Food Addiction: Is It Real?

Do you feel addicted to food, especially sweet treats?

If you struggle with addictive-like behavior when it comes to
sugar, you are not alone. Researchers know that our brains are
wired to love sweets, and are studying the food addiction
qualities of foods high in sugar, flour and fat.

Even attorneys are getting into the act. While large companies
such as Kraft (maker of Oreos), say that their research is not
“aimed at creating consumer dependency”, they do share expertise
with their corporate counterpart, Phillip Morris.

The attorneys who won huge settlements against the tobacco
companies believe they could repeat their wins, if they could
prove that food companies hid any addictive qualities of their
foods.

Moments after you indulge in sweet treats, your brain’s pleasure
center releases opiate-like substances.

The same brain chemicals that create narcotic highs also keep
you coming back to sugary treats.

Food addiction is real.

Early studies on lab rats showed that rodents have a ravenous
taste for Oreos. In experiments, the rats poked the cookies,
sniffed them, and ate them to excess.

Many rats even took them apart and licked the fillings . . .
just like humans.

According to Ann Kelley at the University of Wisconsin, “even
bacteria swim toward sugar.”

The same sort of opiates that create the rush of drugs such as
heroin also shape how the brain gets pleasure from food,
especially foods high in fat and sugar.

Brain scans in human subjects have shown that Oreos and other
sweet snacks act on the same brain pleasure centers that respond
to addictive drugs.

The thought and sight of ice cream set off the same neurological
pleasure centers in healthy subjects as the images of crack
pipes did for drug addicts.

Of course, all this doesn’t PROVE that food is addictive, and
some people have more of a problem than others.

But addiction researchers are coming to a more certain
conclusion – sugar is like alcohol and other addictive
substances.

Our brains and bodies respond in very similar ways.

Food has the ability to change your appearance, your health,
your mood, and your self-esteem.

When you think about it that way, I hope it makes it easier to
make more conscious and healthy decisions . . . peacefully.

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