Friday, July 8, 2011

Hope for the Dope Fit Tip 07/08/11

One of my favorite things in the whole world is to nosh on a bag of Lays potato chips.  For others it may be cheesy dips or decadent chocolate cake. Why do we love these kind of foods?  One word...Dopamine.  Dopamine is a feel-good chemical that gets released when we eat something yummy.  Yummy being salty, sugary and fatty foods. However, just like a drug addict we can get addicted to dopamine.  Here's how it works.  We eat a Krispy Kreme donut and dopamine is released.  Here, some people walk away satisfied, whereas others urge to repeat the pleasure is too strong to resist.  Eventually the reward center in the brain gets used to the dopamine and stops reacting so intensely.  Now we overeat just to get our normal dopamine high.  Break the addiction by saying no to dopamine triggering foods. Retrain your brain and change your body.