How Some Foods Hi-Jack Our Brains by Altering Brain Chemistry

This article originally appeared as Crave Man in the Washington Post an April 27, 2009. I reprint it here because of the effect certain foods have on our brains and how the MindMafia within our brains respond to certain food combinations. Know what you eat and what it’s doing to you!

By Lyndsey Layton
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, April 27, 2009

If anyone noticed the man foraging through the trash, they would have assumed he was a vagrant. Except he was wearing black dress slacks and padded gardening gloves. “I’m surprised he didn’t wear a tie,” his wife said dryly.

The high-octane career path of David A. Kessler, the Harvard-trained doctor, lawyer, medical school dean and former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration had come to this: nocturnal dumpster diving. Sometimes, he would just reach in. Other times, he would climb in.

It took many of these forays until Kessler emerged with his prize: ingredient labels affixed to empty cardboard boxes that spelled out the fats, salt and sugar used to make the Southwestern Eggrolls, Boneless Shanghai Wings and other dishes served by the nation’s second-largest restaurant chain.

Kessler was on a mission to understand a problem that has vexed him since childhood: why he can’t resist certain foods.

His resulting theory, described in his new book, “The End of Overeating,” is startling. Foods high in fat, salt and sugar alter the brain’s chemistry in ways that compel people to overeat. “Much of the scientific research around overeating has been physiology — what’s going on in our body,” he said. “The real question is what’s going on in our brain.”

Have you met your MindMafia?

Some people call it the “committee in their heads” while others call it the “boardroom” in their heads or simply the voices in their heads or on their shoulders. The reality is that there are an entire group of people – a family – residing in your psyche and they are controlling everything you do, including the way you think, feel, and often act.

I call them the MindMafia because they are an underground group of “people” or voices sharing an organizational structure and code of conduct within you. There is the ego, the protector, the pusher, the child, the mother and father and a whole host of other subpersonalities that control you. And each is an important part of your make up.

In pyschological circles, these subpersonalities have been known for years and there are various methods to attempt to identify, understand and work with these entities. Inspired by a particular method called Voice Dialogue that has been around for over 40 years, I developed the MindMafia Mapping Method as a system for identifying, understanding the roles each of these subpersonalities play, how much control they exert over you and, more importantly, a method for negotiating with each of these “people” to change their roles, if they are willing.

This is extremely powerful work that can change your life in an instant, much like hypnosis. But unlike most hypnotic methods, you are completely awake and aware during the entire process.

My MindMafia includes my ego, vulnerable child, magical child, baron (pusher), guardian, cynic and critic to just name a few. Who comprises your MindMafia?

Procrastination Required for Filmmaker Success?

Andy is a burgeoning, talented independent filmmaker who has investors for his first two movies. He honed his craft and learned the business working for other companies. He came to me concerned that he was spending too much time procrastinating and wanted to find out what was going on in his subconscious to create the issue.

Before starting the MindMafia session, we explored why he thought he was procrastinating. At first, he thought it was because his father often procrastinated on big projects or because his uncle had modeled it for him. Then he mentioned that it might be fear of success. I could tell he was concerned and grasping at straws to determine why he was unfocused and not making the progress he thought he should be. When we entered the MindMafia session, I asked which part of Andy’s subconscious or psyche was contributing to the procrastination. Immediately, a subpersonality called “success” identified itself. When asked why it was causing Andy to put off working on his films, it responded with, “It is a pacing mechanism.”

Welcome to MindMafia!

I’m thrilled to write my first post to the MindMafia blog! The MindMafia Mapping Method is a very simple, powerful and effective methodology for accessing the subpersonalities in your psyche to understand what role each plays in your life, how it is controlling or contributing to your reality, how it serves you and, more importantly, a method for negotiating and changing that subpersonality’s influence, if possible.

I look forward to sharing more about the method and how it can help you!

What is MindMafia and How Does it Work?

The MindMafia Mapping Method™ is a very simple, powerful and effective methodology for accessing the subpersonalities in your psyche to understand what role each plays in your life, how it is controlling or contributing to your reality, how it serves you and, more importantly, a method for negotiating and changing that subpersonality’s influence, if possible.

Under the careful guidance of a trained MindMafia Certified Facilitator, a person spatially projects their psyche into a physical location. The facilitator guides the person through a physical mapping process to identify major subpersonality identities and record their roles. This map is then used to understand how life is working for the person and negotiate with the subpersonalities to make quick, powerful and sustainable changes in their lives.

The MindMafia Mapping Method was developed by Michael O. “Coop” Cooper.