TMHS 735: The Truth About Overeating, Addiction, & The Scarcity Brain - With Michael Easter

What is the underlying factor that drives humans to engage in behaviors that are damaging? Whether it’s gambling, drinking, or eating to excess, it’s not uncommon in our society for folks to get sucked into repetitive, detrimental habits. It turns out, there’s an evolutionary foundation behind this behavior, and it’s the topic of the new book, The Scarcity Brain . Today’s guest, Michael Easter is a professor and the author of The Comfort Crisis and The Scarcity Brain . His work encompasses the idea of utilizing modern science and evolutionary wisdom in order to lead healthier, more fulfilled lives. He joins this episode of The Model Health Show to share the fascinating science of scarcity, moderation, fixation, and happiness. You’re going to learn about the scarcity loop and how it drives us to repeat unhealthy habits. We’ll talk about the psychology of gambling, overeating, excessive screen time, and so much more. If you want to break the cycle of constantly craving more, this interview will help you create meaningful change. I hope you enjoy this interview with Michael Easter! In this episode you’ll discover: The interesting ways our society has removed discomfort from our daily lives. Why there’s an evolutionary mismatch between our drive and our environment. What scarcity brain means. Why moderation is so difficult for most folks. What we can learn about human drive from slot machines. Three main components of a behavior loop. Examples of the scarcity loop in our modern world. The psychology of gambling. What pigeon studies on gambling can teach us about stimulation. How the theory of optimal stimulation explains addiction. Why slot machines became more popular after a few simple tweaks. How humans evolved to overeat. The fascinating history of snacking. Three v’s of a popular snack. Why ultra-processed foods are easier to overeat. Three ways to fix your craving mindset. How scarcity cues can impact our behavior. The internal cues that prompt us to pick up our phones. How boredom can enhance creativity. Items mentioned in this episode include: Organifi.com/Model -- Use the coupon code MODEL for 20% off + free shipping! Foursigmatic.com/model -- Get an exclusive discount on your daily health elixirs! Scarcity Brain by Michael Easter The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter Connect with Michael Easter Website / Newsletter / Instagram Join TMHS Facebook community - Model Nation Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to automatically receive your episodes: Apple Podcasts Stitcher Spotify Soundcloud Thanks to our Sponsors! This episode is brought to you by Organifi. Today, more than ever, because of all the stress inputs and how our bodies are processing the data that we're being exposed to, we very often need a little bit of a support. That's where the term supplement should come in at. Supplements should not replace an already healthy diet. It should supplement, it should fill in minor gaps. It should help us to be able to go above and beyond so that we're running on all cylinders. Now, we've existed recently in recent generations in the paradigm of the "multivitamin", and the data is now pointing to the fact that there is a very big difference in synthetic versions of vitamins versus real whole food versions of those same vitamins. Just because the the chemical equation is the same does not mean that it's impacting our health the same way. Take for example, essential nutrient vitamin E. This nutrient is important for healthy function of your cardiovascular system, cognitive performance, and even the health of your skin. Well, the study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition determined that natural food-based vitamin E, has nearly twice the bioavailability of synthetic vitamin E. So again, the data is now becoming more and more clear. Just because we get a "multivitamin" that has these synthetic versions of these essential nutrients, does not mean that our cells can actually utilize it. So when we're looking at fortifying our nutrition, providing ourselves with an abundance of essential nutrients, we wanna do this with number one, real whole foods. And number two, real food concentrates. Superfood concentrates. This is why I'm such a huge fan of Organifi. Organifi provides organic whole food-based superfood concentrates superfoods like chlorella, for example, which is incredibly rich in Chlorophyll, which a study published in the Journal Appetite found that chlorophyll can aid in weight loss and reduce the urge to eat hyper-palatable foods. But it also has remarkable micronutrients like Lutein and Zeaxanthin that helps with our cardiovascular system, with our vision and much more. These foods go above and beyond with their nutrient density. And on top of that, a double-blind placebo controlled study published in the journal Clinical and Experimental Hypertension found that Chlorella was able to normalize blood pressure of test subjects with hypertension. So when I'm saying these foods are superfoods, I'm not exaggerating. We're talking about science backed, we're talking about real. If we're talking about a multivitamin, this is where you need to turn, Whole Food concentrates. Organifi's Green Juice contains chlorella, spirulina, ashwagandha, coconut, and it comes together in this really refreshing beverage that's easy to make, easy to travel with as well. They have these great go packs and providing our families with real whole food-based complimentary nutrition. Go to organifi.com/model. You get 20% off their incredible Green Juice Blend. They also have a great Red Juice Formula Gold highlighting organic turmeric as the foundational ingredient in that formula. And so much more. Organifi is doing stuff the right way, organic, cold processing, organic whole food-based nutrition at organifi.com/model. That's organifi.com/model for 20% off storewide. This episode is brought to you by Four Sigmatic. The human brain is the most powerful pharmacy in the universe. And I'm saying that because every single thought that we think creates correlating chemistry in our bodies and that biochemistry is designed uniquely for you. It's beyond bio identical hormones or neurotransmitters. These are designed specifically for your own receptor site. So what you're making within your own body based on your thoughts, your perception of reality, is of the utmost importance. And obviously, thoughts of stress and anxiety, and worry and fear, these are going to create cascades that make us feel a certain way. The same with more positive and affirmative feelings and thoughts of joy, of love, of connection. But all of our emotions matter. Now, the thing is, if we're talking about health and longevity, we want to make sure that we're stacking conditions to have more positive, affirmative thoughts and buffer us from the stressful thoughts that we are inevitably going to have. Now, our sleep hygiene, our movement practices, and also our nutrition are of the utmost importance in helping to modulate these things. And when it comes to managing stress, there is one particular story, tea that has been utilized for thousands of years that stands head and shoulders above the rest. A study published in Biomedical Research found that test subjects with a variety of health complaints, including anxiety and poor sleep quality, were given lion's main medicinal mushroom or a placebo for four weeks to monitor their metabolic and psychological impact. The participants who utilize lion's mane had significantly reduced levels of anxiety and irritation than those in the placebo group. The researcher stated, quote, our results show that lion's main intake has the possibility to reduce depression and anxiety unquote. Not only that, scientists at the University of Malaya discovered that compounds in lion's mane are able to significantly improve the activity of a nerve growth factor in the brain. Nerve growth factor is essential in the regulation of growth, maintenance, proliferation and survival of various brain cells. If we want to have a healthy brain and protect our brain cells, which we don't have, the regenerative activity of brain cells like we do other cells in our bodies, we've got to take care of our brain cells. This is one of the few things ever discovered that has that protective capacity for me and my family. We want to make sure that the medicinal mushrooms that we're utilizing lions mane, chaga, rishi, and the like are all done via a dual extraction to make sure that we're getting these bio active compounds in a more full fashion. So via a hot water extract and an alcohol extract, there's one company that's doing that and infusing these incredible medicinal mushrooms into things like organic coffee, organic hot cocoa, and I'm talking about the folks at Four Sigmatic. Go to foursigmatic.com//model you get 10% off store wide of all of their incredible medicinal mushroom elixirs, cocos, and their organic coffee blends as well. Today I actually had the lions main and chaga organic coffee blend. This is one of those things, of course, it puts you on ten, but it helps you to modulate and manage your energy. It's not one of those things where you get this jolt of energy and then it leaves you lagging later on. It's very steady, mild mannered behavior and also helping to really activate the cognitive function that we're looking at when we're talking about things like lion's main, medicinal mushroom. Can get 10% off store wide plus more. They got some incredible packages that you've got to check out in specials over at foursigmatic.com//model. Go to foursigmatic.com//model for 10% off store wide and more.