+1 #170: Eating Sugar in an fMRI Machine

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last couple plus ones, we've been hanging out in an fmri, scanning our brains and seeing some fascinating stuff. Let's stay in there for one more study on how your brain lights up in different ways depending on the food you eat. First, a little background. David Ludwig is a professor and researcher at both Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He has both an MD and a PhD and is one of the world's leading researchers on the science of optimal nutrition. He's overseen dozens of diet studies and authored over a hundred peer reviewed articles. Big brain. So in his great book Always Hungry, he tells us about some powerful research. Get this, you can bring people into a lab and have them drink a milkshake that's identical in every way but one. One shake has fast acting carbs and the other has slow acting carbs. You have the people in the study drink their shakes and then a few hours later you scan their brains and guess what? Well, before we even get into that FMRI machine, we see that the individuals who consume the fast acting carbs are reporting more hunger and their blood glucose levels have dropped more than the ones who consume the slow acting carbs. And when we look at their brains, we see something amazing. The people who consumed the fast acting carbs have a little part of their brain lit up that's called the nucleus accumbens. The nucleus accumbens is the primary reward center of our brains. It's the part of our brains tied to addiction. Addiction to stuff like alcohol, tobacco and cocaine. It's what drives you to compulsively consume more of something. And it lights up when you eat fast acting carbs. So right as your blood sugar drops and your hunger increases, you have your nucleus accumbens screaming at you to have more of the sugary stuff. That is not a winning combination. What's the solution? Well, first make the connection between your food choices right now and your future self x minutes and hours from now, as per our last +1, and reduce or eliminate those fast acting carbs. So what qualifies as fast acting carbs? Well, the obvious stuff like sugar in all its forms needs to go. The less obvious stuff like bread and pastas also need to go. Let's cool off that nucleus accumbens as we optimize our nutrition one bite at a time. Plus one plus one plus one. Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live for some wacky reason optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full time to catch up. But if you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life so you can actualize your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on how to optimize your life and pull out the big ideas that can really change your life. You know those sections. You underline an asterisk and mark all out. Then imagine that guy me connecting those awesome ideas to other great books and helping you actually apply the wisdom to your life today. Well, that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes where I've distilled hundreds of great books into 20 minute super practical summaries. Then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you in hour long Optimal Living 101 classes on everything from productivity, purpose and confidence to nutrition, goal setting and conquering procrastination. Helping you optimize every facet of your life so you can actualize your potential. You've got a personal trainer. I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools. That's what our optimized membership program is all about. If you're feeling it, we'd love to have you join us.