In our previous article we talked about neuroplasticity and how it can affect your diet and eating behaviors. In particular we talked about how your brain can make connections through association, and how this relates to food. In this article we will explore how neuroplasticity can create extremely strong connections in your brain which in turn, can make you addicted to food.

 

Food addiction is no different than any other type of addiction. Whether you are addicted to drugs, smoking, drinking or food, they are all linked to the same underlying disorder: a brain chemical imbalance. We don’t treat food this way however. If you eat too much of a particular food or food group the advice seems to be the same. Stop eating it and eat this green leafy vegetable instead. That’s all good and well, but what do you do if, despite your best efforts, you just CAN’T STOP EATING?

 

Unfortunately there is no one answer to this question. If there was then somebody would be very, very, very rich. The reason being that we are all unique individuals, and thus the answer to this will be different for us all. Fortunately however, we have learned through neuroplasticity that we can change our brains and thus our behaviors and eating habits. Through neuroplasticity you can learn to become addicted to any food that you want. But in order to do this you need to rebalance your brain chemistry, remove the addictive substance, and retrain your brain to function properly.

 

Remember Dopamine? This is the primary neurotransmitter responsible for feeling good and generally happy. Without dopamine, life wouldn’t be much fun. People who are depressed often have a chemical imbalance in their brains where dopamine and serotonin (dopamine’s accomplice) are not able to do the job that they are supposed to. People who are depressed are sometimes given “anti-depressants” to allow more dopamine and serotonin to be released into their brains and utilized. This can result in elevated moods and a general sense of well being.

 

There is another “drug” that can create a similar experience in your brain. It’s called FOOD. Although food is not actually a drug, once you ingest it, a huge array of chemicals are released in your brain, just as if you had taken a drug. In fact, the simple the act of thinking about food and what food tastes like can create massive amounts of your “self-made” drugs to be released in your brain. This process occurs in everybody.

 

Whenever you eat food, your dopamine levels increase, and this makes you feel really good. For certain people this dopamine rush is recognized as satiety or satisfaction. These people are able to recognize that they are satisfied and will stop eating. There are other people however how do not feel as satisfied as quickly, and when they do, they interpret the dopamine rush as a euphoric experience, instead of an everyday feeling. 

 

This is what occurs with people who are overweight. In their brains they make an association with how a certain food makes them feel good. Then when they want to feel good again they automatically think to eat the food that made them feel good last time. This is your brain at work. It is very good at making associations so whenever you want something it gives you the best suggestion depending on its previous experiences. So every time you use food to feel good you are strengthening that connection, until eventually you become addicted to food because that is the only thing that makes you feel better.

 

This learned behavior is facilitated through neuroplasticity, your brains hardwiring to change at any time. Any addictive brain seeks its dopamine rush in the form of rewards. If you are addicted to food then you have trained your brain to seek reward from that source. When you take away this reward you give your brain no choice but to repel. It’s not your brains fault, it wants you to feel better, but you have trained it to only feel better by eating. So when you partake in a diet you are in a constant battle with your brian. It’s a massive mis-communication. 

 

You can change and you can lose weight BUT ONLY if you learn to change your brain. If you continue to try and lose weight through manipulating your diet and exercise then it is very unlikely that you will reach your goal. If you can harness the power of neuroplasticty, you can learn to change your body for life and end your diet war forever.