Would a Caveman Eat That?

A quick post before work...


This is the next "thing" that popped into my head. Addiction according to the dictionary is : the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something
that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, tosuch an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.


To be honest, before I started my "journey" I honestly didn't believe in addictions. I never thought I had addictive tendancies running through my blood stream, and never understood why it wasn't easier for people to just "quit smoking" or "quit drinking". When you think addiction, most people automatically think to drugs or alcohol.... even the Webster dictionary apparently. But addictions very much exist, and can be found in just about anything. My culprit : food. 


I read an article shortly after I started losing weight that really hit home to me. It was an article on CNN Health. It had big words across the top that read, " Fatty Food May Cause Cocaine-Like Addiction". 

Article Link

The article describes how fatty, unhealthy food is processed in a way that purposely leaves you craving more - much like the effect of cocaine on the body. The more of that food that gets in your bloodstream, the more your brain thinks you need to he "happy". One of the Medical Doctor's involved in the study said ""We purify our food," he says. "Our ancestors ate whole grains, but we're eating white bread. American Indians ate corn; we eat corn syrup." How true is that? 

I'm by no means an organic tree hugger or anything, but I think this article brings a lot of good information to the table when it comes to starting out eating healthy and knowing exactly what you're putting in your body. You only get 1 body - this is it, the 1 you were given has to last you forever. So why fill it with processed garbage that is ultimately designed to not only destroy your body but trick your brain into thinking it needs more and more to find pleasure? 

The closer to the ground food came from, the healthier it is in my book. Fruits, veggies, lean meat, whole grains. Those are the things the cavemen would have eaten. They wouldn't have eaten doritos or mountain dew or any of that very popular food these days. Here are 2 items in my kitchen I just found, and the "Ingredients" listed on both of them. 

Can you guess what the 2 items are? Pop-tarts and Carrots. Notice that the pop-tarts have 47 ingredients listed. 47! You would think the combination of 47 ingredients would make something much more prestigious than a pop-tart. The second item is, well, carrots. Plain and simple. There wasn't a big factory in New Jersey mixing together big containers of high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors and sweeteners to produce those carrots, and that makes me feel good about eating them. Several of those 47 ingredients were put in those pop-tarts to make you want more. The sugar hits your blood stream, spiking your blood sugar for a short time, and then you crash in awhile and feel like you need more. It's a vicious cycle. 

Addictions are hard. Just like working out, they make you want to scream, cry, kick your legs like a child, and sometimes cause you to act like a complete idiot. Once I came to terms of my food addiction, it was easier to kick the habit. Instead of living to eat, I now eat to live. I feed my body with nutritious, healthy food that powers it to work the best it can. This has especially become important the last several months with Marathon training. If I wasn't eating well and often to keep my metabolism in check, my body wouldn't be able to perform at its best and allow me to keep up the vigorous training that I've been doing.