What to do if you can’t eat anything

There is a food trap that some people fall in to where the number of foods that they feel that they can eat slowly dwindles down to almost nothing.

I’m going to suggest to you that this problem doesn’t make you crazy, but it is largely your brain’s fault (or maybe it is better described as your genes fault).

This problem is probably best explained by the book Omnivore’s Dilemma.

Omnivores have a problem that no other type of eater has: deciding what to eat. A cow, for example, never wonders what it is going to put in its’ mouth, the grass it is walking on is always the answer. Likewise, you don’t see lions or sharks contemplating their dinner choices; if it is running or swimming away then it is on the menu.

We omnivores, though, have to test foods to see if they are okay for us. The key to understand why this might be a problem is to understand that omnivores attach how they feel after they eat something with whether the food is good for them or not. This is a handy tool to have: You eat some berries you think are okay to eat and later you get a stomach ache; next time you see that berry, you stay away from it.

The problem is that this omnivore-avoidance-system isn’t very accurate. Studies have shown that people are poor predictors of what might be good or bad for them. Part of the problem also lies in the complexity of the food we eat; many of the meals we eat are a mixture of many different foods. To add to the difficulty deciding what to eat is that we might be feeling bad for other reasons and just think it is the food we are eating.

So, when you are spiraling out of control and unable to find anything to eat, consider that many things you think are not good for you, may be okay.

What to do next?

Let’s say that you have thought about the above and tried to add in more foods, but still find that there are foods that you still cannot eat. Here is a plan for taking your diet to the next level.

• Testing: Many people want to turn to testing to find out what foods they are allergic to. My experience is that testing generally doesn’t help. Testing done on the skin is silly as the part of the immune system responsible for protecting the skin is different from the immune system in your gut. Blood testing gets you a bit closer, but will only show foods that you are allergic to and not those you have intolerances to (read the Food Allergy vs Food Intolerances part of the previous article). The best testing is removal and reintroducing of foods.
• Brain/Gut: Your brain is closely tied to your digestive system. Scientists are now calling this the Gut/Brain axis: as you think, so your gut feels. If you are stressed out or anxious, your gut will respond. Many people with digestive problems find that they go away when they are on vacation (and they usually eat worse than they normally do). Consider taking supplements for anxiety such as Kava Kava, GABA, theanine, or others.
• Digestive Enzymes: Some of your problems may be due to not having enough digestive enzymes. Get a very high quality digestive enzyme and see if that helps.
• Rebalance Bacteria: The bacteria in your gut may also be part of the problem. Try using a product called Zyflamend that is used for inflammation, but I have found works wonders on the gut. You can also go on an anti-yeast or anti-parasite program; make sure you take enough of the herbs for it to be successful. I recommend these products:
  • CandiGONE – Candida Cleansing Program by Renew Life
  • Paragone – Parasite Cleansing Program by Renew Life

Some combination of the above will work for you. It is a difficult path to return to normalish eating, but one well worth the journey.

All this is good advice, but there is really only one thing you have to do to improve the chances that you will live longer: Look further down the road.

Looking Further

You spend your days making decisions. You decide to get out of bed, what to eat for breakfast, what clothes you are gong to wear during the day… Many of these decisions are automatic such as brushing your teeth, wearing a seatbelt, scratching your head. And each of those decisions , no matter how minor,  has an impact on your life. Some have a small impact on your life. Other decisions have more impact such as: should you move? should you marry? should you take that job?

The most important decisions you make, though, are the ones that appear to have little impact on your life when taken as a one-time event, but when repeated over a whole lifetime, have a huge impact.

Take a look:

• One cigarette means nothing to your health, but a pack of cigarettes a day for years equal cancer.
• One soda is a tasty treat, three sodas a day means a bigger chance for being overweight and having diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease…
• Driving in a car is the easy way to get to the store, walking instead of driving every day means you live longer.
• You may be too busy to call a friend back, but having good friends means you are more likely to live a longer and fuller life.
• You can’t find the time to exercise today, but exercises over a lifetime gives you energy, better sleep and can forestall diseases such as dementia, heart disease, diabetes and more.

There are more of these you can probably think of, consider adding yours to the comment section below!

Our Brains

Here is the problem: our brains are not set up to look further down the road. Are brains are set up to notice sudden and dramatic threats and adjust to them. If people took a puff from a cigarette and fell down dead, then we would avoid them. But since they kill us slowly, we seem to hardly notice the destruction because it is so slow. The same is true of sugar and other poor foods that we eat. The same is true about deciding to exercise, or take time with friends or the hundred of other healthy things we could be doing.

Humans are unique, though, in the fact that they can see further down the road, they can look at their futures.

Here is what you should commit to in order to increase your odds of staying on the earth longer:

• Eat better: I suggest Eating Below the Glycemic Index you can also try my 30 Sugar Free Days as a way to kick start a healthy eating plan.
• Exercise: Move your body around every day, sweat a little.
• Make Connections: Connect to friends, family and other social groups.
• Laugh: If you are not enjoying life, what is the point?

Take the time to develop habits that empower you and lean you towards better health, the payback is well worth the effort.

• When rats have free access to sugar, they will eat a ton of it and will eat more sugar than any other food available to them. <see study>
• When sugar is removed from the diet of rats that have become used to it, they shake, tremble, are anxious, and their teeth chatter. They are also prone to aggression. Any addict or junkie will recognize these classic withdrawal symptoms. <see study>
• When sugar is removed from the diet of rats and when sugar is returned to their diet, rats will binge on the sugar. Similar to alcoholism and other addictions, this “deprivation-effect” is a phenomenon that explains what happens when the removal of a substance for a period of time results in an increased use of the substance and uncontrollable cravings upon its return. <see study>
• When under stress, rats will consume more sugar. <see study>
• When scientists look into the brains of rats, they find that there are physical changes along with increases in brain chemicals that are very similar to those of other addicts including alcoholics, smokers, and opioid users. <see study>
• One of the best ways to study if a substance you are taking is addictive is to inject what is called an opioid antagonist. When animals raised on excessive intake of sugar are given such a drug, they experience anxiety and other signs of withdrawal similar to morphine or nicotine withdrawal. When scientists give sugar to rats for a long period of time and give them a drug (Naloxone) that actually blocks the brain from experiencing brain chemicals associated with drug abuse, the rats experience all the symptoms of withdrawal. <see study>
• Cross-sensitization exists with sugar addiction. In other words, when someone is addicted to sugar, they have a greater risk of being addicted to alcohol, nicotine, and morphine-like drugs. <see study>

Why the medical community continues to treat sugar as if it is okay for anyone to eat and it is not addictive is one of the great mysteries of modern times. I, personally, wouldn’t turn to the medical communities for any advice on what to eat and what not to eat. Sugar is an addiction and it is harmful. My hope is that soon, the medical community wakes up and discovers how harmful sugar really is.