Is the Food We Eat Causing Food Addiction?
Most people don’t realize that the root of food addiction can be similar to drug or alcohol addictions. Because of this, Cliffside Malibu rehab also works to understand what can cause food addiction. Right now in the United States there is a big push to get our population healthier. Consider some facts:
• We need less salt, sugar and fat in our diets; most nutritionists consider these substances to be addictive;
• More than half of Americans are overweight;
• 40 million people are obese;
• Type 2 Diabetes, heart disease and cancer are rampant;
• Processed foods make us hungrier;
• Starchy and sugary foods cause our glucose levels to spike making us eat and drink more;
• Drinking one regular soda per day could cause a person to gain 30 pounds per year;
• The processed food industry is considered by some to be a public menace, equal to that of the tobacco industry.
Is the goal of the processed food industry to get people hooked on foods that are addictive, convenient and inexpensive? Some think so.
In 1999, the CEOs of some of America’s largest food corporations met to discuss the emerging obesity epidemic and how to deal with it. Some of the companies represented were General Mills, Coca-Cola, Proctor & Gamble, Nestle, Kraft and Nabisco. The CEO of General Mills summed it up when he said that people buy what they like and what tastes good. That was pretty much the end of the meeting.
Ordinary people like you and me, the ones who try to be healthy but consume more processed food than we should, are paid by the fast food industry to spend hours in rooms evaluating their food. They ask about the taste, texture, color and smell. They have to get the combination of everything just right. Coca-Cola and Doritos owe their success to complicated formulas that tell the brain to not stop eating. This is called the Bliss Point.
Do we have any real control about the kinds of foods that are offered and how much salt, sugar and fat are included in our food? In Finland they made it national policy to cut one-third of the salt in people’s diets. The result was a 75% decline in the number of deaths from strokes and heart disease. The nutritional equivalent to wearing a seatbelt in a moving car.
Food addiction is probably the most serious of all addictions, because unlike with other issues, one cannot abstain from eating. Instead, overcoming food addiction involves giving up overly processed foods, trigger foods, and making healthier diet and exercise choices. This is far easier said than done, especially when temptation is literally everywhere.
So, when do we take control, if not through national policy, at least in our own homes…?
Cliffside Malibu rehab center encourages all of its clients to maintain a healthy diet while here as well as long after you’ve left our facility for a life change that will last forever.
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