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Writer's pictureAmy Neilson

THE BLISS POINT

šŸ˜Hump Day Health HackšŸ˜ with @amysfitnessandnutrition



Ever find that if you start on a bag of chips you just canā€™t stop? Or you reach for a pack of biscuits after dinner aiming to have oneā€¦only to end up having eight? Weā€™re all been there. And the good news is that itā€™s not your fault. Big companies have spent millions of dollars formulating the right chemical formulation to hit what is called our bliss point. Hitting it is great for sales! It literally highjacks our hormones to make our dopamine censors fire. This is our happy hormone. If something triggers our dopamine our body says ā€˜go back for moreā€™!



WHY ONCE YOU POP YOU CANā€™T STOP

Modern and packaged foods are designed to ensure they hit our bliss point. That balance of sweet and salty is a combination that is super palatable and keeps us coming back for more. This formula mimics our motherā€™s breast milk and so desiring these foods is actually what keeps us alive as small children.


Pringles (which contain 26 ingredients by the way) are sweet, salty and even the shape of them has been engineered to be enjoyable and hit the right taste receptors. Biscuits? Sweet, salty, and crunchy? Many of these foods have even been formulated to ensure they have the right ā€˜mouth feelā€™ to make us want more. Creepy eh?



ULTRA-PROCESSED HEALTH FOOD

Itā€™s not just chips, biscuits, and ā€˜junk foodā€™. Today 90% of our shop's contents are ultra-processed food-like substances that barely resemble what they started as. That healthy ā€˜pesto dipā€™ thatā€™s canola oil, salt, and sugar with some basil thrown in for good measureā€¦ or that gut healthy ā€˜yoghurtā€™, thats main ingredient is sugar?


Donā€™t even get me started on ā€˜healthyā€™ kidā€™s cereal. Messages like ā€˜20% Proteinā€™ and ā€˜Fortified with Vitamin-Dā€™ make us think that weā€™re making good choices for our children when really weā€™re filling them with ultra-processed grains and chemicals. Thereā€™s actually more nutrition and fewer ingredients in full-fat ice cream than there are in a lot of the supposedly healthy breakfast foods lining our shelves.



HOW TO AVOID OVEREATING

1. Eat Whole Foods (Fruit, Veggies, Meat & Fish, Nuts & Seeds)

2. If It Has An Ingredient Label Read It

3. More Than 5 Ingredients? Steer Well Clear

4. Replace Treats With Healthy Swaps:

- Fruit, Nut Butter & Cinnamon

- 90% Cocoa Dark Chocolate

- Homemade Cereal (nuts, seeds, goji berries)

- Unsweetened Greek Yoghurt With Honey

- Nuts & Seeds


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jonnylocal
jonnylocal
2021幓3꜈03ę—„

20 ingredients!! I don't even think Pringles are allow to be labelled potato chip, because there is not enough potato!

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