Dr Robert Lustig joined us in the studio to talk about his new book, The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of Our Bodies and Brains. Dr Lustig is a paediatric endocrinologist who is also author of the book Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity and Disease. He talks to us about how corporate interests have worked to keep us addicted to pleasure — and how our addictions have robbed us of happiness.
Image via Flickr
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What We Discussed:
- Dr Lustig’s viral video lecture: “Sugar: The Bitter Truth”
- The difference between happiness and pleasure, and why it matters
- The history of the word “hack”
- The difference between marketing and propaganda (and why it matters)
- Sam Harris and his study, The Neural Correlates of Religious and Nonreligious Beliefs
- Former Google product manager Tristan Harris and his 60 Minutes interview about how our phones are designed to keep us addicted
- Tristan Harris on PBS Newshour
- In Defence of Food, by Michael Pollan (here’s the movie)
- Harvey Kellogg and the invention of cereal
- The evils of Raisin Bran
- How the food industry manipulates us
- Why kids should never sleep with mobile devices in their room
- How to raise your serotonin levels
Our Upgrades of the Week
Every week we like to let you in on the upgrades we’ve made in our own lives. This week we talked about some recommended bedtime reading, meditating twice a day, and why you should reinvent yourself every 10 years.
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