Last week we discussed one of the take-away messages from the book that Dr. Carol was reading during our COVID quarantine. This week will focus on one of the takeaway messages from the book that I was reading during that same time.
During that little hiatus from reality, I picked up a book called Scarcity Brain, by Michael Easter. You may recall Easter's name from earlier newsletters. His book, Comfort Crisis, is likely the book that I talked about more than any other book over the past several years in the office and in these newsletters.
Scarcity Brain is Easter's second book. Based solely on the title, my expectation, before even opening the book, was that he would be talking about the difference between the growth mindset and the scarcity mindset. The main topic of this book was not what I was expecting. The focus was more on how our brain has evolved during our existence as humans. Over the years, our world has changed from a world of scarcity to a world of abundance. Things like food and entertainment that were at one time scarce, have in this modern world actually become overabundant. The plethora of options in these realms poses a problem for our brains, and eventually for our bodies.
The chapter that Easter discussed the abundance of food in our society provided the most food for thought (excuse the pun). Over the years, there has been an infinite number of approaches to controlling obesity in our country. Over the years, We have spoken to people committed to the Ketogenic diet, the Mediterranean diet, the Atkins diet, the Vegetarian diet, the Carnivore diet... This list of these diet options is endless. While each diet plan strives to keep it simple, in Easter's eyes, each of these options is way too complicated.
Easter lays the blame for the obesity epidemic in our country at the feet of the processed food industry. He proposes that it is not carbs, or meat, or sugar, or anything else that is specifically responsible for the excessive weight gain that we have seen in our world. While we may have thought of obesity as primarily an American issue, unfortunately, this epidemic, much like the standard Western diet is spreading worldwide.
He suggests that the processed food industry has manipulated the food that they sell to us to make it easier for us to eat it, and more importantly, easier to quickly eat copious quantities of it. They have made that food so easy to eat that we don't even realize how much of it we are consuming, and don't realize how many calories we are consuming.
If you recall from Comfort Crisis, one of the areas of discomfort that Easter suggested that we need to learn to get comfortable with, was the idea of hunger. He stressed that it is OK to experience the sensation of hunger. Being hungry is NOT a cue that you need to eat at that moment. However, if you feel that sensation of hunger and do want to eat, make sure that you are reaching for a whole food, and not a food that has been processed to the point that there is little to no nutritional value.
Make good decisions about what you eat (and drink)!
