Eat Well, Feel Well, Do Well

You may do a lot of things to get the food you really love but what will it do to you after you have eaten it? 

[eatwelldowell]

Nov 1, 2017

Larry King Now. With Dr. Pam Peeke

When you have an addiction to anything, would could focus on your tasks of the day if all you can think about if you are constantly thinking about the substance you are addicted to? Food addiction is becoming a real thing and is affecting many people. Larry King, arguably one of the greatest and long lasting interviewers ever, sits down with a Dr. Pam Peeke. Dr. Pam Peeke has a doctorate in nutrition, stress and fitness. When a person is addicted to sugary, fatty, oily foods it actually messes with the chemistry in brain. As the interview continues Dr. Peeke explains that the best way to overcome a food addiction is simply recovery, Dr. Peeke clarifies “you learn to navigate around the addiction” (Brown, Larry King Now.)

Some of Dr. Peeke main claims are that food can become an addiction and it will mess with your brain. Peeke claims that when a person has access to unhealthy food around the clock, and consume it, that feels of goodness when you bite into a cupcake begins to become less rewarding so that person keeps eating it so they feel that reward. Hence, the food addiction. This is convincing when it comes to my argument that food does in reality mess with our brain and affects how we perform each day.

Something I found interesting was a controversy she brought up, the kids. They are the ones that are the future of the nation and the world. If they are sitting in the school cafeteria and the food they are eating is making their blood sugar spike and then make their blood sludgy imagine how that can affect the kids who are going back into the classroom. The same goes for us who are in college. If we eat terrible food for lunch and then we go into the classroom. We will not perform nearly as well if we had a healthy, balanced whole foods meal. They won’t be able to pay attention because they will feel groggy. The kids in elementary schools are nearly helpless when it comes to food. They will eat what you give them to eat. If the foods at schools are sugary, fatty, processed food then they will eat that food. What do you think?

Brown, S. (Director). (January 11, 2013). Dr. Pam Peeke. [Larry King Now]. Walker, W. (Producer). Ora TV (2013)

[eatwelldowell]

Oct 31, 2017

This Is Exactly What Happens To Your Body When You Eat A Ton Of Sugar. By: Amy Marturana.

What happens to your brain after you spend a good half hour chowing down on a majority of your halloween candy. Sweets seem to be addicting and sometimes you just can’t stop. Why is that? Amy Marturana, senior editor for self. delves deep into what  happens in the brain and the body when you eat a ton of sugar. Thirteen facts about sugar and the body are listed. I don’t recommend eating the candy you have saved for tricker treaters while reading this article. Marturana breaks down the chemical effects of sugar with ease so that we can understand what is happening when we eat the laffy taffy and twix.

Just to name a few of the facts, sugar releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine, it’s like a feel-good chemical. Cocaine, when ingested, releases the same neurotransmitter. This dopamine tells your body, I WANT MORE OF WHATEVER THAT WAS! Another one of Marturana’s facts about sugar was that when sugar excess sugar gets into your blood it makes it like sludge. Imagine sludgy liquid trying to move through a small straw. Whatever is pumping that sludge through that straw would have to work extra. Those straws are like your blood vessels and the pump, well that is like your heart.

Something that is at the heart of the Marturana’s article is fact. She cites studies and doctors. A lot of the facts are backed up by a citation to either a doctor or a study. This makes for a convincing argument.

An argument that Martuana makes in her article was that once you eat a lot of sugar your body releases insulin to counteract the mass amount of sugar. When the insulin goes down it gives a real sludgy and tired feeling.

Reference List: 

Marturana, A. (2017, June 08). This Is Exactly What Happens To Your Body When You Eat A Ton Of Sugar. Self. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.self.com/story/this-is-exactly-what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-eat-a-ton-of-sugar

[eatwelldowell]

Oct 29, 2017

Foods that Reverse Brain Damage. Daniel Amen, MD & Tana Amen, BSN, RN.

Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen produce a podcast that talks through the amazing effects that food can have on the brain and how it can even reverse brain damage. They speak to the listeners like they were their own family who are in need of advice. They clearly are caring and want the best for the listeners. They often refer to their patients which, reassures me that they are giving thought-out information to their listeners. In this particular episode Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen share how the food we eat can be the best medicine. They shared two studies that was done in Holland where children with symptoms of ADD were put on a diet that eliminated certain foods out of their diet like, sugar, food dyes, gluten, corn, dairy and soy. The results of this study was amazing. Nearly 70% of the children improved their symptoms. This study's results are stirring and make me reconsider the amounts of different foods I eat.

The studies from Holland are very convincing and very useful to show that food does in deed have on impact on your brain and on how well you feel. One of the Amen’s claims were, food has a direct correlation to disease symptoms improving. Therefore, food is the best medicine. They are convincing and credible in what they do and say because Daniel Amen is a medical doctor and has been a child psychiatrist for over 30 years, Tana Amen is a registered nurse and BSN and they own their own practice called Amen clinics. They also use studies done by researchers that supplement their claims and help their positioning on certain arguments so their positioning grows more persuasive.

One of their more persuasive items that they shared with the listeners that I learned was that the levels of alcohol consumption is directly correlated to brain size. The chemicals in alcoholic beverages can stunt the growth of the brain. When it comes to the brain, bigger is better.

References:

Amen, D., & Amen, T. (2016). Foods that Reverse Brain Damage [Audio blog post]. The Brain Warrior’s Way. Retrieved October 30, 2017 form: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-brain-warriors-way-podcast/id1178337794?mt=2

[eatwelldowell]

Oct 24, 2017

Nutrition and Productivity. By: The Healthline Editorial Team. Medically reviewed by: Natalie Butler.

The Healthline Editorial Team from Healthline put together a convincing article about how the food we eat affects our productivity. They share with us that bad nutrition, amongst other factors, lead to obesity. People who are obese are more likely to experience insomnia and sleep apnea. With those disorders affecting you, you are obviously more likely to experience daytime fatigue. Which, would decrease your productivity while doing work. The team's overall objective I felt was to persuade the readers to eat healthier so they can experience an increase in life quality. Their overall main claim was that a healthier diet would lead to overall better health and more energy. The brain consumes much of the bodies energy so if you eat healthier your cognitive performance would more than likely increase.

A lot of brainpower was used to create this article. The article was written by and team rather than a single individual so it may lead to a elimination of personal bias’. Then before it was published it was medically reviewed. I'm not 100% sure on what “medically reviewed means but I can imagine is was read over by a health professional before it was published. So, the authority for the article is definitely there. It offers a couple different vantage points of the topic. Like, obesity leading to fatigue and how that affects personal productivity and motivation. Another vantage point is the claim that they make that “the journal of Sports Medicine found that dehydration could lead to poor planning skills.” (Healthline 2016).

I personally learned that having a knowledge about something does not change behavior. A action plan to change behavior, changes behavior. This article offers tips about how to make your diet better so you can reap the benefits of healthier food choices.

Citation (APA style):

Butler, N., The Health Team (2016). Nutrition and Productivity. Healthline. Retrieved October 24, 2017. from https://www.healthline.com/health/nutrition-and-productivity#overview1

[eatwelldowell]

Oct 23, 2017

Does A Junk Food Diet Make You Lazy And Fatigued?

Lizette Borreli offers a very frank and direct article about how food affects your mind and she has research to back it up. Borreli informs us of recent studies done where junk food was fed to one group of rats and unprocessed, healthier food to another group of rats and then they observed their performance in completing a task, pushing a lever for a food or water reward. The studies show and Borreli emphasizes that the food with high fat content and high sugar content does slow you down. The rats that were given the unhealthy food took breaks that were twice as long as the breaks taken by the healthier group. Borreli quotes the researcher “Our data suggest that diet-induced obesity is a cause, rather than an effect, of laziness. Either the highly processed diet causes fatigue or the diet causes obesity, which causes fatigue,” Now I know we are not rats and this is a small study but this is definitely something to think about next time you feel a Chic-Fil-A craving coming on.

The article by Lizette Borreli has a strong stance on this topic. She persuades the readers that junk food does indeed make you fatigued and feel lazy. This is perfect for research on if junk food affects your motivation or productivity. Her research in this studies makes it very convincing that is true.

I learned that although the study does seem convincing but, subconsciously I still feel a little skeptical because the study was done on rats. I’m not a rat! So that is something to think about when moving forward with research on this topic, choose the studies carefully because it may affect the attitude of readers towards the research or article.

Citation (APA style):

Blaisdell, A. P., Lau, Y. M., Telminova, E., Lim, H. C., Fan, B., Fast, C. D., & Pendergrass, D.C. (2014). Food quality and motivation: A refined low-fat diet induces obesity and impairs performance on a progressive ratio schedule of instrumental lever pressing in rats. Physiology & Behavior.

Borreli, L. (2014). Does A Junk Food Diet Make You Lazy And Fatigued? Regularly Eating Processed Foods Linked To Cognitive Impairment. Retrieved October 23, 2017. from: http://www.medicaldaily.com/does-junk-food-diet-make-you-lazy-and-fatigued-regularly-eating-processed-foods-linked-cognitive

[eatwelldowell]

Oct 21, 2017

What You Eat Affects Your Productivity

Using research and his PhD in Social and Personality Psychology, Friedman offers a view on how your food choices affect our well being, happiness and overall life-satisfaction. We could all agree that the food we eat affects our bodies overall physical health, but what about our cognitive health or how we feel about yourselves? Friedman explains the sciences of nutrition and its affect on our behavior. He shares that highly processed foods—  food with a lot of sugar and foods that are high in fat—  can leave us feeling groggy and lethargic. Which, can be detrimental to our performance if we have an assignment due soon. Freidman’s information may greatly impact our food choices if we are about to take a test 30 minutes after eating lunch. Friedman states simply, “Food has a direct impact on our cognitive performance, which is why a poor decision at lunch can derail an entire afternoon.” (Friedman 2014). He argues that it’s not enough to simply be aware of how nutrition affects our brain power— we must also draw up an action plan. identifies Luckily, he provides readers with a suggested action plan so  we can implement this new information in our lives.

Maybe a bit more information can motivate us to finally take action. To underscore his findings, Friedman cites another researcher’s great study conducted by the British Journal of Health Psychology in which, come to the conclusions that eating more fruits and vegetables contributed to reports of higher rates of well-being, happiness, more feelings of curiosity, creativity, as well as life satisfaction, compared to those who did not eat as many fruits and vegetables. This study along with Friedman’s remarks would greatly enhance the argument that food does have a direct relationship to our cognitive performance and productivity.

It is interesting to see the way the researchers measure the outcomes of eating healthier foods. Reporting of life satisfaction is a commonly used method amongst psychologists when testing happiness and well-being. It leads me further to investigate what the phrase life satisfaction means and how researchers define that phrase.

Reference List:

Conner, T. S., Brookie, K. L., Richardson, A. C., & Polak, M. A. (2015). On carrots and curiosity: Eating fruit and vegetables is associated with greater flourishing in daily life. British Journal Of Health Psychology, 20(2), 413-427

Friedman, R. (2015). What You Eat Affects Your Productivity. Retrieved October 19, 2017, from https://hbr.org/2014/10/what-you-eat-affects-your-productivity.

[eatwelldowell]

Eat Well, Feel Well, Do Well.

Hi, My name is Matthew. I LOVE food and I’ll just about any type of food. If you put it in front of me I will more than likely put it in my mouth. I’ve eaten food in that came from a pigs eye socket all the way to the skin of cow. What I want to do now though is find out what happens to your body after you have had one of your favorite meals? Have you ever felt like you want to go to sleep for the next 5 days after thanksgiving dinner? How does food affect your mind and body? Does it affect your motivation? What about your productivity? If you ate something that made feel tired or lethargic, how would that affect you if you were about to take a test in math class? If you eat well that would make you feel well and if you feel well than you would do well. Follow along as I attempt to answer these questions.