Introduction

The "Bliss Point" in food refers to the specific combination of sugar, salt, and fat in a product that best makes the experience of delicious eating. The Bliss Point an optimal level of pleasure and satisfaction for the consumer. Food manufacturers aim to formulate products that hit this perfect balance to make them both highly enjoyable and potentially addictive.

The Problem With The Bliss Point

Sadly, the real problem with the bliss point is not that we keep eating and can't stop. The real problem with these amazing foods is that they change our brain chemistry with their goodness. The pleasure center of our brain gets activated, the exact same way it does for people who have addictions to alcohol or cocaine. Thus, not only do we have eat and eat, but we begin to crave this kind of food and become driven to seek it out and it. The more we seek, the more we eat. It is an endless and destructive cycle. Many in the scientific community are reluctant to call highly palatable food addictive, but perhaps you can turn to your own experience around the drive to eat foods that you know don't serve you in the long run.

What to do about the addictive quality of highly palatable food?

Just like an alcoholic or a gambling addict, you have to change your environment. A recovering alcoholic learns to avoid people that drink, avoid social situations that prompt drinking and avoid places that serve and sell alcohol. Since highly palatable foods are so hard to say no to, we have to learn to change our environment so we don't have free access to them all the time. Here are some ideas to change your environment so that you don't have access to highly palatable foods as easily.

Practical Steps to Changing Your Diet

Don't buy Highly Palatable foods at the grocery store

This seems obvious, but so many people feel they have to buy goodies for the other people in their house. We hear it all the time: "What about my kids? I have to have that stuff in the house because they love it!" Of course they love it! It's been engineered to be loved. But they don't need it any more than you do. Get it out of the house and don't bring it back. One of the first ways the Wright Family changed its eating habits was to only eat "JUNK" at a restaurant. It was more expensive when purchased at a restaurant, and we were less likely to overeat. Also, we allowed it at parties or other special occasions, making it a real treat not an everyday occurrence. Remember, the goal is ultimately to quit the junk, but we've found that it's best to take things in manageable steps.

Don't eat from convenience stores

Aside from a few dairy products, packaged nuts, apples and bananas, there is no real food in a convenience store. None. It's easy to convince ourselves that we'll go in to buy the apple and an unsweetened iced tea, but it's just like and alcoholic going into a bar. Way too tempting!

Don't take money to work

There isn't any way you can buy from the vending machine if you don't have any money at work. If you get hungry every day at work, don't make the mistake of being unprepared for that...pack a hard boiled egg and some almonds.

Don't eat fast food

Enough said! There are almost NO healthy options at fast food restaurants.

Quit the fizzy stuff

Diet soda is absolutely the worst thing you can do for your body, so wean yourself off of the sodas. NutraSweet and other artificial sweeteners are dangerous. So is high fructose corn syrup.