How to Harness Your Brain's Dopamine Supply and Increase Motivation

The Dopamine Diet From an evolutionary perspective, we have always eaten in order to live. But too many of us live to eat. Consequently, more than 1 in 5 adults are overweight, and more than a third of them obese. Today, with 24-7 access to food, a biological drive to eat high-calorie fare has rapidly evolved into a health burden. The brain has developed a faulty anticipation of energy needs. The human brain is easily tricked by pleasure foods as they confuse the brain’s regulating systems. Sugar-free soft drinks also confuse our brain. Complex interactions between the nervous system, hormonal pathways, and immune system are at play when it comes to overeating. The pathway between the brain and body is known as the neuroendocrine-immune supersystem. While too little dopamine can leave us craving food, sex or stimulation, too much can cause addictive behaviors.

Dr. Gabor Maté on the Stress-Disease Connection, Addiction, Attention Deficit Disorder and the Destruction of American Childhood This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: Today, a Democracy Now! special with the Canadian physician and bestselling author Gabor Maté. From disease to addiction, parenting to attention deficit disorder, Dr. Dr. Today we bring you all three of our interviews with Dr. DR. And that’s what sets up the brain biology of addiction. AMY GOODMAN: What does the title of your book mean, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts? DR. Now, the hungry ghost realm, the creatures in it are depicted as people with large empty bellies, small mouths and scrawny thin necks. AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about the biology of addiction? DR. Now, that circuitry in addicts doesn’t function very well, as the circuitry of incentive and motivation, which involves the chemical dopamine, also doesn’t function very well. Now, the issue is, why do these circuits not work so well in some people, because the drugs in themselves are not surprisingly addictive. DR. DR. DR. DR. DR. DR. DR. DR. DR. DR.