fats, artificial food colorings — these things send a quick message to the brain of pleasure (an actual temporary release of dopamine occurs when you eat these types of foods). This then creates a sort of addiction cycle and, like someone hooked on certain drugs, they’re stuck looking for that wonderful “high” again. I’m sure everyone knows the ad campaign “Bet you can’t eat just one”? There’s a reason for that. The fat and unhealthy carbohydrates send off fireworks in the brain’s reward center (click here to read more about the science) and the next thing they know, they’ve eaten the entire bag even if they weren’t really hungry. These companies just want you to keep coming back for more because that’s where they make their money.
So, why is food porn so damn sinister? It’s pervasive and it reminds us of the reward of eating the foods we think we love. But, honestly, do we love food? What if someone was addicted to cocaine and all over the internet people were posting pictures of cocaine through all kinds of photographic filters, different lighting, different angles, some sexy, some just messy… Yes, I’m saying that food is just like cocaine to many people — especially certain types of food. The truth is, food is an actual drug, it’s a great tasting drug, but still a drug. Not saying that food porn should all disappear but can we just turn down the volume? Please? Or better yet – show me some sexy looking veggies!
After Thought: We’re not dogs to be given “treats” everytime we perform and, instead of using food as a reward, how about we try something different? If you need a reward for hitting some sort of goal or because you feel you deserve it for whatever reasons, go for a walk instead, or meditate, or go outside and play with your kids. Each of those things will help increase dopamine. Our bodies need tyrosine in order to produce dopamine efficiently and that’s found in almonds, bananas, avocadoes, beans, fish, chicken, and eggs (be wary of the fish, chicken, and eggs, though, try to choose healthier prepared versions of these).
Hart Health 