Diet Trap #8: Using Food and Drink as Stimulants
One of the easiest ways we stimulate ourselves is with food and drink. We often eat when we’re
tired, bored or depressed—not necessarily when we’re hungry.
Although we eat when we’re not hungry for a variety of reasons, the main culprit is toxin
withdrawal. When we’re addicted to nutrient-poor foods and other stimulants (e.g., caffeine and
sugar), we easily interpret intense cravings and headaches as signs of “hunger.” They’re not. They’re
symptoms of withdrawal!
The more stimulating the foods and drinks we consume are, the more exhausted and overweight
we become.
Joel Fuhrman, M.D., discusses one of the effects of caffeine in his book Eat to Live: The Amazing
Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss, by saying: “Eating more frequently and
eating more food suppresses caffeine withdrawal headaches and other withdrawal symptoms. You
are prodded to eat again, eating more food than you would if you were not a caffeine addict. You
will never be in touch with your body‘s true hunger signals when you are addicted to stimulants.^50 ”
Drink coffee, have a caffeinated soda (diet or regular), or a sugary “treat” if you want a surefire way
to push your body into overeating. Before long you’ll experience withdrawal and turn to food you
wouldn’t have otherwise eaten in order to ease the symptoms.
Stimulating foods and drinks (pastries, chips, coffee and soda) seem to give you more energy, but
what they actually do is pull energy from your body and leave you needing more. They give you
“energy boosts,” which aren’t infusions of energy at all. They are energy expenditures.
Whenever you put a toxic substance in your body, your body has to expend energy to process and
appropriate the food. Depending on how toxic the substance is, your body speeds up its metabolism
to get rid of the offending substance.
Intoxication through alcohol is a prime example. When the stimulation from the intoxication has
passed, you realize you are even more exhausted than before you started. Stimulation from artificial
substances gives you no return on your investment (like the one you would get from exercise) for
the energy expended.
All of this stimulation takes a toll on your weight, your performance, your productivity, your sense
of well-being and your success in every area of your life—even your longevity.
The only way to experience consistent, abundant energy is to balance activity with rest in a body
that has been effectively nourished through whole-food, nutrient-rich eating.
(^50) Fuhrman J. Eat to Live. New York, NY: Little, Brown and Company; 2003.