Food Cocaine’s
Neurological studies have shown very similar activity in the brain with salt and sugar as with cocaine (can you think of many packaged foods that are not loaded with one or both of these). Add to this, much of our fast food, packaged food, and food additives now have monosodium glutamate (MSG). MSG excites the tongue and is considered an excitotoxin (neurotoxin) when too much of it crosses the blood brain barrier. Have you ever noticed that foods in their most basic simple form do not seem to stimulate a crazed appetite and over consumption? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand why foods loaded with sugar, salt and MSG have so much value to the food industry!
With the massive surge in obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and mental illness, (and other neurological brain disorders) there should be some pretty easy dots to connect between what we consume and inactivity. Processed sugars, salts, sodium nitrates, MSG, and aspartame (artificial sweeteners) are all major changes in the western diet, so we should be looking at these as something that may be feeding the problems of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and very possibly brain/mental illness related disorders.
For the record: this chapter is to address the over usage of refined sugars, salts, MSG and other food additives, not sugar and salt in its raw natural state. Also if you cook and prepare your food from scratch, there are a lot of health benefits from adding in some natural salt, (however most of us get too much in the typical western diet and most of it is refined).
Salt: salt helps your body to retain fluid, some is good but a continuous over consumption can create too much volume in your blood causing a higher blood pressure. Over consumption of salty foods (without its potassium counter partner) can cause water retention and this done long enough will distort our shape as well!
Sugar: sugar in our drinks and candies (without soluble fiber like fruits have) can absorb too rapidly into the bloodstream causing a spike in blood sugar. This in turn causes a big burst of insulin from your pancreas to help transport sugars to cells throughout the body, (vital tissues first, fat cells second). A constant intake of sugar and foods that rapidly break down into sugars is the primary corporate in creating and continuing type two diabetes. Can you imagine how tired and fatigued our pancreas is from constantly pumping out insulin to counter our sugar and starch consumption?
MSG: most of us appreciate foods that taste good, but when we are constantly eating foods that are made to taste really good with food additives such as MSG, and if we are feeling neurological issues, such as brain fog, low energy, etc., it may be connected to food additives such as MSG or sugar substitutes. MSG can be found in many food products ranging from seemingly healthy foods, such as seemingly healthy frozen meals, protein powder, chicken and noodle soup to fast food, salad dressings, and potato chips. When there is too much continued excitotoxins continuously, stimulating neurons in the brain, it can cause harmful side effects, such as: excessive calcium influx, activation of destructive enzymes, oxidative, stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, neuronal cell, death, and inflammatory responses. The name is MSG comes in under our: mono, sodium, glutamate, sodium glutamate, MSG, and can also be a trickier injection of MSG under names, such as natural flavors/flavoring, bouillon, broth, or stock, malt extract, and malt flavoring.
Whether it’s an eventual heart attack or stroke that makes so we can no longer perform like we used to, or diabetes (which can cause circulatory problems that in turn brings on awful things such as amputations and blindness), brain fog, fatigue (or more serious brain conditions), and we start connecting our intake (what fuels our body) with either good or poor performance, these carbonated, caffeinated, sugar — salt — MSG loaded food and drink products (that stimulate overconsumption, will probably not look so good to us!
It takes 90–120 days for our blood supply to be replaced by a new blood supply, it takes around 6 months for our soft tissue to be replaced and around 12 months for a complete cellular regeneration all the way to our bone and tooth enamel! The above is affected by the lifestyle choices we make such as food choices, drink choices (etc.), as well as the environment we have been exposed to during this time period! Keep in mind that new cell generations are mutations from the prior generation of cells, so restoring complete vibrancy and health on a cellular level does not happen overnight. A healthy and active lifestyle done with consistency is key to maintaining or returning to good health.
We not only are what we eat but we also become what we do with what we eat!
