Mental Degradation: Toxic Food Toxic Mind

[Explor­ing Life] What we eat has a direct and imme­di­ate affect on how we behave. Though we may prac­tice relax­ation, mind­ful­ness, and med­i­ta­tion in order to fos­ter a sense of equa­nim­ity in our body and mind, we com­pletely under­mine our efforts by eat­ing food addi­tives (i.e. — chem­i­cal addi­tives that are not really food) and junk food (i.e. — high sugar con­tent and starchy car­bo­hy­drates). It is curi­ous to note that as a field of study psy­chol­ogy and its off­spring tend to ignore the essen­tial role that nutri­tion plays in men­tal health and well being. Instead, phar­ma­ceu­ti­cal drugs are pre­scribed, while dietary changes often remain ignored.

The Sugar Syn­drome: A Source of Men­tal Instability

In What’s In That? How Food Affects Behav­ior Dr. Rus­sell Blay­lock describes a seri­ous threat to our phys­i­cal and men­tal health that he calls The Sugar Syn­drome. The key ques­tion is: Why would sugar have such a pro­found influ­ence on brain func­tion and psy­cho­log­i­cal func­tion? The effects of low blood sugar are not lim­ited to those diag­nosed with dia­betes. Blay­lock describes the degen­er­a­tive effects of sugar in the fol­low­ing sequence:

1. When sugar is in excess in the body it pro­duces an excess release of insulin;
2. Exces­sive insulin causes blood sugar lev­els to fall result­ing in hypo­glycemia;
3. One effect of hypo­glycemia is the secre­tion of glu­ta­mate in lev­els that may cause agi­ta­tion, depres­sion, anger, anx­i­ety, panic attacks and an increase in sui­cide risk;
4. Glu­ta­mate is iden­ti­cal to MSG;
5. When MSG is repeat­edly con­sumed in food and added to the effects of excess sugar and sim­ple car­bo­hy­drates, the risk of neu­rode­gen­er­a­tive dis­eases increases;
6. Alco­hol acts just like sugar caus­ing wide and rapid swings in blood sugar levels.

The Impos­si­bil­ity of Sep­a­rat­ing Toxic Food from a Toxic Mind

There is no way to sep­a­rate food from behav­ior and in this sense we are what we eat and we behave as we eat. The com­bi­na­tion of junk food (high sugar con­tent and starchy car­bo­hy­drates) and food addi­tives (e.g. — MSG) and alco­hol pro­duce extreme tox­i­c­ity in the body and mind. Hyper­ac­tiv­ity, vio­lent and aggres­sive behav­ior, men­tal con­fu­sion may orig­i­nate in Blaylock’s Sugar Syn­drome. MSG is an exci­to­toxin and is poi­so­nous to the human body; there is no nutri­tional ben­e­fit — only tox­i­c­ity. A list of poten­tial MSG effects reveals a star­tling array of body­mind toxicity:

1. Severe headache
2. Nau­sea, diar­rhea, vom­it­ing
3. Irreg­u­lar heart beat or blood pres­sure, rac­ing heart
4. Depres­sion or mood change, bipo­lar, SAD
5. Abdom­i­nal pain, cramps, bloat­ing, col­i­tis, IBS
6. Bal­ance prob­lems, dizzi­ness, or seizures, mini-strokes
7. Ten­der­ness in local­ized areas, neck, back, etc.
8. Sleep dis­or­ders
9. Blurred vision or dif­fi­culty breath­ing
10. Chronic fatigue or sleepi­ness
11. Exces­sive per­spir­ing or shud­der­ing and chills
12. Short­ness of breath, chest pains, asthma
13. Swelling, pain, or numb­ness of hands, feet, jaw
14. Pain in joints or bones
15. Flush­ing or tin­gling in face, chest, pres­sure behind eyes
16. Gag­ging reflex or dif­fi­culty swal­low­ing
17. Hyper­ac­tiv­ity, behav­ioral prob­lems
18. Chronic post nasal drip
19. Skin rash, itch­ing, hives
20. Bloated face, dark cir­cles under strained eyes
21. Extreme thirst or dry mouth
22. Dif­fi­culty con­cen­trat­ing and poor mem­ory
23. Slowed speech
24. Chronic bronchitis-like symp­toms, allergy reac­tions, dry cough, hoarse­ness or sore throat
25. Heavy, weak feel­ing in arms and legs
26. Irri­ta­ble bowel or col­i­tis
27. Atten­tion deficit dis­or­der, anx­i­ety attacks, rage, panic attacks
28. Neu­ro­log­i­cal dis­or­ders such as Alzheimer’s, fibromyal­gia, MS, Parkinson’s
29. Pres­sure behind eyes or on head, neck, shoul­ders
30. ADD, ADHD, Rage Dis­or­der
31. Asthma
32. Weight prob­lems, obe­sity, hypoglycemia

The food we eat has a direct and imme­di­ate impact on the func­tion of our brain; what we eat can be observed in how we behave.

Links

Food-Behavior Bun­dle