The Pleasure Trap - a telling concept

We are collectively only beginning to realize how the majority of our behavior is driven by instinct as opposed to reason. There's a ton of neuroscience in the last two decades studying this phenomenon, an excellent lay introduction to this material is put forward in the book "Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ".

We don't really like to think we are driven by "primitive" impulses, it goes against the fundamental precepts that allows us (hubristic) humans to think we are so different from the "lower" animals. Most of the time we don't like to think we are basically just animals, and we have technology to prove it.

But if we are so smart, how did it come to pass that with all the technology we have at our fingertips we came to be so sick from something as simple as diet?

If at this point we need a quick reminder that this is in fact the case (that we are collectively "food sick"), the fact more developed world people die of heart disease than any other single thing can serve as quick illustration. How does that work? Heart disease is not the intractable condition we have come to think it is, but is in fact one easily and quickly reversed with a simple change of diet.

If you didn't know yet that heart disease is easily and quickly reversed I recommend to you the book "Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease", written by one (of the many) who has run clinical trials showing exactly that.

And a mountain of other clinical trials point to reversals of too many other "food sick" conditions to quickly name, which also comprise most of the other major causes of death in the developed world population.

So back to the original question: if we are so smart, how did it come to pass with all the technology we have at our fingertips we are so sick from something as simple as diet?

The answer is something called the pleasure trap, which is as perfect an example you'll find of how we are primarily driven by instinctual impulse as opposed to reason.

And don't get me wrong...I'm not going to advocate a future of genetically modified humans who no longer have the characteristic of driven primarily by instinct, a disaster that would "self-extinct" our species IMHO.

"Smart evolution" lies in another direction, that of simply becoming more consciously aware that we are driven primarily by instinct, and how that works in various sets of the most common conditions. Like diet and food for example, and the direct and profound consequences of those choices on health.

This blog is already longer than I intended it to be, so I won't try to summarize the basic points of the brilliant little book "The Pleasure Trap: Mastering the Hidden Force that Undermines Health & Happiness", but I will say reading it is one of the smartest things one can do for their health. And yes the authors are vegan, but please don't let that stop you. Paleos will get a lot from it also.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1570671974/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1