Review: 'The Hacking of the American Mind' shows how 'toxic environment' makes us neurochemically miserable

Current scientific data on addiction and happiness, or contentment, relies mostly on animal studies and correlative human studies (11).

“[The] Sugar Association established a public relations arm called Sugar Information, Inc., and hired a PR firm to blanket the country with pro-sugar propaganda. Saying that sugar was the ‘quick energy’ to provide the ‘willpower you need to undereat’ and ‘to curb your appetite’—in other words, deceptive advertising designed to drive your dopamine upward.

“Children still grow,” Dr. Lustig says, “but sadly in my pediatric clinic I now watch many of them grow horizontally rather than vertically. Some take medicines previously reserved for adults, like metformin for type 2 diabetes or benazepril for hypertension” (page 1).

Pleasure is a sensation driven by the hormone dopamine in the brain.

Review: 'The Hacking of the American Mind' shows how 'toxic environment' makes us neurochemically miserable Jaclyn Lewis · Mar 26, 2019

Pleasure-seeking unchecked can lead to addictions, and, in the case of food addiction, metabolic syndrome (foods spiked with sugar, compulsive behaviors such as shopping, TV watching, porn).

Pleasure-seeking unchecked can lead to addictions, and, in the case of food addiction, metabolic syndrome (foods spiked with sugar, compulsive behaviors such as shopping, TV watching, porn).

Therefore, Dr. Lustig writes, “if we don’t understand what’s actually happening to our brains, we become prey to industries that capitalize on our addictions in the name of selling happiness” (7).

However, Dr. Lustig says there is enough circumstantial and empirical evidence to show that “pleasure is the slippery slope to tolerance and addiction, while happiness is the key to long life” (7).

However, Dr. Lustig says there is enough circumstantial and empirical evidence to show that “pleasure is the slippery slope to tolerance and addiction, while happiness is the key to long life” (7).

“[The] Sugar Association established a public relations arm called Sugar Information, Inc., and hired a PR firm to blanket the country with pro-sugar propaganda. Saying that sugar was the ‘quick energy’ to provide the ‘willpower you need to undereat’ and ‘to curb your appetite’—in other words, deceptive advertising designed to drive your dopamine upward.

The food industry uses sugar as an inexpensive way to increase food palatability and shelf life (183-184, 269-270).

We’ve known this since nutritional researchers John Yudkin in the U.K. and Sheldon Reiser in the U.S. “correlated sugar consumption with heart disease” around 50 years ago (184).

However, Dr. Lustig says there is enough circumstantial and empirical evidence to show that “pleasure is the slippery slope to tolerance and addiction, while happiness is the key to long life” (7).

Contentment occurs through the act of giving and is long-lasting (time or money to a worthy project, care and attention to a spouse or friend).

Some industries blur “the link between their products and disease” and “willingly confuse the concepts of pleasure and happiness with the sole motive being profit” (6).

Dr. Lustig says that the confusion between pleasure and contentment “continues to be stoked by industry and government in order to preserve and sustain persistent economic growth at the expense of the populace” (152).

Therefore, Dr. Lustig writes, “if we don’t understand what’s actually happening to our brains, we become prey to industries that capitalize on our addictions in the name of selling happiness” (7).

“[The] Sugar Association established a public relations arm called Sugar Information, Inc., and hired a PR firm to blanket the country with pro-sugar propaganda. Saying that sugar was the ‘quick energy’ to provide the ‘willpower you need to undereat’ and ‘to curb your appetite’—in other words, deceptive advertising designed to drive your dopamine upward.

Infant mortality increased between 2014 and 2015 (154).

To thrive in our toxic environment, Dr. Lustig urges us to add “The 4C’s of Happiness” into our daily lives:

Pleasure is a sensation driven by the hormone dopamine in the brain.

What’s more, when “the sugar industry came under intense scrutiny” because of Yudkin and Reiser’s research, Dr. Lustig says the Sugar Association increased efforts to market sugar in a positive light.

Despite our country’s economic abundance, “we’re prosperous but not happy,” or healthy.

Dr. Lustig says that the confusion between pleasure and contentment “continues to be stoked by industry and government in order to preserve and sustain persistent economic growth at the expense of the populace” (152).

Dr. Lustig identifies those distinctions:

However, Dr. Lustig says there is enough circumstantial and empirical evidence to show that “pleasure is the slippery slope to tolerance and addiction, while happiness is the key to long life” (7).