Years ago I switched to a diet free of processed foods (with an exception for hot sauces and other condiments), which means cooking everything yourself starting with basic ingredients. It seems to have had a lot of positive effects. It's nice to see some scientific confirmation (although mostly my original motivation was avoiding preservatives and weird additives like 'dough conditioner', 'processed soy protein', 'high-fructose corn syrup', etc.):

> "Experts like DiFeliceantonio believe we should make the distinction between highly processed foods and those made from scratch. Being aware of those differences is the first step in avoiding a long list of diet-related health issues..."

> "Highly processed foods can qualify as clinically addictive, both Gearhardt and DiFeliceantonio argue. According to what’s known as the rate hypothesis, the faster something affects your brain, the more addictive that substance will be. Many processed foods are essentially pre-digested to maximize the speed of dopamine release..."

Flooding the body with sugars also messes up the insulin response, leading to the development of type II diabetes over time. Eating complex carbohydrates that are slowly broken down to sugar and fed to the muscles/brain cells for energy, or stored as glycogen in the liver, appears to greatly reduce the chances of that outcome.

I generally thought that neurotransmitter de-sensitization at the cellular level wasn't involved with food choices, and was limited to alcohol/drug use. Interesting to see that's not true.

Incidentally this diet, which tends to be fairly low-fat/mid-protein but higher in carbs from roots/leafy greens/fruit-veg, could use a catchy name. When people ask I call it 'the peasant diet' but maybe 'the farmer's diet' is better?