WFPB and not losing weight?
I bought The Pleasure Trap by Douglas J. Lisle PhD and Alan Goldhamer, DC. I’ve had it in my library for sometime, forgotten, until it was mentioned at a web series I recently attended on weight gain.
I’m only 20 pages in but it already has me thinking!
It assumes basic instinct for mankind is to seek pleasure the fastest way possible for the least amount of work.
When it was revealed that an addict would choose cocaine over sex, I surmised that it had something to do with the least amount of work part. ?
Anyway the premise of the book reveals how our basic instincts are manipulated by the food and drug industry to make us as addicted as possible to processed food, alcohol and drugs – including over counter drugs.
If sugar is said to be as addictive as cocaine, it stands to reason that sugar would be a prevalent ingredient in processed food.
Salt and fat are also addictive which may explain why is is so difficult to find any packaged food that does not contain copious amounts of sugar or high fructose corn syrup, salt and oil!
This isn’t a new concept to me. After all the original Coca Cola had cocaine in it! MSG is highly addictive and hidden under “natural flavors”.
Although I am pretty strict about my WFPB diet, I threw caution to the wind about a year ago when I was on my 4th day of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and radishes at a convention in San Diego!
I decided to enjoy a meal at my old favorite Mexican restaurant! It was not even close to vegan but I thought – hey it’s only once!
I gained 7 pounds from that trip!
Then we went to The Dominican Republic last summer. Again, we tried to stay WFPB but we did eat a little fish, chicken, cheese and likely pork broth that was invariably in all of the rice, beans and starches.
We came back with more addictions that now included coffee!
Although we brought back Santa Domingo coffee, we had to get some Death Wish coffee again. I consider it the best coffee on the planet – when I drink coffee. The caffeine level on Death Wish could certainly bring back your addictions with one sip!
Again I gained 7 pounds in one week!
So 20 pages into this book I realized that the little cheats aren’t necessarily going to affect my health much – BUT the ADDICTIONS that took me months to get past when I first went WFPB came roaring back to life!
I just didn’t realize it!
I have not lost those 14 pounds because my addictions are making me crave fat like avocados, nuts, tofu, olives, coconut as in curry, chocolate, sesame seeds, sesame oil. I seldom used to make desserts but now I make “Betty’s”- fruit cooked with an oat crumble on top. I also crave cheese and butter again so I make nut cheeses and occasionally use a vegan butter spread.
I had stopped eating bread for the most part but occasionally would opt for a tortilla, pizza crust, puffed pastry, garlic bread, pasta, pita bread or won tons – ALL of which have oil unless I make them myself!
So, I am sabotaging myself with the little insignificant cheats by giving my addictions a feeding frenzy!
Would anyone like to share their thoughts on this book?
Do you have hidden addictions that are sabotaging you?
Do you have an alcohol craving because of an addiction to sugar?
Are you not losing weight on your WFPB diet because of an addiction to fat? Sugar? Wheat? Casein (in dairy AND often in plant dairy substitutes)?
BTW information about the weight loss summit can be found from the link below. I don’t know how long it will be available.
