I swear all my posts will not be about how to live a happy life.
However.
Have you ever wondered
why this very – very – overweight person is queuing in front of you at
Macdonalds? You can't help but think "dude, why are you eating at Macdonalds when you are obviously so overweight?" (a bit judgmental but so true). Surely that person must know that 1. he/she is overweight
2. being overweight does not make him/her happy 3. eating at Macdonalds does not
help them being less overweight. So we wonder. Why so little logic?
As a woman in my thirties, I have had the extreme pleasure of trying tons of diet of all sorts (even though some for a few hours only) and/or being surrounded by girls who tried many diets too. The protein diet, the no-carbs diet, the caveman diet, the liver diet, the celebrity diet, the vegan diet.. Name it. There are just so many of them, it's madness. I still haven't found the grail recipe of eating lots and being skinny. However, in my search for a real arbitrage in the matter, I came across the infamous and very controversial Dukan diet (from Dr. Pierre Dukan).
We may have experienced, approved, disapproved or even cursed the Dukan diet but there is a point I found insightful in his version 2.0 (aka "The Nutritional Staircase") about serotonin. Also, it explains why Miss or Mister X is queuing at Macdonalds against better judgement. Here it goes:
There was a time when men and women were living a much more hazardous life. They lived in cave and had many predators and had to hunt to get food. So the human body, which is ultra smart, was basically creating serotonin - aka the pleasure hormone - to reward any good behavior that would help them survive. Eating was one of them.
Some several thousand years later, our body still creates serotonin when we eat. Luckily the majority of us don't have to hunt to get food anymore, actually it's quite the opposite. Food is omnipresent, and we are constantly encouraged to consume. Eating too much has actually become the problem. The signals sent by our bodies haven't quite adjusted as fast as our lifestyles. This is why we are still being rewarded when we eat, when in fact, it would be less necessary today than it used to be.
Dukan then comes with a list of things that do not involve eating and are equally likely to create serotonin. He calls the list "the 10 pillars of happiness" in hope that we move away from food to other non-fattening equally rewarding activities.
Here is the list:
1. Sex and family: the need to find a partner and build a family
2. Power: the need to be good at something and be recognized by society for it
3. Home: the need to go back somewhere safe, calm, our territory
4. Nature: the need for green, the love of animals
5. Play: the need to play to learn, communicate, exchange, have fun
6. Group: the need to belong to a community
7. Body: the need to use our body and do a physical activity
8. Sacred: the need to look up for something greater than us
9. Beauty: the need for harmony and esthetic emotions
10. Food: it's the most vital and easiest way to get comfort. A lack of accomplishment in the other fields would apparently push us towards Food even faster.
I love that list! It's a good list to keep in mind and it's reassuring to know there are scientific ways of being or feeling happy. Going for a walk in the park, playing tennis, admiring paintings at the museum or a beautiful sunset - these could all do the trick! Best of all, these activities don't make you fat and they don't make you spend money. It's not all about chocolate and shopping - hurray! Now you too have the list, have fun!
As a woman in my thirties, I have had the extreme pleasure of trying tons of diet of all sorts (even though some for a few hours only) and/or being surrounded by girls who tried many diets too. The protein diet, the no-carbs diet, the caveman diet, the liver diet, the celebrity diet, the vegan diet.. Name it. There are just so many of them, it's madness. I still haven't found the grail recipe of eating lots and being skinny. However, in my search for a real arbitrage in the matter, I came across the infamous and very controversial Dukan diet (from Dr. Pierre Dukan).
We may have experienced, approved, disapproved or even cursed the Dukan diet but there is a point I found insightful in his version 2.0 (aka "The Nutritional Staircase") about serotonin. Also, it explains why Miss or Mister X is queuing at Macdonalds against better judgement. Here it goes:
There was a time when men and women were living a much more hazardous life. They lived in cave and had many predators and had to hunt to get food. So the human body, which is ultra smart, was basically creating serotonin - aka the pleasure hormone - to reward any good behavior that would help them survive. Eating was one of them.
Some several thousand years later, our body still creates serotonin when we eat. Luckily the majority of us don't have to hunt to get food anymore, actually it's quite the opposite. Food is omnipresent, and we are constantly encouraged to consume. Eating too much has actually become the problem. The signals sent by our bodies haven't quite adjusted as fast as our lifestyles. This is why we are still being rewarded when we eat, when in fact, it would be less necessary today than it used to be.
Dukan then comes with a list of things that do not involve eating and are equally likely to create serotonin. He calls the list "the 10 pillars of happiness" in hope that we move away from food to other non-fattening equally rewarding activities.
Here is the list:
1. Sex and family: the need to find a partner and build a family
2. Power: the need to be good at something and be recognized by society for it
3. Home: the need to go back somewhere safe, calm, our territory
4. Nature: the need for green, the love of animals
5. Play: the need to play to learn, communicate, exchange, have fun
6. Group: the need to belong to a community
7. Body: the need to use our body and do a physical activity
8. Sacred: the need to look up for something greater than us
9. Beauty: the need for harmony and esthetic emotions
10. Food: it's the most vital and easiest way to get comfort. A lack of accomplishment in the other fields would apparently push us towards Food even faster.
I love that list! It's a good list to keep in mind and it's reassuring to know there are scientific ways of being or feeling happy. Going for a walk in the park, playing tennis, admiring paintings at the museum or a beautiful sunset - these could all do the trick! Best of all, these activities don't make you fat and they don't make you spend money. It's not all about chocolate and shopping - hurray! Now you too have the list, have fun!
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