http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-11/fatty-foods-addictive-as-cocaine-in-growing-body-of-science.html

This is a post from Linda the Director of Eco Losers (the film) in relation to Heather's post about being addicted to Food.   I thought this article showed a lot of information about this subject.   There have been recent studies that have shown that even watching tv commercials for foods that people are addicted to will stimulate the part of the brain that is correlated to the addiction centre and have the same affect.  Sometimes it's not a matter of willpower to stop eating some of these addicted foods.   The pain of withdrawal could be just as debilitating as the pain of being obese.  The difference is that the addicted person gets instant relief when the food is consumed but then crashes into depression about having consumed that food later.   The more the food is consumed the more the food is craved.   Thus creating a dependency on these foods.   Food manufacturers are deliberately putting ingredients like high fructose corn syrup in products to get people addicted to the food so they will consume more and become repeat customers.   Have you seen the movie Super Size Me?  If you have you would have either been repulsed by the food Morgan Spurlock consumed or you would have immediately wanted to have a Big Mac if you had a junk food addiction to Hamburgers and high fat foods.    If you are an alcoholic and see a drink you can't resist it but you can live without it.   If you are a smoker trying to quit and someone smokes in front of you then you want to have one too.  If you are Food addicted you can't just give up food altogether.  You have to modify your whole lifestyle.   Some people don't have the skills, tools, willpower and support to do this and some people are just so depressed that they have given up trying.    

Heather has been beating herself up for not being thinner and doing better,  but forgets about all the things she has on her plate at the moment.  Life is hard and it's a juggling act.  When you have a million balls in the air something is going to fall.  Usually when you are a mother or caregiver the first thing to go is taking care of yourself.   You do what you have to do to get through your day.    Heather has done a fabulous job at trying to keep all the balls in the air and still lose weight and think about her effect on the environment.   Most people can barely handle one of these things.  

There are so many factors that are involved in gaining weight and not always about the food.   Some people have physical health problems and some people have emotional distress problems and they are dealt with through food as it is easily accessible and acceptable.   But the interesting thing is that being Fat or Obese isn't acceptable but to be able to buy junk food on every corner is ok.  I just walked over to a shiny new MacDonalds across the street that is open 24 hours.  it was jam packed.   I was having a craving for Iced coffee even though I tried to talk myself out of it I went over to get one anyway.   Other than the odd grocery store that is open 24 hours or the odd drug store there isn't such a thing as a Healthy Organic take out restaurant that is open 24 hours.   Gee I wonder why that is?    FOOD FOR THOUGHT!!

1)  Cut out fish from our diets.  There are two reasons for this.  Fish are rarely local and come generally from a long distance, adding up the food related transportation miles.  The second reason is that because of contamination of the water which fish are in, they are containing high amounts of radiation and mercury, depending where they come from.  Due to the disintegration of plastic items, including plastic bags in our water sources, fish are ingesting microscopic bits of plastic, which we in turn would eat when we eat the fish. 

2)  Have 2 Vegan Meals Per Week (no animal meat or animal products).  This can be for any meal time, and it can be at a restaurant or cooked ourselves.  The reasons for reducing our animal product consumption is to decrease our food footprint and also to improve our health.  Ths will be a challenge with our low trash challenge, as a lot of vegetarian options such as tofu come heavily packaged.