Is your rational brain involved when you make your health choices?

What makes us humans a unique species is that our instinctive primordial brain is wrapped in a modern, rational brain that, for example, enables us to reflect, interpret, postpone needs, and make informed and personal choices. When it comes to health choices, however, personal choice requires that we give our rational brain the best conditions, and here the recipe is solid, biological knowledge. For the more influences our primordial brain is exposed to, the greater the rational counterweight we need.

There are many things that influence the health choices we each make – both internal and external influences. You probably know many of them yourself. The inner influences are about our instincts, which are governed by the primeval brain’s need for survival, reward, recognition and to avoid or defend ourselves against danger. Our habits, values, attitudes and emotions also contribute to the symphony of inner influence, but were originally created by external influences.

The external health impacts we get from our family and friends, from the workplace, from education and from the knowledge we continuously acquire – but also from advertisements, advertisements and a food industry that wants us to make some very specific choices. (And who, by the way, knows more about our primordial brain than we do.)

We thus eat according to the norm to avoid the fear of illness, to ensure reward signals – and probably also because it is nice to feel full of energy. So there are many rational and instinctive purposes for eating, and it is instructive to become aware of what purpose one is fulfilling right now. Not to judge right or wrong. Just to be aware. The little question ‘Why am I eating now’ can be insightful and enriching for you. And then it is thought-provoking that the term ‘good and bad conscience’ is often included when we talk to each other about what we eat….

Do you know when you are being manipulated?

And why is it so important that we know the difference between internal and external influences? Yes, it is because we thereby become aware of how several of the external influences speak directly to our inner primordial brain – sometimes for the purpose of manipulating us.

It can be, for example, food advertisements that deliberately aim to influence the reward brain system’s reward system to make us believe that we are doing something good for ourselves when, for example, we buy fat-free yoghurt, sugar-free KETO energy bars or plant-based meat substitutes – even if the food itself is actually made from fully processed raw materials, added carbohydrate supplements, artificial sweeteners and all sorts of E-numbers. It can also be ‘health campaigns’, which are designed to affect the threat system of the cerebral cortex for the sole purpose of getting us to take certain actions – which may not be appropriate for us at all.

I believe that it is more and more necessary that we acquire nuanced and inspiring knowledge as the counterbalance of the rational brain to the ever-increasing primordial brain influences we are exposed to.

Health is never black and white!

In other words, we live in a world where unhealthy temptations constantly pass by our noses – often ‘wrapped’ in short and one-dimensional health communication. Exactly the short one-sided black-and-white communication fits incredibly well with clock brain reactions. Fortunately, we humans in addition to the primordial brain are equipped with a rational brain that we can use:

To separate health manipulation from good, nuanced health messages.

As a safeguard against the one-sided portrayal of healthy and unhealthy in all situations.

As a guarantee that we avoid falling into the trap that prescribes that health is the same for everyone.

To make our own personal health strategy that puts us beyond just following the urgent needs of the short-term watchdog.

There are many nuances in food and health, and at the same time health is something individual. What is right for others is not necessarily for you. A ‘normal’ diet can, for example, be directly disease-maintaining for an insulin-resistant person, while it can maintain the health of people with a high insulin sensitivity.

Therefore, the greatest gift you can give yourself is to help your modern, rational brain on its way with solid biological knowledge that you can use to navigate wisely in the ‘food jungle’ and to make precisely the health choices that promote your personal health. while at the same time satisfying the needs of your primordial brain.

For neither our biological needs nor our favorite dishes are alike.

Do you want to be health and sugar smart?

If you want epoch-making health knowledge and nourishment for your rational brain, so that you can take ownership of your personal health, you are very welcome to take a closer look at my new online lecture “SugarSmart 2020 – online”. Here you get – among many other things – a crucial understanding of the body’s own health functions – and how to turn them on. In addition, you get a simple but useful understanding of the phenomenon of ‘insulin resistance’ and thus a great overview of the different effects of diet in different life situations.

Read more about the online lecture here.