TheBrainChangingDiet

In light of our previous article on mirrors neurons, let us take a glimpse of how these brain cells affect you in your life. First, we discovered that simply watching somebody doing an activity stimulates your brain as if you were actually doing that activity. Next, we found that we can often feel the same emotions that another person is feeling, simply by watching their facial expressions. Finally we learned that through this interpretation, your brain anticipates what it would be like if you performed the activity that you are observing. Now lets relate it to diet and weight loss…

Simply watching another person perform any activity stimulates specific brain cells – ones that we previously believed were activated only by DOING the activity. Lets say you are minding your own business, going about your daily activities, and you decide to drop in to see one of your friends. You go into your friends house and she just happens to be having some chocolate chip cookies. You both sit down and begin to chat, but your attention keeps being drawn to the chocolate cookies. Why? Because as your friend goes through the process of eating the cookies your brain activates as you were eating them yourself. These are you mirror neurons. There is a problem however…you’re not actually eating any cookies. So as one area of your brain says, “Hey I’m eating cookies”, another area says “Nope, not getting any cookies here”. The common theme here is “cookies”, so all of a sudden you want cookies!

As your friend enjoys the cookies your brain tries to interpret how your friend feels about the cookies. “Are the cookies nice?”, “Does she like the cookies”, “How are the cookies making her feel?”. These processes all occur below your conscious awareness. Your friend doesn’t even need to tell you the cookies are great.  Your brain automatically monitors and interprets her body language. If she talks about how yummy the cookies taste your conscious awareness kicks in.  So you have your unconscious mind receiving information that the cookies must be really good and you have your conscious mind reinforcing this information.

Finally your brain begins to create an experience where it anticipates how wonderful the cookie would taste. Your brain knows that you have had cookies before and it uses your past experiences to gauge how enjoyable this cookie will be if you eat it. Finally, your friend asks “Would you like a cookie”. Somehow despite this intense activation in your brain you muster up the willpower to refuse your friends invitation of a delightful treat. After all you are “on a diet”.

The above example is called and ENVIRONMENTAL CUE. We experience these at multiple intervals during the day, like when you pass your favorite bakery on the way to work, or when you see an ad for burger king in-between watching a T.V show. In fact, studies show that we make over 200 conscious decisions and countless unconscious decisions about food every single day.  Environmental cues are everywhere, but the most powerful ones can come in the form of your social interactions.

Human beings have especially active mirror neurons. Many researchers believe that one of their primary functions is to facilitate social behavior.  These brain cells allow us to learn from each other subconsciously and they are responsible for many of the amazing feats we can accomplish. Unfortunately mirror neurons take in all the information around you and don’t make judgements.  They can help you learn useful social behaviors but they also indiscriminately respond to those less desirable actions that we encounter every day.

Lets take the above example of our friend and her cookies. Although you may have just eaten lunch and have absolutely no desire for a cookie, simply watching your friend eating one will ramp up your desire to do to same. In step 1, the motor areas of your brain that are required to eat a cookie are basically saying – “eat that cookie”. In step 2, the emotional areas of your brain that interpret your friends feelings are saying – “eat that cookie”. In step 3 the pleasure centers in your brain are determining how delicious it will be and are saying – “eat that cookie”. But guess what, not one of these structures work independently, so in one fell swoop you have the movement areas of your brian, the emotional areas of your brain and the pleasure areas of your brain all simultaneously telling you to “EAT THAT COOKIE”. All because you are watching your friend eat one. 

So can your friends make you fat? The answer is of course, yes. So many people are totally unaware of how their friends and social environment affect their behaviors. But here is the good news. If your friends can make you fat, then they can also make you thin. You just have to tell them how they can help you to do that. Here are some quick tips to get you started:

MAKE IT PUBLIC – Most people when trying to lose weight and change their eating behavior never tell anybody what they are trying to do. This can be a huge mistake. They are often embarrassed what people may think of them, especially if they fail to lose weight. By going public you can advise your family, friends, and others, how they can be the most helpful to you. Remember, it is very hard for people to help you if they do not know that you are trying to change.

CONTROL YOUR ENVIRONMENT – It is a lot easier to control your environment than it is to control your behavior. Read that again, it is critical to your success. When you are constantly exposed to food, you have to constantly resist temptation. One can only resist for so long. Start with your family. Ask them to get rid of foods that are problematic for you or at least make sure they are not storing them in plain view and eating them in front of you. Eliminating this environmental cue alone can make a big difference.

ELICIT HELPING RELATIONSHIPS – Seek the support of somebody that can help you with your behavior change. This can be anybody, a friend, a family member, a colleague, somebody who has already achieved the change that you want. It should be somebody who you think can understand and support you as you go through your behavior change.

FIND SOCIAL GROUPS – It can be very difficult to change your eating behavior if you feel like you are doing it all on your own. Seek out groups of people who are going through the same process that you are. You can learn from them, ask questions, find support and learn new strategies to help you along.

Changing your eating behavior to lose weight can be a long road for some people, and keeping it off is often more difficult. In order to create real change, you must understand to use your family, close friends and others to help you along. They do not have to change they just have to HELP YOU CHANGE. Make mirror neurons work for you and you will find that losing weight becomes a whole lot easier.

In order to understand the Lose Weight-Gain Weight Cycle, you must understand it in terms of your brain. Your brain is a survival based organism, and we have learned through neuroplasticity that it can change at any time depending on the demand placed on it. In this presentation we look at how and why your brain changes in response to this cycle.

For anybody trying to lose weight, the lose weight-gain weight cycle is often the trap that they fall into. It is the most common weight loss strategy used by many people, yet is the most ineffective because it actually PROMOTES weight gain. It is unfortunate then that most people revert to this strategy when trying to lose weight. In this 2 part presentation, the mechanisms of the lose-weight-gain weight cycle will be discussed.  In part 2, you will learn how your brain will alter your physiology during this cycle, thus promoting weight gain and inhibiting weight loss in the future.

For some people food is just fuel, for most of us it is more, sometimes a lot more.  Throughout most of our history our primary drive has been to seek out and acquire food. We have a built in mechanism to sustain this drive - our reward system. Whenever we eat food and sometimes when we just think about it, chemicals in our brain stimulate certain brain ares that give us a sensation of pleasure. 

Certain foods are more rewarding than others.  Scientists call this quality “palatability”.  When we say that a food is palatable, oftentimes we are referring to its taste. Here though, palatability refers to a food’s ability to stimulate our appetite and prompt us to eat more. Palatability of course involves taste, but it primarily involves our motivation to pursue certain foods. It’s the reason that when it comes to certain foods, we just can’t stop eating. 

What makes a food palatable?  A food’s palatability is largely dependent on the food’s ability to engage all of your senses. This experience is called your perception and is a subjective experience for all of us. It explains why you may like certain foods but your friend may not. We all have different perceptions on how something tastes, smells, looks or feels which in turn creates an experience that is unique to you.  Food that stimulates all of senses has the potential to create intense memories.  This was the basis for one of the most famous books of all time, Swann’s Way, usually called “A Remembrance of Things Past” by Marcel Proust.

When we describe food, people usually talk about taste.  When it tastes really good we say it is “delicious”.  But when we eat, taste is only one of the senses that use. We also describe the SMOOTH, CREAMY pleasure of our favorite chocolate cake, the RICH AROMA of our favorite coffee, or the CRISPY texture of our favorite fried shrimp. Any food writer knows the importance of highlighting these characteristics to make the food seem more desirable and appetizing.

The food industry knows exactly how to create this experience for you, and they do everything in their power to provide a bite that will MELT in your mouth. Here is a short description of an entree that I picked up at a restaurant recently:

“Juicy fire–grilled chicken breast drizzled with our Jack Daniel’s^® glaze and some crispy Cajun–spiced fried shrimp with dipping sauce. Our creamy mashed potatoes and veggies seal the satisfaction. “

Now you may not be hungry, but just reading that will definitely tickle your taste buds. Just the words on the page will create a picture in your mind of what this dish would look, taste, smell and feel like in your mouth. All of this is packaged together to create a perception of the experience we would have if we could eat this meal right now. This perception sends massive anticipatory reactions to the pleasure centers of your brain and you say “ That SOUNDS scrumptious, I think I’ll have that!”

It is this anticipation of stimulation which motivates you to eat long after your physical drives for food have been satisfied. It is why you can’t stop thinking about desert even though you have just started to eat your main course, because you know how delicious desert will be. Humans like to be entertained and have pleasure. The way food is presented to us in today’s society, entertainment and pleasure can easily be satisfied by simply going to your local restaurant.

So the next time you call something “creamy and moist”,  realize that you are probably not eating to satisfy your physical hunger, but instead to delight your senses. 

In this short presentation, Conner Hughes, Director of BrainChanging, describes the impact that the food industry has on your eating behaviors.

During this presentation you will learn :

 • How food stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain.

 • “Palatability” -- The key factor in food industry manipulation.

 • Why certain foods can become irresistible.

 • Why humans are so drawn to fat and sugar.

 • How food presentation and marketing stimulate cravings.