The Subliminal Power of Stress

 The Subliminal Power of Stress

What? STRESSED? Who me? Did you know that STRESSED spelled backwards is DESSERTS? Oh how interconnected our diets are with the stresses of this life! I think we can all quickly agree the world is under a lot of stress lately and since we are in the world then we too are feeling the pressure that comes with living in this world. Which means all of us must somehow manage this stress. There is physical and emotional stress, but the stress we probably deal with the most is emotional. How we deal with this emotional stress which comes upon us on a daily basis will determine the course of our lives. All of us have stress triggers. Some, like money, are easy to name. When the bills are due we can feel the physical manifestation in our bodies. Some stresses are way more subtle. The recent global shutdown produced a litany of these hidden stresses as we tried to succor our homes and loved ones. What do we do when such stresses hit us? Generally, speaking when stress hits, we reach for what we call comfort foods. Why is it when you are rarely tempted by fast food all of a sudden you desire fast food? It is the subliminal connection to what is in the food that your body craves. What is that connection? Usually its sugar but don’t forget the synergistically formulated recipes of sugar, fat, and salt these corporations have put together to not only hook you but to addict you. Addict you? You mean these corporations would try to addict us to their food? Oh yes they would! Don’t ever forget that the love of money is the root of all evil. If you want to save yourself from this untoward generation you must never forget this principle…these corporations love money over your health. If the food you are eating is produced by a company that sells stock on the stock market, the most important thing to that company is the profit margin, which means money is more important that you. Think about it. Shelf life is vital for a company with a goal to make money. A natural food item will rot and perish within a few days, which means its ability to bring in money only has a small window BUT if you ‘doctor up’ that food product with sugar, salt, fats, and a myriad of other addictive chemicals, then that food will stay on the shelf for months if not years. Sadly, the corporations have not only worked hard to make the food’s shelf life longer, but also more addictive than ever before. Hence the sudden desire to go through a fast food drive through when stress triggers you in either known or unknown ways. For instance, sugar lights up our brains like cocaine lights up our brains. Eat sugar long enough you will create a chemical addiction to eating it. As a matter of fact, there are handful of studies where rats were tested to see if they would prefer cocaine or sugar. Believe it or not, ninety-four percent of the rats went to sugar before they would go to the cocaine! Dopamine is a chemical neurotransmitter in the pleasure center of the brain. To think the chemical reaction that lights up the dopamine in the brain for sugar is stronger than cocaine is crazy to even consider. So now I digress back to the last blog post. The pleasure trap that we all live in of desiring pleasure as quickly and painlessly as possible is so subliminally connected to these chemical addictions in our brains. It is vital that you understand that these corporations KNOW THIS and have been doing this on purpose for years and years. When you walk through a grocery store, know and understand that every food was created in a lab. These corporations have millions of dollars to scientifically experiment with our food and chemicals to addict us. If a food is on the shelf, understand it only got there after a long process of adding and subtracting the right amount of chemicals for stimulation on our brains. I would contend to say, the easier it is to cook, then the more addictive it is. 

So now you may be asking yourself, “How do I combat this seemingly overwhelming battle with my food?” Well, there are a few things I would suggest you begin to implement in your life. 

The best way to battle this is to buy fresh and not in a can or box! 

Become a label reader! Learn to read the labels on the food you buy. The more ingredients it has the more fake it is. Know the first six ingredients a product has in it are what the product has the most of. Learn about sugar and its different names. Anything word that ends with ‘OSE’ is a sugar. High fructose is a dangerous sugar. 

Learn and be more conscientious of your triggers and when you feel a stress trigger hit you, reach for a naturally occurring food product with sugar in it like fruit or drink a big glass of water to help satiate the momentary stress.

I know for many of us in this 52 day fast, we may not dealing completely fasting from foods, but I will try to deal with things along to the to help us overcome and remain on track.