Freedom from the Diet Trap: Slim for Life. Jason Vale

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ it some food, he rang a bell at the same time. After that, every time his dog felt genuine hunger, Ivan would put some food down and at exactly the same time he would ring a bell. He didn’t simply do this once or twice, but over and over again until it became a conditioned response: food/bell, food/bell, food/bell. In the end (and this is why I am using this analogy) even if the dog had already eaten and could have in no way felt genuine physical hunger, when the bell was rung the dog would look for food and literally begin to salivate.

      Advertisers for drug and junk food know the power of this and they use it to sell you food when you are not even hungry. Have you ever been driving along, not even thinking about food, when all of a sudden you see the two golden arches of the McDonald’s sign and felt hungry? Or do you remember when you were a kid playing in the street, not thinking of food at all, when all of a sudden you heard the sound of the ice cream man and decided you felt hungry? WELL THAT’S THE BELL. Going to the cinema means popcorn and a drink: THAT’S THE BELL. Easter – a chocolate egg: THAT’S THE BELL. Christmas – turkey or pudding: THAT’S THE BELL. It’s 11.30 a.m. – time for a Diet Coke break: THAT’S THE BELL. Going to get petrol? – time for a pastie, or a bar of chocolate and soft drink: THAT’S THE BELL. Elevenses – time for a cup of tea (and a biscuit of course): THAT’S THE BELL. Watching football – must get the beers in: THAT’S THE BELL.

      The fact is we react to a thousand different bells without even realizing it. The way they link in a bell is to advertise it over and over again. Sometimes they even include a specific time to take their product (as in the cases of Diet Coke break at 11.30 a.m. or After Eight mints). This is why they pay people like David Beckham and Britney Spears millions for a 30-second commercial to advertise products like Pepsi-cola. They link their ‘feel good’ music to a product that has nothing to do with feeling good.

      Do you remember this?

      ‘When your carpet smells fresh your room does too so every time you vacuum remember what to do. Do the shake and vac and put the freshness back, do the shake and vac and put the freshness back …’.

      I would be surprised if you don’t, because it was the most successful advertising campaign of all time for a household cleaner. The point I am making, and sorry if this freaks you out, but the last time that ad was on TV as an actual advertisement was well over twenty years ago. Twenty years ago and yet you probably remember it like it was yesterday – why? Because they beamed the song again and again and again until in the end you couldn’t help but sing it and buy the product. This is why I make no apologies for repeating certain points throughout this book. I know it can jar and yes I know it can drive people nuts. However, it is the only way to remove the bells and create new empowering ones. It is the only way to de-brainwash you. So if you think, ‘He’s said that already’ – I know, it was genuinely intentional and is based on the same principles BIG FOOD use to hook you. I am simply using the same technique to un-hook you.

      The products we are dealing with here are not household cleaners, but ones that can literally destroy people’s quality of life and reduce their life expectancy. They are products which – if consumed in large enough quantities – have been proven to undermine confidence, depress, and disable people. They can also enslave them. Oh, and of course, let’s not forget that in the long run they can also potentially kill you.

      We are constantly being bombarded with so many ‘trendy’ images for junk food. The junkie food outlets have all become fashion statements. We have McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, KFC, Ben and Jerry’s, Häagen-Dazs and Starbucks, to name just a few. It has literally become a ‘designer label’ business. Is it any wonder that so many people are under the misapprehension that junk is where the pleasure is? That crap foods are a treat and fruit and veg are boring? Things have got so bad that we now believe that it is ‘normal’ to eat this rubbish and ‘abnormal’ to eat healthily. After all, if you do eat healthily on a consistent basis you are referred to as a freak, a health freak to be exact.

      These images and beliefs have been drip-fed into our computer brains since we were born. Of all the bells, these are the most detrimental. Many television programmes and virtually all Hollywood films are also playing their part. Product placement is huge in the film and television industry, especially for drug-like foods and drinks. The coffee chain Starbucks, for instance, are now a major placement in many of the Hollywood Blockbusters. The movie You Got Mail should have been called You Got Starbucks. Hollywood has an entire department devoted to product placement, and specific agents to get your product in the latest blockbuster. And if they can get the actor to drink or eat the product it’s a hit. It’s one thing getting Superman thrown into a huge Coke sign, but if they can get him to drink it – BINGO! In the film Austin Powers, the lead actor mentioned Heineken and sales of the beer went up by 15 per cent – hardly a coincidence. The last few movies in the James Bond franchise have plugged a variety of products, too.

      BIG FOOD product placement and advertising’s main objective is to sell the idea that you can feed emotion and make yourself happy with their particular food or drink. If someone’s boyfriend leaves them on a TV show, the first thing to come out is the ice cream. If a child is depressed we can cheer them up with a chocolate bar or ‘treat’ them to a McDonald’s. The problem is that we end up believing it. Not only that, but we all play our part in keeping the chain going: ‘Tidy your room and you can have an ice cream’, ‘If you are good, you can have a chocolate bar’, or perhaps worst of all ‘If you eat your vegetables, you can have a treat’.

      We have all been conditioned to believe that effectively poisoning ourselves with crap food, often devoid of nutrition, is a reward, a treat, a comforter and a genuine pleasure from a very early age. Sadly it’s those who care for us most who are often the biggest culprits. To compound the message we have sounds and images beamed into our computer brains confirming what we have been taught. Every holiday seems to have a strong bell that revolves around food: Easter means chocolate eggs, birthdays mean cakes, Christmas equals pudding and so on.

      The main reason why most people in Western society are caught in the food and diet trap is because it is an exceptionally easy one for people to fall into. Years ago it was very easy for people to fall into the smoking trap. This was largely down to everyone believing it was not only okay to smoke at the time, but that it was very sociable and had no harmful effects (well the masses believed that – the people in the know always knew). Everyone now knows that smoking causes cancer, and it is widely seen as anti-social. The tobacco companies therefore have to work harder and harder to get people hooked on their product. This is why with such a declining market in the West, the tobacco companies are expanding into developing countries – as if they don’t have enough problems as it is.

      However, unlike ‘real’ drugs, drug-like foods are seen as genuine food, and most of us have been on this junkie stuff from a very early age. In fact, if you were not breast fed there is a good chance you have been on junkie and drug foods ever since you were born. Even if you weren’t on rubbish from the second you left the womb, it wouldn’t have been long before you had your first fix.

      Think about it – at what age would you give a child a cigarette? Never I guess, but 16 at the earliest. What about an alcoholic drink? Well it varies, but usually we wouldn’t dream of anything less than double figures. What about junkie or drug food? Now we begin to see the problem. It seems perfectly normal to feed children junkie drug foods from a very early age. Not only is it seen as normal, but this drug-like food is seen as a treat; as a reward – so much so that you are seen as a baddie if you refuse to give them some. At the same time we are bombarded with billions of pounds’ worth of advertising that is cleverly designed to keep people hooked on (or to change their brand of) drug-like food.

      The biggest problem, and this is where you really СКАЧАТЬ