The Pleasure Trap – The Hidden Force that Undermines Health

Are you caught in the ‘Pleasure Trap’?

I’ve been recommending Dr Doug Lisle’s book The Pleasure Trap (co-authored by Alan Goldhamer) to clients who struggle to change their lifestyle habits, even when they know what they need to do to get healthy, since it first came out in in 2006. In fact, it’s one of my most frequently-loaned books!

So I was thrilled to watch Doug present live – with his trademark droll humour and inimitable ‘artwork’ (for want of a better word) – at the International Plant-Based Nutrition Heathcare Conference in San Diego last month, and speak to him privately about the work I’ve been doing with EFT in helping people overcoming food addiction and facilitating behaviour change.

If you’ve never seen one of Doug Lisle’s presentations, you’re in for a real treat. You can watch this brief TED talk to get the gist of his message, or this longer presentation for more detail.

Boiled down to a few short sentences, his thesis is this:

• All animals’ behaviour is guided by neural circuits which evolved to maximise the survival and reproduction chances of the animal. These neural circuits are completely fitted to the nature of the organism and the environment to which it is adapted.
• The primary neural circuits, which form the Motivational Triad, are directed toward

1. Maximising pleasure
2. Minimising pain; and
3. Conserving energy.

• The major pleasures that animals desire to experience (and the main ones that primitive humans had access to, before they had cocaine or Candy Crush) were obtaining food – with high-calorie food generating a stronger pleasure response – and sex (or, as Doug puts it, sex and food if it’s a male ;-)). Both of these generate a surge of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which we experience as pleasure.
• Again, in both animals and humans, immediate gratification of the pleasure response isn’t always possible. For example, many animals have elaborate courtship rituals in which males compete to prove their value as mates, by fighting other males, catching food and displaying it in their territory, or performing ‘dances’. The neurotransmitter serotonin is released while performing these activities, and it generates the mood of happiness. You might see the mood of happiness as a reward for delaying immediate gratification by engaging in some kind of goal-oriented behaviour which has as its eventual aim, the experience of pleasure. In a modern context, people are likely to feel happy while they’re working on a project that they anticipate will result in a job promotion, public acclaim, or simply an outcome that they want to achieve.
• Our in-built neurological circuits are at odds with the modern environment, which is replete with products and services that allow us to get immediate gratification (dopamine/pleasure) without engaging in the goal-oriented behaviours which generate serotonin/happiness. This leads to addiction to high-calorie foods, drugs, gambling, shopping, internet gaming and so on… and pervasive unhappiness.
• When we try to break our bad habits and start living more healthfully, we find we’re caught in the Pleasure Trap – bad things (for example junk food) make us feel good, while good things (such as wholesome food and exercise) make us feel bad… at least when we first begin them.
• When we persist with healthy behaviours, we can recalibrate our pleasure circuits so that behaviours that are good for us feel good again… and then we’ll be rewarded with the happy, healthy life we deserve.

I encourage you to read The Pleasure Trap and watch Doug Lisle’s presentations on it. Grasping these key concepts could transform your life!

I shared the highlights from Dr Lisle’s presentation in my FREE webinar, International PBNHC Round-Up.

You can watch the webinar here.

Would you like expert guidance and support to help you break free of The Pleasure Trap? Become an EmpowerEd member today!