Stepaniak Joanne - Breaking the food seduction: the hidden reasons behind food cravings-- and 7 steps to end them naturally

Breaking the
Food Seduction

ALSO BY NEAL BARNARD, M.D.

Turn Off the Fat Genes

Foods That Fight Pain

Eat Right, Live Longer

Food for Life

Foods That Cause You to Lose Weight

The Power of Your Plate

Neal Barnard, M.D.

Breaking the
Food Seduction

The Hidden Reasons Behind
Food CravingsAnd 7 Steps to
End Them Naturally

with Menus and Recipes by Joanne Stepaniak

St. Martins Griffin New York

BREAKING THH FOOD SEDUCTION . Copyright 2003 by

Neal Barnard, M.D.

Menus and recipes copyright 2003 by Joanne Stepaniak.

All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner

whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief

quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.

For information, address St. Martins Press,

175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.stmartins.com

Design by Kate Nichols

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Barnard, Neal., 1953

Breaking the food seduction: the hidden reasons behind food cravings

and 7 steps to end them naturally / Neal Barnard.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 305) and index (p. 317).

ISBN 0-312-31493-0 (hc)

ISBN 0-312-31494-9 (pbk)

EAN 987-0312-31494-1

eISBN 978-1-4299-7058-7

1. Compulsive eating. 2. Food habits. 3. Reducing diets. I. Title.

RC552.C65B375 2003

616.85'26dc21

2003043159

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

A Note to the Reader

My goal is to provide you with information about foods and health. However, neither this book nor any other can take the place of individualized medical care or advice. If you are overweight, have any health problem, or are on medication, you should see your doctor before making any changes in your diet or exercise routines, and you should follow your doctors recommendations, which will be based on your individual needs.

There are many situations in which a diet change can alter your need for medications. For example, individuals with diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol levels often need less medication when they improve their diets. You should be sure to work with your physician to adjust your regimen as needed.

The science of nutrition grows gradually as time goes on, so I encourage you to consult with other sources of information, including the references listed in this volume.

With any dietary change, it is important to ensure complete nutrition. Be sure to include a source of vitamin B12 in your routine, which could include any common multivitamin, fortified soymilk or cereals, or a vitamin B12 supplement of five micrograms or more per day.

I wish you the very best of health.

Acknowledgments

I owe a large debt of gratitude to many people whose efforts contributed to this book. First, very special thanks to Mary Ann Naples, an enormously skillful literary agent, and Marian Lizzi, a wonderful editor, who helped shape this book to communicate clearly and effectively.

This book would not have been possible without the efforts of the many research volunteers who have participated in our studies, giving so generously of their time, not to mention many early mornings at the laboratory and late nights in research meetings. I also have had the privilege of working with insightful and skilled coinvestigators: Patricia Bertron, R.D., Jolie Glass, M.S., Judy Harris, Donna Hurlock, M.D., Jennifer Keller, R.D., Amy J. Lanou, Ph.D., Andrew Nicholson, M.D., Paul Poppen, Ph.D., Anthony R. Scialli, M.D., Mark Sklar, M.D., and Gabrielle Turner-McGrievy, M.S., R.D.

Joanne Stepaniak, M.S. Ed., provided delightful recipes and tips that make healthy eating a joy, and Jenifer Howell Clements, R.D., expertly completed the nutritional analyses. Doug Hall provided wonderful graphics. Thank you to Jennie Brand Miller, Ph.D., of the University of Sydney, for kindly providing updated glycemic index data.

Special thanks to my assistant, Juliet Capon, who handled an enormous number of organizational details with unequaled skill.

Simon Chaitowitz, John Murphy, and Joan Higgins have done a brilliant job of conveying the messages of this book to producers, editors, and reporters so that these important concepts will not simply gather dust in libraries.

Mindy Kursban, Esq., and Jay Ukryn, Esq., pried loose from the federal government intriguing and previously unknown information about how industry and government keep less-than-healthy foods on our plates.

Breaking the
Food Seduction

Introduction

A my starts her day off being good. She eats a breakfast of instant oatmeal with fruit and heads to work, vowing that today she will stick to her diet. But by eleven A.M ., the familiar call from the vending machine starts, and Amy feels powerless. She cant fight the craving for chocolate, and ultimately gives in to temptationevery time.

Pauls doctor has warned him repeatedly that he is risking serious health problems if he does not lower his cholesterol. Time and time again, he has said he would try to cut down on cheese, meat, and other fat-laden foods that contribute to his cholesterol level. Yet he just cant seem to walk past the pizza joint around the corner from his office during lunchtime. The smells and sights lure him in again and again.

Susan has diabetes. Her good health depends upon her eating a diet free of processed junk food like potato chips, candy, and fast-food hamburgers. Even so, these are some of her favorites. She eats foods she knows she shouldnt and feels helpless to improve her life.

How are foods treating you? Do any of the stories above sound familiar? Do chocolate or sweets get the better of you more often than youd like? Has the diet youve grown accustomed to made you gain weight? Has it made your cardiologist nervous, or maybe contributed to high blood pressure, diabetes, joint pains, or migraines?

You might be a willing victim of doughnuts, double bacon-cheeseburgers, french fries, candy bars, or greasy fast-food chicken, whatever their effect on your waistline or health. But, more likely, you watch yourself being dragged down an unhealthy path against your better judgment. Its not that you dont know what kind of diet youd like to follow, the problem is that its so easy to be led astray.

Youve felt the seduction. I know I shouldnt, you tell yourself. But tastes and aromas call out like Sirens, leaving you little hope of resisting. We love foodand adore it sometimeseven when it doesnt love us back. Love is supposed to be nourishing and even invigorating, but sometimes our affairs with food pass from love to enslavement.

This book is going to show you a side of this love affair that will surprise you. Perhaps most surprising is that you will end up back in control. If youre not so sure that this is even possible, there are two essential facts you should know:

First, certain food habits are physical. It is not gluttony, weak will, or an oral personality that leads you to the refrigerator, at least not for the most part. It is not your fault that foods act as they do. It is a special property of the foods themselves that causes them to be so addicting. Chocolate, for example, has opiate effects, stimulating the release of chemicals within the brains pleasure center that keep you hooked.