[quote]SeaSiren wrote:
Hey fruitarian, I didn’t know you were on this board. Great vid, your strength is definitely gaining.[/quote]
I’m a long way from where I wanna be but I’m getting there!
[quote]Da Fruitarian 1 wrote:
SeaSiren wrote:
Hey fruitarian, I didn’t know you were on this board. Great vid, your strength is definitely gaining.
I’m a long way from where I wanna be but I’m getting there! [/quote]
I’ve always been fascinated by raw food diets, as it’s what animals (that includes us) were designed for. I’m not sure how eating only fruits or only vegetables or even only meat works, since I believe homo sapiens are considered omnivores (which makes me think we require a variety of sources to acquire all our nutritional needs).
Just a few points, hopefully not restating anything:
-yes, cows get by on just grass, and some apes get by on just fruits or vegetation. But their digestive systems were designed for that (especially a cow’s five stomachs which is how it manages to get all it’s nutritional needs from grass, or a gorrilla’s large, distended belly that ferments the plant matter or something like that). Humans are neither cows nor monkeys or gorillas.
-eating less on a raw food diet almost makes sense. Like someone else mentioned, eating cooked food isn’t necessarily natural. In fact, if I remember correctly, cooking any food (meat, vegetable or fruit) kills some of said food’s nutrition (and can add some harmful stuff, like carcinogens and other toxins and chemicals from the flame or just the break down of chemicals in the food when introduced to heat). If, for a totally made up and arbitrary example, a pound of meat contatins 20 grams of protein raw, and cooking it reduces that to 15 or 10 grams, and you need 100 grams of protein a day, then you need to eat more pounds of cooked meat to get to that number than you would if it were raw. Not to mention your body probably processes raw food more efficiently.
-I think a major reason for cooking food was to either stave off rotting or to make something old edible (killing off the bad bacteria and such that happens when something decomposes.).
-in the opposite exteme of vegans and fruitarians, take a look at cultures like the Inuits (I think that’s the correct name) who live in arctic regions and eat only the meat (walrus and whale) they catch. No access to fruits or veggies. I even seem to recall reading somewhere that when fruits and veggies were introduced to their diets, their bodies couldnt’ handle it.
Just some thoughts.
Take it easy,
Toby
Several posts in this thread keep claiming that humans are “designed” to eat raw food or something. Designed? Do you people know something I don’t? Who designed us? (Aliens?) Have you seen the blueprints? Can I see them too or do I need to be a grand wizard Scientologist to qualify?
[quote]MookJong wrote:
Several posts in this thread keep claiming that humans are “designed” to eat raw food or something. Designed? Do you people know something I don’t? Who designed us? (Aliens?) Have you seen the blueprints? Can I see them too or do I need to be a grand wizard Scientologist to qualify?[/quote]
Well, if you think about the beginning of man, we didn’t have ovens, microwaves, etc. And I would assume fire wasn’t discovered for quite some time.
As far as our ancestors go - they ate only plants - vegies, fruit, roots, berries… At some point they were encounteing predators more and more frequently and eventually begaon eating raw meat and bone marrow. Once - the groups became large enough to be called societies they had more time to experiment and began distancing themselves from the instincts and started cooking food.
Again, I know that a raw diet is probably the healthiest and most productive diet there is - but so far I had not seen a way to make such a diet tasty and various. After trying all the excellent cooked food I can’t imagine stomping down salads and fruit all day - how do you deal with that? Can you post a typical day of what you eat?
[quote]Majin wrote:
As far as our ancestors go - they ate only plants - vegies, fruit, roots, berries… At some point they were encounteing predators more and more frequently and eventually begaon eating raw meat and bone marrow. Once - the groups became large enough to be called societies they had more time to experiment and began distancing themselves from the instincts and started cooking food.
Again, I know that a raw diet is probably the healthiest and most productive diet there is - but so far I had not seen a way to make such a diet tasty and various. After trying all the excellent cooked food I can’t imagine stomping down salads and fruit all day - how do you deal with that? Can you post a typical day of what you eat?[/quote]
Today I had 2 avocados and the juice of about 10-13 oranges.
[quote]
Today I had 2 avocados and the juice of about 10-13 men.[/quote]
yup, that’s about right, LOL
[quote]Da Fruitarian 1 wrote:
Majin wrote:
As far as our ancestors go - they ate only plants - vegies, fruit, roots, berries… At some point they were encounteing predators more and more frequently and eventually begaon eating raw meat and bone marrow. Once - the groups became large enough to be called societies they had more time to experiment and began distancing themselves from the instincts and started cooking food.
Again, I know that a raw diet is probably the healthiest and most productive diet there is - but so far I had not seen a way to make such a diet tasty and various. After trying all the excellent cooked food I can’t imagine stomping down salads and fruit all day - how do you deal with that? Can you post a typical day of what you eat?
Today I had 2 avocados and the juice of about 10-13 oranges.[/quote]
You gotta be fucking kidding me! Are you serious?? That ain’t healthy man. NOT HEALTHY!!!
Actually we didn’t even become intelligent until we started eating meat. The extra protein and fat that’s not found/hard to come by with vegetable sources allowed us to grow bigger brains. Which we used to hunt and eat more meat.
In fact, the first tools human’s used were probably to kill other animals for meat!
So I think to say we are designed to only eat plant foods isn’t right at all. Just look at our teeth. We’re omnivores. Front teeh are for cutting and ripping (meat), the back are for grinding and reducing (plants).
[quote]Majin wrote:
As far as our ancestors go - they ate only plants - vegies, fruit, roots, berries… At some point they were encounteing predators more and more frequently and eventually begaon eating raw meat and bone marrow. Once - the groups became large enough to be called societies they had more time to experiment and began distancing themselves from the instincts and started cooking food.
Again, I know that a raw diet is probably the healthiest and most productive diet there is - but so far I had not seen a way to make such a diet tasty and various. After trying all the excellent cooked food I can’t imagine stomping down salads and fruit all day - how do you deal with that? Can you post a typical day of what you eat?[/quote]
While not quite as far on the spectrum as Fruitarian, I eat a mostly raw diet. I try to, at least, but also find it challenging to completely give up certain cooked items. I’d say that I’m around 80-90% raw, on average.
I can attest that during the time periods that I was completely raw, I never felt better, and my diet didn’t look too different from what fruitarian is claiming. Real food is tasty. Your tastes do change once you’re off cooked food, kind of like quitting smoking.
My current diet consists of raw fruits, veggies, and nuts, along with the occasional cooked dinner. It wasn’t so much that lack of variety was a problem, as it was falling off the wagon once and not being able(or willing)to get back on. I had my best success when NOT trying to mimic cooked meals with raw copies. While most of them are very good, they don’t taste the same as the real thing, and still leave you craving.
There are several good “cookbooks” out there with excellent meal suggestions. These don’t require much more than a blender and maybe a dehydrator.
Check out stuff by Matthew Kenney, Gabriel Cousins, and in England, Shazzie. They are all very good. Kenney is a chef, and owned a few restaurants in NYC, but still converted to the raw lifestyle(luckily bringing his skills with him). His book has, arguably, the best tasting recipes. Most of their material gives a pretty good explaiation on why raw food is best, but Cousins is the most thorough. If you read it with an open mind, you almost can’t not convert(I’m not sure convert is the right word, since that’s what we’re suppossed to eat in the first place).
[quote]Sxio wrote:
Actually we didn’t even become intelligent until we started eating meat. The extra protein and fat that’s not found/hard to come by with vegetable sources allowed us to grow bigger brains. Which we used to hunt and eat more meat.
In fact, the first tools human’s used were probably to kill other animals for meat!
So I think to say we are designed to only eat plant foods isn’t right at all. Just look at our teeth. We’re omnivores. Front teeh are for cutting and ripping (meat), the back are for grinding and reducing (plants).
[/quote]
I’m assuming you’ve seen a dog eat raw meat and bones, I’ll speak for myself and say that there’s nothing about raw meat and bones that makes my mouth water! if I had a rabbit and a mango sitting infront of me it would be the mango I’d be naturally attracted to! a humans colon is too long compared to a meat eating animals for us to be natural meat eaters, our teeth are made to rip and munch on plant matter not meat! of course we can eat anything we want but that doesn’t mean that we are meant to, plus people say that raw fruits are boring, well have you ever tasted cooked/raw meats, other cooked foods like pasta, rice,etc, without seasoning. So from what your saying I’m guessing that you would be perfectly at home with eating an animals raw flesh and organs, maybe with a bit of skin and hair thrown in! well, good for you and I hope it works for you sir!
[quote]AZMojo wrote:
There are several good “cookbooks” out there with excellent meal suggestions. These don’t require much more than a blender and maybe a dehydrator.
Check out stuff by Matthew Kenney, Gabriel Cousins, and in England, Shazzie. They are all very good. Kenney is a chef, and owned a few restaurants in NYC, but still converted to the raw lifestyle(luckily bringing his skills with him). His book has, arguably, the best tasting recipes. Most of their material gives a pretty good explaiation on why raw food is best, but Cousins is the most thorough. If you read it with an open mind, you almost can’t not convert(I’m not sure convert is the right word, since that’s what we’re suppossed to eat in the first place).[/quote]
I’ll be sure to see what they’re all about, thanks.
Today I ate nothing but a cup of prune juice and some of my own toe-nail clippings. It’s what my body was designed for. I can’t explain this, except that the rules are just different on a toe-nail diet.
[quote]JMB wrote:
Today I ate nothing but a cup of prune juice and some of my own toe-nail clippings. It’s what my body was designed for. I can’t explain this, except that the rules are just different on a toe-nail diet.[/quote]
LMMFAO
I have to call BS, we all know protein is in the fingernails.
Yes, the aliens designed us.
Perhaps “designed” is an awkward term to use given the current intelligent design vs. evolution debate. But basically, form follows function in nature, regardless of whether you believe in evolution or a creator. If you look at dentition and digestive systems, you can figure out what an animal is best adapted to eat.
Is “adapted” a more agreable term?
Take it easy,
Toby
[quote]tobywan wrote:
Is “adapted” a more agreable term?[/quote]
Yes, much more.
[quote]Miserere wrote:
tobywan wrote:
Is “adapted” a more agreable term?
Yes, much more.[/quote]
SOOO much better.
My facecious ramblings about aliens aside, “designed” implies that humans were created in some distant past and haven’t changed since.
“Adapted” indicates we have changed. Perhaps even adapted to a cooked food diet.
[quote]AZMojo wrote:
There are several good “cookbooks” out there with excellent meal suggestions. These don’t require much more than a blender and maybe a dehydrator.
[/quote]
Would they be one of the primitive blenders or dehydrators used by our ancient ancestors? Or one of those unnatural new fangled things we haven’t adapted to yet?
[quote]Da Fruitarian 1 wrote:
I’m guessing that you would be perfectly at home with eating an animals raw flesh and organs, maybe with a bit of skin and hair thrown in! well, good for you and I hope it works for you sir![/quote]
Now this is where things start to get a little insane. Why is it that diet extremists always seem to have a twisted sense of logic? (Perhaps it’s their diet?)
Using your same “logic” above I can only assume you eat your 0.9 bananas whole, skin and all? Same goes for watermelons and oranges I guess? Avacados too? I bet you love pineapples.
Anyway, here are some fairly comprehensive articles which address the issues in a bit more detail than I could. I haven’t read them in their entirety but so far what I have read makes a lot of sense.
This looks at the myths and fallacies of fruitarians:
And this looks at the use of fire and cooking:
[quote]MookJong wrote:
Miserere wrote:
tobywan wrote:
Is “adapted” a more agreable term?
Yes, much more.
SOOO much better.
My facecious ramblings about aliens aside, “designed” implies that humans were created in some distant past and haven’t changed since.
“Adapted” indicates we have changed. Perhaps even adapted to a cooked food diet.
AZMojo wrote:
There are several good “cookbooks” out there with excellent meal suggestions. These don’t require much more than a blender and maybe a dehydrator.
Would they be one of the primitive blenders or dehydrators used by our ancient ancestors? Or one of those unnatural new fangled things we haven’t adapted to yet?
Da Fruitarian 1 wrote:
I’m guessing that you would be perfectly at home with eating an animals raw flesh and organs, maybe with a bit of skin and hair thrown in! well, good for you and I hope it works for you sir!
Now this is where things start to get a little insane. Why is it that diet extremists always seem to have a twisted sense of logic? (Perhaps it’s their diet?)
Using your same “logic” above I can only assume you eat your 0.9 bananas whole, skin and all? Same goes for watermelons and oranges I guess? Avacados too? I bet you love pineapples.
Anyway, here are some fairly comprehensive articles which address the issues in a bit more detail than I could. I haven’t read them in their entirety but so far what I have read makes a lot of sense.
This looks at the myths and fallacies of fruitarians:
And this looks at the use of fire and cooking:
http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview2z.shtml[/quote]
Are humans designed to eat meat?
Most people still mistakenly believe that humans are meat-eaters by design. However, an objective comparison between the characteristics of naturally vegetarian animals and naturally carnivorous ones, as shown below, reveals that this belief is false:
Why Humans are Natural Vegetarians
Characteristic Carnivore Vegetarian Human
Appendages Claws Hands/hoofs Hands
Intestines Short - to rapidly excrete putrefying flesh Long - to fully digest nutrients in plant foods Long - to fully digest nutrients in plant foods; flesh foods cause constipation
To cool body Pants Sweats Sweats
Manual dexterity None Grasping hands capable of using tools or weapons Grasping hands capable of using tools or weapons
Vitamin C Manufactured internally Obtained solely from diet Obtained solely from diet
Water intake Laps water Sips water Sips water
Excrement Putrid Inoffensive Offensiveness depends on diet
Eating habits Large meals taken infrequently Snack feeder Varies widely
Diet Consumes flesh exclusively Exist largely on fruits and nuts Depends on environment; highly adaptable
Food preference Salty/fatty food Sweet-toothed Likes both sweet and salty/fatty food
Relationship with food Bolts food down Likes to combine flavours, savour food, experiment with variety Likes to combine flavours, savour food, experiment with variety
Brain power Small brains, less capable of adaptive behaviour Large brains, able to rationalise Large brains, able to rationalise
Straight Talking from an Expert
In 1990, William Clifford Roberts, the distinguished editor in chief of The American Journal of Cardiology, wrote:
Although human beings eat meat we are not natural carnivores. We were intended to eat plants, fruits and starches! No matter how much fat carnivores eat, they do not develop atheroschlerosis. It’s virtually impossible, for example, to produce atheroschlerosis in the dog even when 100 grams of cholesterol are added to its meat ration. (This amount of cholesterol is approximately 200 times the average amount that human beings in the USA eat each day!) In contrast, herbivores rapidly develop atheroschlerosis if they are fed foods, namely fat and cholesterol, intended for carnivores…
Thus, although we think we are one and we act as if we are one, human beings are not natural carnivores. When we kill animals to eat them, they end up killing us because their flesh, which contains cholesterol and saturated fat, was never intended for human beings, who are natural herbivores.
Learn how to escape the dietary pleasure trap!
By Douglas Lisle, Ph.D.
When you climb into a hot tub, it pays to edge in slowly. The water can be so hot as to be unpleasant?until you get used to it. Then it will feel pleasant. When you step into a swimming pool, the water sometimes feels cold. But after a few minutes, you get used to it. The scent of pine trees or fragrant flowers is wonderful?at first. But then you get used to it, and soon you may hardly even notice it.
How is it that our internal experience can change so dramatically, even when our environment is staying the same? How is it that we so easily ?get used to? things? It turns out that scientists have carefully studied this striking phenomenon, which they refer to as neuro-adaptation. This process is called ?neuro-adaptation? because it involves nerves and adaptation.
Our sensory processes are dependent upon the activation of sensory nerves. It is through the activation of various sensory nerves that we are able to see, hear, smell, sense touch, and to taste. The activity of these various sensory nerves tells our brains what is going on, and to what degree of intensity. For example, when you are sitting in a dimly lit room, and you turn on more light, your visual nerves become more active. They help your brain to notice an increase in brightness. Similarly, if you increase the volume on your stereo, your auditory nerves become more active. They help your brain to notice the increase in sound intensity. This same principle works for all of the five senses.
Relative perception
We tend to think that our nerves provide us with a very accurate depiction of real-world stimulation, but surprisingly, this is not the case. Let?s go back to the example of sitting in a dimly lit room. If you turn on all of the lights, it will seem very bright. However, if you later go outside into full sunshine, that will seem brighter still. When you go back inside, it will seem dim?even though all of the lights are still on. Clearly, your nerves are not providing you with an ?accurate? depiction of reality in these instances. They are providing a relative depiction. Your senses are highly responsive to change. They tell you when a new stimulus is brighter or dimmer, louder or softer, hotter or colder, and so forth, but not precisely how bright, or loud, or hot. Perception is largely a gauge of relative change.
The reason our nerves provide us with relative?rather than absolute?information is partly because our nerves are designed to adapt to a steady level of stimulation. When there is a sudden increase in stimulation, your nerves increase their rate of ?firing? (the basic mechanism that communicates sensory information to the brain). Any change in the intensity of a stimulus results in a change in the firing rate of the appropriate sensory nerves. For example, when you brighten the lights, your visual nerves will increase their firing rate. When you later dim the lights, the firing rate will be reduced.
Dangerous adaptations
In this article, we shall focus on an aspect of ?getting used to? things that can lead to enormous?often deadly?problems.
After we brighten the lights in a room, our visual nerves increase their firing rate?but only for a little while! After a few minutes, the firing rate will slow down, or ?adapt,? to the new, higher rate of stimulation. Sometimes, the nerves may even slow down their response to the level that they were previously firing at the lower level of illumination. This is why even a brightly lit room will seem merely ?normal? after your sensory nerves adjust to it.
All of our sensory nerves work in this manner. When we first enter an office, we might be distracted by a noisy air conditioner. But after a while we will likely cease to notice it. When a person first starts smoking cigarettes, he is acutely aware of the smell of the smoke. He smells it on his fingers, in his clothes, and in his car. But before long, he won?t notice it at all. He will have ?gotten used to it.? He may never notice it again unless he quits smoking. Only then will his sense of smell re-calibrate to a more smoke-sensitive state. Then he will be able to smell the smoke?just like everyone else does.
Taste troubles
Like our other sensory nerves, our taste buds also will ?get used to? a given level of stimulation?and this can have horrific consequences. The taste buds of the vast majority of people in industrialized societies are currently neuro-adapted to artificially high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt animal and processed foods. These foods are ultimately no more enjoyable than more healthful fare, but few people will ever see that this is true, because they consistently consume highly stimulating foods, and have ?gotten used to? them. If they were to eat a less stimulating, health-promoting diet, they soon would enjoy such fare every bit as much. Unfortunately, very few people will ever realize this critically important fact!
A gruesome tale
If a frog is placed in a pan of water, it often just sits there. If the pan is heated, ever so slowly, the frog may never notice that the water temperature is rising. He will ?get used to? the increasing heat?and may be unaware that anything is amiss. Even with no barrier to his escape, he is as likely as not to sit in the pan?and boil to death. His sensory capabilities may fail to adequately warn him that action is required for his survival, and he may only survive if the heat is turned down.
For the past several decades, the modern American diet has been increasing in animal protein, animal and vegetable fats, refined carbohydrates, and added oil, salt, and sugar. In just the past two decades, our caloric intake has slowly escalated by 650 calories per person, per day. Not surprisingly, obesity and other diseases of dietary excess are at all-time highs. But just a few decades ago, our nation?s dietary habits were remarkably different. Meat was an expensive commodity?for some, a ?treat.? The same was true for refined flour products, refined sugar, and oils. But times have changed. Today, almost everyone in America can have all they desire of these rich foods?and they do, virtually every day.
From the perspective of our natural history, a daily life with such dietary choices is extraordinary. For hundreds of thousands of years, our ancient ancestors scratched and scraped, struggling against the harsh forces of nature in order to get enough food to survive. Even today, in undeveloped countries, significant food shortages are still a great concern, with millions dying each year from starvation. Yet, in a mere blink of history?s eye?in just a few decades?industrialized societies have arisen from environments of scarcity and have transformed themselves into societies of unprecedented abundance. The most striking feature of that abundance is a virtually unlimited supply of food.
Artificial appeal
An abundance of food, by itself, is not a cause of health problems. But modern technology has done more than to simply make food perpetually abundant. Food also has been made artificially tastier. Food is often more stimulating than ever before?as the particular chemicals in foods that cause pleasure reactions have been isolated?and artificially concentrated. These chemicals include fats (including oils), refined carbohydrates (such as refined sugar and flour), and salt. Meats were once consumed mostly in the form of wild game?typically about 15% fat. Today?s meat is a much different product. Chemically and hormonally engineered, it can be as high as 50% fat or more. Ice cream is an extraordinary invention for intensifying taste pleasure?an artificial concoction of pure fat and refined sugar. Once an expensive delicacy, it is now a daily ritual for many people. French fries and potato chips, laden with artificially-concentrated fats, are currently the most commonly consumed ?vegetable? in our society. These artificial products, and others like them, form the core of the American diet. Our teenage population, for example, consumes 25% of their calories in the form of soda pop!
Most of our citizenry can?t imagine how it could be any other way. To remove (or dramatically reduce) such products from America?s daily diet seems intolerable?even absurd. Most people believe that if they were to do so, they would enjoy their food?and their lives?much less. Indeed, most people believe that they literally would suffer if they consumed a health-promoting diet devoid of such indulgences. But, it is here that their perception is greatly in error. The reality is that humans are well designed to fully enjoy the subtler tastes of whole natural foods, but are poorly equipped to realize this fact. And like a frog sitting in dangerously hot water, most people are being slowly destroyed by the limitations of their awareness.
A pleasure trap
Figure 1 (above left) depicts a devastating dietary trap. People consuming a whole natural foods diet will experience a normal range of pleasure from eating low-fat, high-fiber, unprocessed foods?shown as Phase I. However, if concentrated, adulterated, processed foods are consistently allowed in the diet, they quickly will become preferred.
In Phase II, we see that these products are typically experienced as better?that is, more pleasurable?than natural foods. This is the result of the heightened pleasure-inducing characteristics of artificially-produced foods. However, within a short period of time (a few weeks), the taste nerves adapt to this higher level of stimulation, and reduce their firing rate. This reduces the pleasure experience of artificially-stimulating foods back down to normal levels (Phase III).
Phase III is the culmination of a process of extraordinary importance. It is within Phase III that most people live out their lives. And it is from within Phase III that most people will engineer their own health crises. Phase III occurs when we have become used to the extreme levels of stimulation present in artificial foods, yet ultimately experience no more pleasure than had we remained on a simpler, more healthful diet! Yet, we will rarely notice this process?just as we rarely notice the process of getting used to a brightly-lit room.
A challenging escape
Once in awhile, a person may actually become aware of important dietary knowledge. Despite the tremendous commercially-motivated misinformation campaigns waged by the dairy, cattle, and processed food industries, sometimes a person actually comes to understand the truth about diet. At such times, determined individuals might attempt to change their diet toward whole natural foods?in spite of dire and unfounded warnings from their families, friends, and doctors.
But along the way, they are likely to be met with a formidable obstacle?their own taste neuro-adaptation to artificially-intense foods. This challenge is depicted as Phases IV and V, wherein a change to less stimulating foods typically will result in a reduced pleasure experience. In the early stages, this process is dramatic because natural foods often are not nearly as stimulating.
Scientific evidence suggests that the re-sensitization of taste nerves takes between 30 and 90 days of consistent exposure to less stimulating foods. This means that for several weeks, most people attempting this change will experience a reduction in eating pleasure. This is why modern foods present such a devastating trap?as most of our citizens are, in effect, ?addicted? to artificially high levels of food stimulation! The 30-to-90-day process of taste re-calibration requires more motivation?and more self-discipline?than most people are ever willing to muster.
Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits?and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure?thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. This is an extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation that I describe as a ?pleasure trap.?
A fast way out
For many people, knowing how this trap works is a great ally to their self-discipline. But for others, this trap can seem just too difficult to manage. For them, the road may seem too long, and even minor indulgences often keep them in the trap. Fortunately, there is a second method for escape?one that greatly speeds up the process of taste re-calibration.
A properly-supervised period of water-only fasting is a safe and effective way to quickly re-sensitize taste nerves so that whole natural foods can be fully enjoyed. At the Center for Conservative Therapy, we have noted that for most people, one week of consuming nothing but water in an environment of complete rest is enough to substantially re-calibrate their taste buds. Patients find that after a fast, healthful fare tastes as good as the artificially-intense foods that they may have been eating previously. Sometimes natural foods taste even better.
Avoiding the trap
The modern American diet contains concentrations of chemicals that we were never meant to consume. As food manufacturers have sought to compete with each other, foods have become increasingly artificial?loaded with ever-higher concentrations of pleasure-inducing chemicals, such as sugar, salt, and fat. But curiously, though the concentrations of these chemicals have escalated, the actual pleasure from eating has always stayed about the same. We now understand why.
As our modern foods have become increasingly stimulating, our taste nerves are becoming desensitized?neuro-adapting to the modern diet?s excessive stimulation. This sets the stage for a devastating trap, wherein a health-promoting diet is relatively unappealing.
Fortunately, you now understand what it takes to escape this deceptive dietary trap. With consistent discipline, or perhaps an occasional period of supervised, water-only fasting, you can always get yourself back on track. In doing so, you will discover?or perhaps re-discover?that the diet of our natural design can be very enjoyable.