Vitamin P for Pleasure

Did you know that our bodies are hardwired for pleasure as an essential part of the nutritive process?

It’s true. All organisms on the planet are programmed at the most primitive level of their nervous systems to seek pleasure and avoid pain.

One of the biggest sources of frustration and confusion for my clients is around overeating. But surprisingly, it’s a simple dilemma to solve once there’s an understanding that the innate connection between the brain and digestive system demands a certain amount of satisfaction.

This system in and of itself works incredibly efficiently by sending out a signal that tells us when we’re full, satisfied, and pleasured and essentially have hit the sweet spot. Yet often times we’re seeking more and more pleasure, which results in overeating, and we go past the point of food that our digestive systems can handle.

It’s natural to think overeating is due to a lack of willpower, but the truth is we’re simply trying to satisfy our desire for pleasure and a need to keep things tidied up for ourselves. 1 easy solution to solve this riddle is to RELAX while you’re eating.

It might surprise you to learn that relaxation has a powerful metabolic value, particularly when it comes to getting the pleasure you want and need from food. Stress de-sensitizes us to pleasure and disrupts the undeniable connection between pleasure, appetite and the need to relax when we eat, and with the enormous amounts of stress most people are under these days, it’s no surprise they lack in this essential nutrient, otherwise known as Vitamin R.

Any time we’re rushed, fearful, anxious, or drown ourselves in self-judgment, we immediately shift into the stress response and our bodies release the stress hormone cortisol which blocks our pleasure receptors. Therefore we inevitably need to eat more food in order to register the usual amount of pleasure we would get when we eat in a relaxed fashion.

This makes senses according the theory of evolution. In a true fight-or-flight stress response, the body needs to be highly aware of pain and injury and not tuned in to pleasure. Therefore when a saber toothed tiger is chasing us, we don’t normally stop to eat chocolate…

The bottom line is if you want more pleasure from food, try breathing first, then relax, and most of all enjoy, and your body will naturally derive the pleasure that it seeks without the temptation to overeat.

To find out more about how you can slow down and put an end to overeating, contact me at angela@wellnesswithangela.com.