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New Year's Resolutions? Brain Can Sabotage Success
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29-01-2011 2:27pm#1This ties into what I was saying about tobacco control on the obesity thread. Environment is HUGE controller of what we eat.
From http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=132627871
Uh-oh, the new year's just begun and already you're finding it hard to keep those resolutions to junk the junk food, get off the couch or kick smoking. There's a biological reason a lot of our bad habits are so hard to break — they get wired into our brains.
That's not an excuse to give up. Understanding how unhealthy behaviors become ingrained has scientists learning some tricks that may help good habits replace the bad.
"Why are bad habits stronger? You're fighting against the power of an immediate reward," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain's pleasure pathway.
It's the fudge vs. broccoli choice: Chocolate's yum factor tends to beat out the knowledge that sticking with veggies brings an eventual reward of lost pounds.
"We all as creatures are hard-wired that way, to give greater value to an immediate reward as opposed to something that's delayed," Volkow says.
Just how that bit of happiness turns into a habit involves a pleasure-sensing chemical named dopamine. It conditions the brain to want that reward again and again — reinforcing the connection each time — especially when it gets the right cue from your environment.
People tend to overestimate their ability to resist temptations around them, thus undermining attempts to shed bad habits, says experimental psychologist Loran Nordgren, an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
"People have this self-control hubris, this belief they can handle more than they can," says Nordgren, who studies the tug-of-war between willpower and temptation.
In one experiment, he measured whether heavy smokers could watch a film that romanticizes the habit — called "Coffee and Cigarettes" — without taking a puff. Upping the ante, they'd be paid according to their level of temptation: Could they hold an unlit cigarette while watching? Keep the pack on the table? Or did they need to leave the pack in another room?
Smokers who'd predicted they could resist a lot of temptation tended to hold the unlit cigarette — and were more likely to light up than those who knew better than to hang onto the pack, says Nordgren. He now is beginning to study how recovering drug addicts deal with real-world temptations.
But temptation can be more insidious than how close at hand the cigarettes are.
Always snack in front of your favorite TV show? A dopamine-rich part of the brain named the striatum memorizes rituals and routines that are linked to getting a particular reward, explains NIDA's Volkow. Eventually, those environmental cues trigger the striatum to make some behaviors almost automatic.
Even scientists who recognize it can fall prey.
"I don't like popcorn. But every time I go to the cinema, I have to eat it," Volkow says. "It's fascinating."
Much of what scientists know about dopamine's role in habit formation comes from the study of alcohol and drug addiction, but it's a key player in more common habits, too, especially overeating.
In fact, for anything that links an action and a reward, "dopamine is indispensable for the formation of these habits," Volkow says.
A movement to pay people for behavior changes may exploit that connection, as some companies offer employees outright payments or insurance rebates for adopting better habits.
It's not clear yet just how well a financial incentive substitutes as a reward. In one experiment, paying smokers at General Electric up to $750 to kick the habit nearly tripled the number who did, says Dr. Kevin Volpp, who directs the Center for Health Incentives at the University of Pennsylvania.
A similar study that dangled dollars for weight loss found no difference — and environmental temptation might help explain the differing results.
It's getting hard to smoke in public but "every time you walk down the street, there's lots of sources of high-calorie, tasty, low-cost food," Volpp says.
However paying for behavior plays out, researchers say there are some steps that may help counter your brain's hold on bad habits:
—Repeat, repeat, repeat the new behavior — the same routine at the same time of day. Resolved to exercise? Doing it at the same time of the morning, rather than fitting it in haphazardly, makes the striatum recognize the habit so eventually, "if you don't do it, you feel awful," says Volkow the neuroscientist, who's also a passionate runner.
—Exercise itself raises dopamine levels, so eventually your brain will get a feel-good hit even if your muscles protest.
—Reward yourself with something you really desire, Volkow stresses. You exercised all week? Stuck to your diet? Buy a book, a great pair of jeans, or try a fancy restaurant — safer perhaps than a box of cookies because the price inhibits the quantity.
—Stress can reactivate the bad-habit circuitry. "You see people immediately eating in the airport when their flight is canceled," Volkow points out.
—And cut out the rituals linked to your bad habits. No eating in front of the TV, ever.
"What you want to be thinking about is, `What is it in my environment that is triggering this behavior?'" says Nordgren. "You have to guard yourself against it."
I know I can't ever have junk in the house, just cannot resist it. Equally I try to never leave the house hungry and eat as much at home as I can. Avoiding temptation requires less reliance on willpower, which runs out!
What do you do to avoid temptation?1
Comments
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I find that after 3 weeks of cutting out sugar from the diet, I don't have any cravings and if I have a clearly defined fat loss purpose, I can watch anybody eat B&J all day without giving myself heartburn.
I also had deserts from time to time on the diet but they weren't enjoyable, my taste buds have changed.
After I finished my last fat loss stint, it took about 2 weeks of re-introducing sugary deserts (hey I need the calories!
) before I started enjoying them as before. But the breakkie scone I still don't like 
, and I find it easy to just skip it and only have coffee.
I think eating sugary deserts is mostly a social habit that translates to mental addiction after a while. But it's easily enough got rid of -- just go cold turkey.
Also keeping busy helps the mind from focusing on the treats too much.0 -
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I don't eat grains. Just fruits, vegetables and some nuts & seeds.
Taurine is an amino acid that is not essential for humans. It is considered conditionally essential only for prenatal and newborn infants.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3570861
"Although the concentration of taurine in breast milk was lower in vegan subjects, the mean value fell within the range found in omnivore subjects."
Taurine is a 'conditionally' essential amino acid, you can normally make some but during times of stress you need substantially more. It protects against many diseases via counteracting endogenous AGE production:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WN2-4CHHPX5-2&_user=103680&_coverDate=12/31/2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1626522413&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000007922&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=103680&md5=f4063ecae793ca7590078dd30427e9cc&searchtype=a
Plus the study compared with the 'average' person. I would want better health than the average person myself but to each their own.
It's your health but I personally wouldn't risk it for the cost of a very cheap and harmless supplement.EPA and DHA are not recognised as essential according to the National Academy of Sciences. They're satisfied that there's enough evidence to suggest that we can make enough of it without ingesting it. As for Vitamin D, one has to make sure they get sufficient sunlight. Difficult in northern climes at times but as long as you keep an eye on your levels you shouldn't run into problems. As for bone health, as long as one stays active and performs load-bearing excercises, there should be no problems.
And yet the rest of the scientific world does see that DHA consumption is incredibly important to health, in fact it strongly correlates with good health across the board. Tribes would travel hundreds of miles to secure dried fish and fish eggs for their pregnant women, for both iodine and DHA.
Don't forget tolerated is not optimal, people can get away with drinking less than a glass of water a day and live, doesn't mean you shouldn't drink more for optimal health. There are people out there eating crap 24/7 and they feel just fine too. I'd at least try an algae DHA supp if I were you.
Where are you getting sufficient sunlight in Ireland? There's a reason most traditional vegetarian cultures live close to the equator. As for getting enough from food, even I struggle with that and I eat a lot of oily fish. Don't forget that the fortified version of D (ergocalciferol) is next to useless in preventing all but the most overt deficiency and you can't even absorb that if you don't eat enough fat. At least get a test done, then when you come back with a sufficient result you can shove it in my face and I will concede that you don't need to supplement.
Get one done for zinc, b12 and homocysteine while you're at it, just so you can really show me what's what.
As for weight training preventing osteoporosis, it plays a part sure but diet is 90% of bone health, you can't maintain bone without the raw materials, that's just a biological fact.
Diet is not a religion, you're not going to go to hell just by admitting some things in your diet need replacing. Consider it insurance.0 -
El_Dangeroso wrote: »Taurine is a 'conditionally' essential amino acid, you can normally make some but during times of stress you need substantially more. It protects against many diseases via counteracting endogenous AGE production:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WN2-4CHHPX5-2&_user=103680&_coverDate=12/31/2005&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1626522413&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000007922&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=103680&md5=f4063ecae793ca7590078dd30427e9cc&searchtype=a
Plus the study compared with the 'average' person. I would want better health than the average person myself but to each their own.
It's your health but I personally wouldn't risk it for the cost of a very cheap and harmless supplement.
Interesting study but I noticed they concentrate on vegetarian diets having higher plasma AGE content as oppossed to an ominvorous diet but they also say “a low-AGE content may contribute to the many benefits conferred to diabetics by a genuinely low-fat vegan diet.” It appears a low-fat vegan diet is fine where as something in a vegetarian diet is triggering higher plasma AGE content. Also it refers to “foods rich in both protein and fat, and cooked at high heat, tend to be the richest dietary sources of AGEs, whereas low-fat carbohydrate-rich foods tend to be relatively low in AGEs.” I don't eat foods rich/high in protin or fat nor do I cook them.El_Dangeroso wrote: »And yet the rest of the scientific world does see that DHA consumption is incredibly important to health, in fact it strongly correlates with good health across the board. Tribes would travel hundreds of miles to secure dried fish and fish eggs for their pregnant women, for both iodine and DHA.
Don't forget tolerated is not optimal, people can get away with drinking less than a glass of water a day and live, doesn't mean you shouldn't drink more for optimal health. There are people out there eating crap 24/7 and they feel just fine too. I'd at least try an algae DHA supp if I were you.
You do not have to consume DHA & EPA because your body can convert ALA into EPA & DHAEl_Dangeroso wrote: »Where are you getting sufficient sunlight in Ireland? There's a reason most traditional vegetarian cultures live close to the equator. As for getting enough from food, even I struggle with that and I eat a lot of oily fish. Don't forget that the fortified version of D (ergocalciferol) is next to useless in preventing all but the most overt deficiency and you can't even absorb that if you don't eat enough fat. At least get a test done, then when you come back with a sufficient result you can shove it in my face and I will concede that you don't need to supplement. Get one done for zinc, b12 and homocysteine while you're at it, just so you can really show me what's what.
Adults can develop vitamin D toxicity (Hypervitaminosis D) from taking vitamin D supplements over a number of months. Seeing as vitamin D is fat soluble, and if you build up a good store of it during the spring, summer and autumn, your body will release it over the course of the winter, although it will be lower in quality and quantity than if you had recent sun exposure. The answer is to get more sun:)El_Dangeroso wrote: »As for weight training preventing osteoporosis, it plays a part sure but diet is 90% of bone health, you can't maintain bone without the raw materials, that's just a biological fact.
Then how come astronauts, despite supplementation, suffer bone density loss while in a weightless enviornment such as space? How come bed ridden patients suffer bone density loss despite supplementation? Diet is important for sure but more so is load-bearing excercise when it comes to bone strenght. However high protein diets do lead to bone loss:
In summary, a diet high in acid-ash protein causes excessive urinary calcium loss because of its acid content; calciuria is directly related to urinary net acid excretion. Alkali buffers, whether chemical salts or dietary fruits and vegetables, reverse this urinary calcium loss.
Overall, the evidence leaves little doubt that excess acidity will create a reduction in total bone substance. This is normal physiology…
http://jn.nutrition.org/content/128/6/1051.fullEl_Dangeroso wrote: »Diet is not a religion, you're not going to go to hell just by admitting some things in your diet need replacing. Consider it insurance.
I agree. Diet is not a religion. It is important to educate oneself as much as possible and make your decisions accordingly.0 -
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EPA & DHA can be synthesized by the body given sufficient quantities of the omega 3 ALA, which is hard NOT to come by in fruits, veggies, nuts & seeds. However if we consume too much dietary saturated fat, this compromises our body's ability to produce the long chain omega 3s like EPA & DHA. And because of their delicate molecular structure, EPA & DHA can be damaged by heat. Therefore if you get EPA & DHA by eating cooked fish you are ingesting rancid omega 3 oils.
"Despite the promise for disease prevention suggested by available studies, we believe that the evidence for widespread use of high-dose vitamin D supplementation in the general population remains insufficient."
http://www.annals.org/content/152/5/307.abstract
Unfortunately, taking isolated supplements usually prove inefective and in many cases dangerous. The best approach with vitamin D is still to get out in the sun more, but I agree that you should get your levels tested.
Never said that it would. What I was saying was that resistance training for the bones was a critical component. If your diet is sound then you need load bearing excercise to keep them strong. Diet alone wont do.
The highest ever recorded calcium intake is of the eskimo's. With around 2500mg per day intake, they also had the highest rate of osteoporosis due to their high animal protein intake.
Getting back out of multiquote territory
Where to start, no, you can't make enough DHA from ALA in fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables AND stay on a less than 10% fat diet for the conversion reasons I outlined above. If you have some evidence, or even a calculation based on the average 4% conversion rate I'd love to see it - 700mg DHA is optimal. I can't manage it without using flax oil, which as I mentioned before is almost always rancid out of the original context of the seed, and with the seeds you get phytoestrogens and phytic acid, not nice additions to one's diet. Why the resistance to an algal DHA supplement? It still fits the criteria of your diet.
As for the omega 3's in cooked fish being rancid, again, no, rancid omega 3's STINK. That is the main component of the distinctive 'rotten fish' smell. Fish contains high amounts of selenium, a potent antioxidant that protects the fats from oxidation when heated (and incidently protects against any mercury present in the fish).
Define 'high-dose' D supplementation. I take 2,000IU a day, within the IOM's recommendations and much lower than the lowest dose at which an adverse effect has been observed. I do think more is required however if someone is deficient.
As for vitamins having no effect, honestly, that's just a myth. Check out pubmed or google scholar and type in 'vitamins' there is tonnes of controlled trials showing they have a significant effect on health. The safety data is all there too, rare you ever see an adverse event from the natural version of a vitamin taken within normal physiological doses, most trials showing an adverse event used the synthetic versions.
I'm currently working in a trial on vitamin D, on pregnant women, you should see the amount of evidence we had to provide in the investigator's brochure before we got approval from the ethics committee. There is lots out there but you do have to look before making up your mind.
Re: the Inuit having the highest intake of calcium, eh, no they don't, in fact they come low on intakes of calcium, potassium and magnesium and possibly a little too much vitamin A compared to D. That's the reason they have weaker bones, still, they (used to prior to adopting white flour and sugar) get no measurable heart disease and cancer though, so there goes Dr. Campbell's theory!
And while we're playing epidemiology tennis, how come the Japanese have such high rates (arguably the highest in the first world) when they eat so little meat compared to the west?
Do what you do, it's your live after all, but don't preach that meat and dairy are harmful because the evidence simply isn't on your side.0
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