Every time a celebrity eats a piece of tofu I hear a round of applause from my fellow foodies. Aging rock stars who want to keep their trim looks and ex-presidents who rock the connection between diet and heart disease are certainly an inspiration – it shows someone is paying attention anyway. The problem is that while even a little news is good news, underneath the surface lurks the grim reality of the food industry and that is disaster nutrition.

Organic foods account for less than four percent of the food sales in America. To understand the size of this in industry terms, the dollar volume of organic product sales (US 2009 – 24 billion) is only slightly higher than the total sales of salty snacks (US 2009 – 21 billion).

Ever wonder what’s really in the food sold at grocery stores around the world? People keep asking, “What ingredients should I avoid?” Here is a short list that covers all the most toxic and disease-promoting ingredients in the food supply.

I hope you find this article helpful on the hidden toxins in food. My suggestion, as always, to my clients and students is to read labels, read labels, read labels.

Achieving sustainable weight loss takes a more nuanced approach to your diet than “calories in, calories out.” The reality is that you need to eat the right foods (fresh produce, legumes, nuts and seeds, and intact whole grains), avoid the weight gain-promoting substances (salt, oil, sweeteners), and address food addiction to achieve excellent health and optimal weight.

In this series of articles, we have seen that our brain makes constant trade-offs between rewards and pain. It also trades off one reward and against another and old reward pathways against new ones. You have more power over these trade-offs when you understand them. Food trade-offs and choices can help you recognize your thought habits because the rewards are tangible instead of being abstract. Food seeking interrupts negative thought patterns, and that’s a valuable tool in some situations. But if you rely on this tool too often, you do yourself harm. You must keep assessing the trade-offs to get what you want.

Seasonal cycles, shifts in the weather, and even the move from night to day are not external artifacts. The environment is in constant flux, and we are in flux with it. In the animal kingdom, this shows in cycles of fertility, migration, and many aspects of behavior. These shifts in the environment have influenced human activities, physical and cultural, for millions of years. Our bodies still dance to the rhythm of natural change. Macrobiotics is built around the simple insight that learning to cooperate with natural cycles is productive for health. It is a plant-based diet with non-perishable foods, such as whole grains and beans at the foundation, that is the hope for the future. Macrobiotic nutrition advocates regional and seasonal eating to reduce food waste and to lower the environmental effect of food transportation, both serious issues in the discussion of food choices.

Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD, shares how food holds value and produces serotonin and endorphins in your brain. Children sometimes fight over food the way monkeys do. By the time we reach adulthood, we learn to restrain that impulse, but the longing for power doesn’t stop when you stop grabbing other people’s bananas. We look for ways to stimulate that one-up feeling, and food often gets involved. Your mammal brain finds ways to be special and fill your belly at the same time.

Overweight and obesity affect two-thirds of the American population, and the abundance and accessibility of calorie-dense, low-micronutrient foods is a major contributor to this problem. Many people have difficulty stopping when consuming these foods, eating well past the point of being satiated or even physically full. However, the idea that food can be addictive is still controversial. Triggering addiction and weight gain with unhealthy foods will be explored.

It’s Easy to go Vegan

Going vegan is simply a choice you make. Many people live in their head and overthink the concept of where to begin. It’s easy: Remove all the animal food and replace it with delicious plant-based foods, the choice is yours. You can do it right now.

The joy of food is one of your first experiences in life. A newborn baby enjoys a surge of dopamine when it first tastes milk. The baby doesn’t know what milk is, or what nutritional needs are, but the brain releases dopamine when milk relieves low blood sugar. That builds a pathway that says, “This is the way to feel good! Get me more of this!” But a baby doesn’t know how to get it. The next time it is hungry, it surges with cortisol and crying is its only way to “do something.” Then it hears a sound. Suddenly, its dopamine is triggered because that sound was heard during a prior dopamine release. So, at one day of age, a brain is already drawing on past experience to feel good.

Struggling with skin issues, specifically acne? Whether you frequently get a visit from an unwanted guest on your forehead, chin, cheek, or back, or are battling persistent acne, your body is sending you a message. Let’s help you get to the core of your skin problem. That’s right, acne and frequent skin disturbances speak to an unhappy digestive system.