Pure Bliss

By Annette O’Neill, RD, RDN

We are programmed to have “Pure Bliss” when it comes to “Happy Foods.” Our triggers to like sugar, fat, and salt goes back to our ancestors when we needed a lot of calories for survival. Our brain has a strong desire to seek out high-calorie foods which explains our cravings. Whether it’s Mom’s strawberry cheesecake, chocolate covered pretzels or the grocery store barbecue potato chips, this perfect balance of sugar, salt, and fat is called “the bliss point.” What also makes it hard, are companies that optimized consumers’ sweet and salty cravings in our brains and guts by adding extra sugar and salt to food products! Keep in mind that taste alone won’t cause us to overeat, but the high sugar, salt, and fatty snacks might. Based on evidence from Wegman’s School of Health and Nutrition at Rochester Institute of Technology and the Mind Genomics Advisors LLC, foods with a lot of sugar can trigger an addictive-like pattern of eating and binging. As you eat a candy bar or a cupcake with icing, your blood glucose levels increases and the pleasure chemicals in your brain wants more and more.

Let’s break it down scientifically:

Dopamine
This is a neurotransmitter (the messenger that carries signals between nerve cells) and triggers addictive and reward-based behaviors. This hormone is strongest when you go by a bakery or ice cream stand, you will have an overwhelming craving for that food, even after having a full meal. The dopamine will engage us to satisfy that craving.

Cortisol
If you feel anxiety increasing, the stress hormone will communicate to the dopamine system to want high-calorie foods. Also, if you try to cut calories too suddenly, your system will not adjust properly and will be stressed and hungry which can sabotage healthy eating.

Gut Peptides
The peptides is a group of hormones in your digestive system and plays a role in hunger. If you are not eating enough and low in calorie intake, your gut will again communicate to the dopamine system to be on a mission to find food.

Ghrelin
Even when we don’t need those temptation foods, the sight and smell of those foods releases the hunger-producing hormone ghrelin and stimulates the addictive chemicals in the brain to be ready to eat even when you are not hungry.

Leptin
This is an appetite suppressing hormone and lets you know when you are full, and in turn, there is a lesser connection to trigger the dopamine system. The flip side of this “Leptin coin” are people with metabolic syndrome which this leptin signal doesn’t work as well and can cause weight gain to then lead to obesity, type 2 diabetes, or cardiac disease.

Opioids
This gives you pleasure from consuming high-calorie foods, however, the more you eat these foods, the pleasure connection starts diminishing. In turn, you try to eat more and more to get the same reward you initially did.

How do we diminish the “Pure Bliss Sensation”?
There is evidence that dietary fiber can stop the craving triggers of eating high sugar, fat, and salty foods. Soluble fiber (dissolves in water and slows down the passage of food) and insoluble fiber (does not dissolves in water and is called the “roughage” for smooth bowel motility) both play an important role in diminishing cravings and preventing the risk of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.

How much fiber should we eat?
About 20-35 grams of total fiber a day, with 10-15 grams coming from Soluble fiber. Choose 6 ounces of whole grains, 2 ½ cups of vegetable, 2 cups of fruit per day based on 2000 calorie/day pattern but make sure enough water is consumed (at least 8, 8oz glasses of water a day)