Even though this article I just read, “The Psychology of Food Adversion”, has nothing to do with food allergies, we are vindicated here! How many times have you heard some say, “oh you get nauseated when you smell peanut? Isn’t that all just in your head!”? Well, according to David Solot, it is in our heads for a reason! Our brain is protecting us from imminent danger!!
photo courtesy of blog.helia.com
Mr. Solot wrote this blog for CNN’s eatocracy website. In this article he does a lovely job explaining why a person can feel nauseated from the simple sight of scent of a food. In a nutshell, (I couldn’t resist the pun) our brains are protecting us from being poisoned. Basically, we are responding to a primal action of survival of our brain taking over and guiding us to safety. I don’t want to give too much information out and ruin the article, but it is quite fascinating on how our brain truly is busy causing us to react in an effort to stop us from eating something that can hurt us! This article does explain why haven’t drank tomato juice since preschool.
FROM eatocracy: “David Solot is a Ph.D. student in organizational psychology at Walden University, with a Masters in clinical psychology. His background includes the study of animal sensation and perception, and conditioned responses to sweetness in foods.”
One of the hardest things I find about managing both life threatening food allergies and asthma is talking to others. I hate to be the one that might be perceived as demanding, pushing or for asking too much. What I now know, fourteen years later, is that honest, clear information presented with kindness works!..