The Pleasure Trap
Listening to Dr. Lisle explain the pleasure trap ... I had a front row seat
I had the pleasure of listening to and meeting Dr. Doug Lisle, author of The Pleasure Trap. After I had done much research, I happened upon his information. I found it to be insightful and right on target.
Below, is a snippet from his writings. Take a moment to read it. If you have already escaped "the pleasure trap", then you will be smiling and nodding your head in agreement. If you are scratching your head and do not understand his writings, then, most likely, you are currently in "the pleasure trap".
As he states, it takes between 30 - 120 days (I added 30 days) to escape the pleasure trap. If done properly, there is no willpower or deprivation required - just a re-calibration of your taste buds.
I compare it to a NASCAR race. Watching cars race that are inches apart at 200-MPH is exhilarating. However, driving a car at 60-MPH can be very enjoyable too.
Below, is a snippet from his writings. Take a moment to read it. If you have already escaped "the pleasure trap", then you will be smiling and nodding your head in agreement. If you are scratching your head and do not understand his writings, then, most likely, you are currently in "the pleasure trap".
As he states, it takes between 30 - 120 days (I added 30 days) to escape the pleasure trap. If done properly, there is no willpower or deprivation required - just a re-calibration of your taste buds.
I compare it to a NASCAR race. Watching cars race that are inches apart at 200-MPH is exhilarating. However, driving a car at 60-MPH can be very enjoyable too.
Let the expert explain it ...
Dr. Lisle signing my copy of The Pleasure Trap
Like our other sensory nerves, our taste buds also will "get used to" a given level of stimulation, and this can have horrific consequences. The taste buds of the vast majority of people in industrialized societies are currently adapted to artificially high-fat, high-sugar, and high-salt animal and processed foods. These foods are ultimately no more enjoyable than more healthful fare, but few people will ever see that this is true, because they consistently consume highly stimulating foods, and have "gotten used to" them. If they were to eat a less stimulating, health-promoting diet, they soon would enjoy such fare every bit as much. Unfortunately, very few people will ever realize this critically important fact.
Scientific evidence suggests that the re-sensitization of taste nerves takes between 30 and 90 days of consistent exposure to less stimulating foods. This means that for several weeks, most people attempting this change will experience a reduction in eating pleasure. This is why modern foods present such a devastating trap, as most of our citizens are, in effect, "addicted" to artificially high levels of food stimulation. The 30-to-90-day process of taste re-calibration requires more motivation, and more self-discipline, than most people are ever willing to muster.
Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits, and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure. This is an extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation that I describe as a "pleasure trap."
Most of our citizenry can't imagine how it could be any other way. To remove (or dramatically reduce) such products from America's daily diet seems intolerable, even absurd. Most people believe that if they were to do so, they would enjoy their food, and their lives, much less. Indeed, most people believe that they literally would suffer if they consumed a health-promoting diet devoid of such indulgences. But, it is here that their perception is greatly in error. The reality is that humans are well designed to fully enjoy the subtler tastes of whole natural foods, but are poorly equipped to realize this fact. And like a frog sitting in dangerously hot water, most people are being slowly destroyed by the limitations of their awareness.
Dr. Doug Lisle
The Pleasure Trap
Scientific evidence suggests that the re-sensitization of taste nerves takes between 30 and 90 days of consistent exposure to less stimulating foods. This means that for several weeks, most people attempting this change will experience a reduction in eating pleasure. This is why modern foods present such a devastating trap, as most of our citizens are, in effect, "addicted" to artificially high levels of food stimulation. The 30-to-90-day process of taste re-calibration requires more motivation, and more self-discipline, than most people are ever willing to muster.
Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits, and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure. This is an extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation that I describe as a "pleasure trap."
Most of our citizenry can't imagine how it could be any other way. To remove (or dramatically reduce) such products from America's daily diet seems intolerable, even absurd. Most people believe that if they were to do so, they would enjoy their food, and their lives, much less. Indeed, most people believe that they literally would suffer if they consumed a health-promoting diet devoid of such indulgences. But, it is here that their perception is greatly in error. The reality is that humans are well designed to fully enjoy the subtler tastes of whole natural foods, but are poorly equipped to realize this fact. And like a frog sitting in dangerously hot water, most people are being slowly destroyed by the limitations of their awareness.
Dr. Doug Lisle
The Pleasure Trap