Junk Food "Addiction" May Be Real.

[Big Blue Marble]

Many people even here on DU want to blame obesity on moral failings and lack of willpower. This study and other similar studies show that something more is going
on in the brains of those who have been exposed to excess amounts of fat, salt, and sugar. Their brains are switched to desire these foods. And as David Kessler
describes in "The End Of Overeating", our food suppliers use this research to their advantage to keep their customers coming back.

SUNDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) -- Obese people often say they'd like to eat less but feel almost powerless to stop indulging, and now new research suggests that explanation might be all too true.

The theory stems from a study in rats. When researchers gave the rats unlimited access to a calorie-laden diet of bacon, pound cake, candy bars and other junk food, the rats quickly gained lots of weight. As they plumped up, eating became such a compulsion that they kept chowing down even when they knew they would receive an unpleasant electric shock to their foot if they did so.

Meanwhile, rats fed the human equivalent of a well-balanced, healthy diet -- and given only limited access to the junk food -- didn't gain much weight and knew enough to stop eating when they received the cue that a foot shock was imminent.

Even more startling, the researchers report, is that when they took away the junk food from the obese rats and replaced it with healthier chow, the obese rats went on something of a hunger strike. For two weeks, they refused to eat hardly anything at all.

Link

[Kali]

1. a little zap wouldn't keep me from another piece of bacon, either

:rofl:

[wtmusic]

4. For me it would take razor wire, german shepherds...

and I still might take a crack at it. :crazy:

[undergroundpanther]

2. Junk food pushers

are no less profitable and just as evil as big tobbacco,chemical companies,montsano,or diet cola peddlers or crack dealers.Obesity is a complex body-mind-social&environmental problem,and partly a manufactured for profit problem. A BIG K'n'R for this one!

[Big Blue Marble]

3. Oh so very true.

In order to become a more healthy society, we must comprehend the full implications of what you are saying.
Only then, will we begin to regain our health and well-being.

[demosincebirth]

10. I think that TV, video games, computers and such contribute to the unhealthiness of our young and

many other overweight people.

[april fool]

15. No one has to accept their poison.

You know, free will, yada yada...

[pleah]

5. Torture anything long enough and they will learn anything you want.

:crazy:

[Lifelong Protester]

6. We need to collectively take a look at what we need to do

personally to reclaim our health. I think that junk foods are consumed in much the same way as junk 'news'. It's easy to do, it doesn't require much thought, and no one is counting up the cost.

A big, healthy K & R for this one.

[CoffeeCat]

7. Many people are emotional eaters...

Many people get stressed, anxious or depressed--and eating is comforting. Chocolate and chips ARE tasty and
it is satisfying to watch a great movie and eat junk food that you find delicious. The problem is...that many
people slowly begin eating to tamp down emotions, and pretty soon it's a habit. Food becomes a drug. You
get addicted psychologically and physically. Sugar does cause chemical reactions in your mind and brain
that "take you away" from difficult emotions. So...there is a payoff for binging on this stuff.

Our society is stressed out--big time. The economy has taken its toll and many people are primed to find
some exogenous source to help with their overwhelming feelings. Many people have other issues too--such
as divorce, healing from childhood issues or growing up with dysfunctional parents, losing a loved one, etc.

Those people find themselves addicted to food, alcohol or worse.

I am glad to see more evidence revealed about food addiction. I have dealt with it when I went through a
very difficult time. I just started eating more to numb things and pretty soon--it's a big cycle that
is so hard to get out of! Getting off of sugar was like getting off of crack or something...I had headaches
and I was incredibly irritable and my body went through withdrawals. High fructose corn syrup is the DEVIL.
You gain weight so incredibly fast on that stuff. Mix HFCS with the partially hydrogenated fats and you've
got something that tastes great--but is so horrible on your body. And it's addictive!

The deck is really stacked against us. After I started reading labels, I couldn't believe what I saw. Sara Lee
bread--the 100 percent whole what that is marketed as a health food--has HFCS in it and 10 grams of sugar per
two slices. Isn't that crazy???? HFCS is in everything and you are almost doomed to gain weight if you eat it.

It's easy to see how people spiral into a food hell and have a tough time getting out. These foods make it
sooooo difficult to climb out of the hole. Yes, it can be done. But people shouldn't have to work like hell
to work themselves out of a killer food vortex that today's food manufacturers are creating with their addictive
and unhealthy food!

[HillbillyBob]

12. There is much truth in what you say

and fuck the shots at moralizing.
It is that we are being fed a diet of garbage backed up with all those junk food adverts on tv..like the animated poptarts commercials.

It is amoral for the corps to produce poison then coop USDA/FDA into selling that shit as 'food'.

We were at a restaurant yesterday..mostly natural etc foods..
A young couple comes in and orders chocolate milk for the kids one still in diapers and the other barely older..
I mean what are you doing givin 2 3 yr olds chocolate milk? I watch what others are putting in their grocery carts and I can't understand why you would feed that to kids. Read the labels, I have a simple rule. If it says hydrolized, hydrogenated or HFCS or any of those chemical names I cannot pronounce I put it back on the shelf and if I really want whatever it is I figure out a recipe and make my own 'clean' version.
Get the kids in on the act of making food.

Before any on jumps on me..I lost 90 lbs after getting a bad health report years ago and changed out my diet for real food. It took me a couple of years to do it too.
I still have junk stuff on occasion and limit it pretty strictly. I ll take a little of the chips or what ever put in a small bowl put the bag or box away and eat what I have put out.
Substitute the addictive nastyass food like substances with time outdoors or hobbies and get a grip. Its hard then again nothin worth while is easy. We are turning into a nation of wimps who blame everything on something else. Take it by the scruff of the neck and throw it away. I have lived with HIV for 28 yrs, been through heart attack, borderline diabetic, bypass surgery,cancer, On my 4th round now, tomorrow will be my 4 colon cancer surgery.

Learn what is important to you and do it.
Frankly the stuff they are selling as food is poison and should be taken off the shelves..I don't know what should be done with it since putting it in a landfill might poison the ground water!

[april fool]

17. There are some stores like Whole Foods which carry nothing with HFCS

And they have a store brand which is often cheaper than the regular grocer's. We have to make stuff from scratch instead of buy boxes and cans.

[Dogmudgeon]

8. Sex. Drugs. Now food.

The REAL addiction? That we are addicted to compulsive moralizing.

--d!

[demosincebirth]

9. Mmmmm, a bacon, pound cake sandwich.

[Zoeisright]

11. Make that with candied bacon and you've got yourself a deal.

Or chocolate-covered bacon.

[demosincebirth]

13. Stop it!!

[Abq_Sarah]

14. Mo's Dark Chocolate and Bacon Bar

A match made in heaven.

[april fool]

16. Well, the problem is when the shite hits the proverbial fan.

Namely, everything starts going downhill. I don't know how old you are, but it's nothing to laugh about.