Amherst College SELF topics

SCOTOMAVILLE 01.11 Feed Your Gut Amherst College

What a beautiful day for Leaving Scotomaville!

"One of my favorite lines from the movie 'Secondhand Lions', goes like this: "Everyone needs something to believe in, even if it's not true." Let me give you an example. Fat- eating fat, makes you fat! Wrong! It's not true! For decades, we've had low fat this and low-fat that and nonfat this and that. Eating fat does not make you fat!"

"According to 'ketogenics', you have to have a decent amount of fat in your diet to train your body to use fat, rather than just store it. So everyone needs something to believe in even if it's not true. I'm not into conspiracy theories but I'm gonna give you one. One bad actor is a hundred trillion microbes. Yeah, I'm only 10% human. I'm 90% microbe. And they conspire against me. They form the little focus groups, and they go 'We want pizza!We want ice cream! We want crap food! Feed us now! Burgers and Fries! And if you give in to them, they grow their culture! They grow their community and their voice is bigger. It overrides the second bad actor."

    

"That one's right here.(motioning to forehead). It's called your prefrontal cortex, which accompanies your amygdalae. Two little almond-shaped parts of your brain right inside of, right back in there. Your black box of emotions."

"This is your will, this is your history. This whole thing gets persuaded through the vagus nerve to those hundred trillion microbes, a large part are in your gut. So when you put stuff in your mouth that tastes good, that's been sold to you, to be good for you, low fat this or that. Whatever it is, you end up fueling the conspiracy. Fueling this tidal wave against your wellness. So, the way to find out if you're losing that battle? When you look down, do you see your belly or your shoes? That's a really easy test of it."

"The third actor is your circadian rhythm. That's the daily cycle of your hormones and sleep and basically, the habits you have and the time schedule that you set things on. You can adjust that. But if you're unaware that you even have it, it's one of the silent conspirators."

"A fourth actor? Stress! Stress affects your cortisol, which ends up as belly fat. It's something you can manage but it's not an easy one. It's not easy because it's driven by those other conspirators. Driven by your emotions, by your habits, by your circadian rhythms, by what you choose as your coping mechanisms to put into the game, to fuel the whole mix. So coming into equilibrium, creating a decent healthy balance that results in longevity, starts with this process of being aware."

KEY POINTS

• We are only 10% human and 90% microbe
• Our amygdalae (emotional black-boxes) seem to rule our intention and will (prefrontal cortex)
• Your circadian rhythm can be changed - think of jet-lag
• Stress affects your cortisol, which ends up as belly fat.

WDWDWWD?

1. Take charge. If your emotions want junk food - don't put it in the grocery cart!
2. Introduce new choices to your mouth and gut - like a plant based diet!
3. Manage your stress with exercise and diffuse time!

Discuss This