Some people are overweight because of an addiction to carbohydrates. According to Drs. Rachael and Richard Heller in The Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, the carbohydrate-insulin-serotonin connection has gone ballistic. Normally, when insulin levels are high, we become hungry. After we eat, insulin levels go down, fuel is produced, and serotonin, the brain endorphin that leaves us feeling satisfied and peaceful, goes up--at least that's how it's supposed to happen. In carbohydrate addicts, insulin levels stay high, even after meals, and the nagging cravings continue on until that last gallon of ice cream. The news of this addiction may prove especially relevant to Black people in that serotonin is one of the chemical precursors to melanin, which we possess in abundance. Could it be that this same powerful blackness, this energy chemical that makes us so beautiful and suave, is also wreaking havoc with the carbohydrate-insulin-serotonin relationship? Could the reason for our collective obesity lie not in laziness, gluttony, or weak wills but in ignorance of the uniqueness of our bodies and food programs that would enhance our bodies' functioning?
I don't know about the X factor of melanin, but I do know this: In my quest for health and fitness, I will leave no stone unturned, regardless of how strange the rock.
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