What makes food an addiction
 

ok...this is a broad question but i was having a craving and just thought..hmmm.. what makes food addicting to people like us??? what or why.
some foods are more comforting or addicting than others... so...?

I'd suggest reading The End of Overeating by David Kessler (former FDA chief). He'll answer it very thoroughly and succinctly. It's eye-opening and empowering. A lot of foods are designed to make you want more so that you'll buy more. The food industry has done enormous amounts of research into what makes food likable enough to buy again and again.

For me, the point was to stuff myself to the point of being uncomfortably full so I couldn't feel any thing else beyond the fullness. Any sadness, any loneliness. That's what made it so addicting for me. I'm trying to train myself to eat according to physical hunger only and I've noticed that since I've been doing that, my emotions feel more raw and strong to me.

Hi, it is the combination of fat and sugar that gives a nice feeling to our brain. This does not happen only to overweight people but to everyone the difference is that we dont stop at a little buzz we go all the way.

This nice feeling that we get is often used to fight loneliness, boredom, sadness, etc. It is easier to grab comfort food than doing something about those feeling.

I agree with what mars735 said. Certain foods are designed to make you crave them. This has been my own personal experience when it came to junk food. Once I start eating it, I can't get enough of it no matter how much I eat. I had to cut it out completely to rid myself of the addiction to it. I try to stay away from foods with chemicals/preservatives and eat only whole natural foods. It has definitely helped me combat my food addiction.

In addition to what others have said, Certain flavours that are in our food so magnified that most other types of food are bland and unappealing. think about how many sugars are in the large coke you buy at the movies. 50 teaspoons apparently. That stuff is very sweet, and you've just eaten a ton of sugar. So this has an effect on your blood sugar levels. Its sends your blood sugar whacko which makes you want more even when you are full.

This is why find it most useful to quit the crap food when i am on a diet. Its the only way i can make healthy food enjoyable again. I need to be sugar free to enjoy my fruit and vegies, especially my vegies.

highly salted foods also seem to mess without tastebuds and fat is known to make food flavourful. So salt, sugar and fat are all the most obvious flavours and the industry has just increased the quantities of these flavours in junk and processed foods. So if you get used to them, nothing else can seem really tasty enough.

I mean i've probably over simplified the truth of the palate. But its also a habit thing. People who've eaten that bad food for years on end, have got deeply ingrained habits that can be hard to break. Some people appear to even not know how to make and eat and enjoy healthier foods.

This ^^^

I reject the idea that food is addictive. I think we can be swayed to believe that it is, and by merely accepting that idea it takes strong hold in our minds. I think it's the placebo effect. As long as I believed that food was addictive I was addicted to "those" foods. Ever since I've rejected the idea I'm no longer addicted to "those" foods. Shrug.

People say the same thing about a lot of substances that don't apply to me personally. They say alcohol is addictive, but I drink it and I'm not an addict. They say cigarettes are addictive, but I smoke socially on occassion and am not an addict.

Cravings have multiple causes. They can be brought on by an actual need that your body has, an emotional stressor, or a restriction. If a person is thirsty does that mean they are addicted to water?

Ditto "The End of Overeating". Most illuminating book I've read in a long time - hard science but very approachable. :)

I found this book at a used bookstore and I grabbed it quickly! $4 for a hardcover!

The End of Overeating does it quite clearly. Nobody can tell me that they get the same rush from broccoli that they do from their favorite junk food. Certain foods are designed to be addictive. And just like so many of us can have one beer and say no, some drink themselves to death slowly. It really is a fascinating read.

I found it a fascinating read too. It's amazing what lengths the food industry will go to give us the optimal combination of ingredients.

I can distinguish the difference between a rush - which is artificial in most of these foods - and an enjoyable eating experience. And that CAN include broccoli or whatever. Just recently I made a fresh ceasar salad to accompany some BBQ ribs that we grilled outside and I'm stillllll thinking about that salad. The combination of the salty anchovies, the spicy raw garlic, the nuttiness of the parmesan and the crisp coldness of the romaine was thrilling! I've yet to have a similar experience with broccoli but I've had numerous rushes from cauliflower :D

I think alot of it is just habit. I have it so ingrained in me to do X when Y happens that it is very hard to change that. Kindof like how smells trigger memories but the reverse of that perhaps? lmao

The other day I had this beautiful amazing meal waiting for lunch. It tasted amazing, it was soo healthy. I had been waiting to have it. But that morning I took some really bad self esteem hits. Like nonstop crying my eyes out. All I wanted was to stuff myself with really bad greasy food. Because that is what I would do. I get upset I sit and watch a movie and eat pizza until I am stuffed. And it would make me feel slightly better in that moment.

So my brain now just says u r upset do this. I just have to retrain myself that being upset means doing something else instead.

Someone here once said that foods that are perfectly engineered to brainwash your tastebuds just taste like "more" to them. That was a lightbulb moment for me that really helped me reframe some things-- some foods just DO taste like "more." No amount will ever be "enough," so why start?

A lot of that stuff I just never eat, but for the rest, my brain now has a giant blinking "proceed with caution" sign.

My two cents from a life lived for 47 years with hunger 24/7 to no hunger at all a year later: carbs and processed foods.

Carbs from most anything other than leafy vegetables, above ground veggies, and berries activates insulin. The carbs break down into glucose which insulin has to get out of the bloodstream. It can put some into liver and muscle but not a lot. It then starts storing calories as fat. So for instance I eat high fat now and some protein and 'good carbs'. None get stored. But if I had starchy carbs and the protein and fat I'd have stored a lot of calories.

So after your blood glucose goes down and you get hungry again. Also you can become a 'sugar (carb) burner'. You have effectively shut down your ability to burn fat. Your body constantly needs carbs to burn because it also has to get them out of the blood stream. So you get hungry and often. So it is hard, virtually impossible to not only miss a meal but not snack between meals. This is totally normal if you are a carb burner, no willpower weakness or anything. I was exactly this way.

I heard someone compare being 'fat adapted' ie burning fat for fuel as having a nice big log on a fire. You can eat a high fat meal and just go for hours. But when you are a carb burner you are using twigs and small branches and have to keep adding more and more very frequently.

So I believe from my own lived experience having a high carb way of eating with grains and starches will keep you hungry as your default state.

Then the second thing is the highly scientifically engineered foods designed to be as addictive as possible.

Once I got past a (not fun) transition period and made high fat low carb whole foods my WOE my hunger disappeared. A wonderful thing. I know for me without going low carb I would have remained addicted to carbs and hungry for every single day the rest of my life.

I never get addicted to anything, not even alcohol or cigarettes. I could take it or leave it with no problem as long as I wanted to leave it. IMO addiction is mostly mental. Depends on the person too.

I think you would say that if you don't experience addiction. I think one of the definitions of addiction is that its a bodily reaction, not a mental reaction that causes you to need it.

As for food addiction, i know the jury is out on this one. For myself i find it useful to think of myself as being addicted to sugar but whether or not its a true addiction, i don't know.

But as to cigarettes, i was definitely an addict. Don't have the same problem with alcohol but i know there are people who are.

I wouldn't consider my self an addict either, but ...

There is a great book called "Trances we live" that very well described the way my mind works when I do not struggle to be "Self-Aware". I and the book would say that most of us live in a kind of a trance, where our response is pre-programmed based on what ever stimulus we encounter.

I can remember vividly getting ready to go to work one day, this day was going to be a real bear of a day, I really didn't want to go.. but as I got up to leave as soon as I grabbed the doorknob, my mind flashed towards food and hunger. I had just eaten not an hour before.. I let go of the doorknob and remarked, "What the he** was that?!" Wow, I am not hungry, no tummy rumble

I have to be awake and present or my mind will try to mood manage -

My 2c,
The Orange One

I agree with you. I've always questioned the notion of addiction. I'm rather inclined to believe in degrees of habituation.

F.

This thread has taken an interesting turn. On the one hand, I think a lot of times we use "addiction" as a short-hand phrase to describe a habit - "zOMG, I'm so addicted to carbs." Some people really do exhibit addictive behaviors around refined carbohydrates to their detriment, but no doubt a lot of people just mean they feel strong urges. Kind of like how people will exclaim, "Oh, I'm being so OCD!" when they mean they're being anal-retentive. They don't actually suffer from the debilitating disorder.

Anyway, I think being dismissive of the idea of addiction altogether is oddly ignorant (in this day and age) of established medical science. Ignorance is bliss, since someone who says that has probably not closely known anyone in their life who struggled heavily with addiction.

I think a few rare unlucky people really do suffer from clinical addiction to various foods, and no doubt there's varying degrees of addiction. A lot of us are just using it as convenient hyperbole, which confuses the issue.

If we're talking heroin I'd agree but overeating food is a habit. Again, JMO.

Here's an interesting article comparing food addiction to drug addiction http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/1...n_4173632.html

For me, food was a coping mechanism. As are most "addictive" substances, if you are lacking skills in coping with stress, or have genetic predispositions to addiction/obesity/etc you may be more susceptible to addiction. Don't forget that habits form pathways in our brain, much like how we drive to work without thinking about how to get there, it's automatic. We must challenge those pathways lest we misconstrue them as addiction.

I think that our mental state plays a huge huge huge role in our susceptibility. I was addicted to cigarettes for 17yrs and kept saying "I can quit if I want to, I just don't want to." Then I got pregnant and stopped cold turkey. I experienced no withdrawl symptoms. A couple of years ago I took it back up socially - meaning once every couple of weeks, many many days can go by without giving it any thought. Then I'll go out with friends and smoke 3 cigarettes. Was I ever addicted? I've never known anyone else to quit without any withdrawl symptoms.

When I was dieting, I was constantly reading literature that supported my beliefs that sugar was addictive, and that carbs were addictive. I was "addicted" and I knew it for sure. I would experience withdrawl when I started a diet and it would never ever ever end for me, no matter how long I stuck with it.

I decided to think otherwise. I dropped the BS, rejected the idea that I was addicted to sugar and carbs and in the most dramatic moment of my life lost my desire for carbs and sugar. I eat them like most moderate people do, but there is no longing, no withdrawl, no weird cravings, no obessive thoughts and no overeating. The brain is the most amazing organ that we have. Everyone is busy trying to control their pancreas and their kidneys and their heart etc... going to directly to the brain and address its needs takes care of all those other organs without effort.

I think in the End of Overeating, Kessler did address that sugar in particular does cause physiological changes in the brain and that it was verified by MRI. The reaction was of greater magnitude than even cocaine. Like a lot of posters here, I think it seems very reasonable to assume that we all have varying degrees of sensitivity and reaction. One of our moderators, way back, said "We are all laboratories of one". :yes:

I guess mostly food addiction is the same as alcohol or drug addiction. People need something to please themselves! Some people just prefer food not drugs. In addition modern world puts so many supplements to an ordinary food to make it more tasty(( People all around the world are gaining weight! Our not active lifestyle gives even more problems( I know when i am sitting at home i eat all the time. Doing something will make you to forget about food. At the end of this post i want to say: Yes, i am addicted to food, but i want to change;-)) that is why i came here)

I'd suggest reading some current research before dismissing the entire notion of addiction based on experiments of one :D Neurologic pathways of behavior, including reward seeking have been mapped in the brain and also studied extensively in rat models. This isn't even controversial anymore, it's well accepted. The distinction between mind and body is really arbitrary. More and more behavior and even thinking will be mapped to anatomical structures &/or nerve networks.

There is a lot of variation among individuals regarding susceptibility to addiction, so to say "I can smoke but I'm not an addict" and imply that addiction therefore does not exist is a fallacy. No one claims to conclusively understand--yet--why some people become addicted to alcohol while others are more susceptible to sweets or the sugar/fat/salt trio.

Habits are neurologically based. The ability to form habits has evolved over millenia in animals, humans included. Doesn't mean we can't use our cerebral cortex to change them, but it might explain why it takes so much effort.

I do NOT dismiss the notion that carbs for me at least, are an addiction. I wish you all could see me when I spin out of control. You would see it too.

For those that have been lucky enough to not be addicted to anything, kudos. Of course, your perceptions about food addiction will be different, because it's based on your own experience. Truth is relative. Everyone has a different truth based on their own life journeys. Food addiction is real to me. My life experience has proven it to me. But of course, just like anything, addictions can be overcome. Whether an addiction is mental or bodily or a combination of both depends on the individual. Addiction is real to some, not so real to others.

To me, it's intense cravings. I don't know about "addiction".

Just came across this today:

http://www.timeslive.co.za/thetimes/...dict-tells-all

As someone who has gone from hunger 24/7 to no hunger I can tell you for me it was biochemical. The being overweight made changes to my system making me more likely to keep being hungry and consume a lot is now hitting the mainstream.

I had gotten to a point that my body needed carbs constantly. I had shut down my fat burning and it wanted carbs NOW!

If I opened a 5 ounce bag of chips I couldn't stop, literally.

What saved my life? For me it was going cold turkey, literally resetting my metabolism. Especially my fat burning ability and my insulin metabolism. I can actually have one chip now. We've had a 5 ounce bag of Jackson's Honest chips for two months in the house.

But without humbling myself to the power of my body, the power of insulin, the very real hunger and using the info I was finding on the Internet I would have been obese and hungry for the rest of my life.

The article does kind of conflate the physical symptoms and psychological. And for some I am sure this is true. Every human being is unique. For me I was on the physical end of my 'carb addiction'. I was just always, always hungry.

Nope, not ignorant. As a medical writer I'm aware of all the literature on addiction. I'm throwing a philosophical lens on the issue, not a medical one. I believe that when the stakes are high enough, anyone can conquer their so-called addiction. If we choose to remain "addicted" it's because consciously or subconsciously we perceive the cost/benefit as being in our favour.

F.

I haven't read any literature in which it is claimed that an addiction cannot be conquered. The fact that the behavior can "conquered" doesn't mean addiction does not exist.

Ignorance is a very strong and not necessary word to use against someone who doesn't agree with what you believe. I'm not a scientist so I refrain from doing back and forths about data and research. I know that whatever kind of study I pull someone will pull an opposing study. That's the way that it goes with science and data, there are scientists that disagree with each other, that's the whole basis of science. Our research is driven by our own needs and experiences. We're all guilty of picking a side and then finding the research to back it up.

Alocohol, cocaine, and nicotine - those are all substances that your body does not need to survive. They can be eliminated, it's the only way to treat those addictions. Food cannot be eliminated, it's proven medical science that your brain runs on glucose, it does not run on protein. I definitely think that junk food companies benefit from making their food as cheap as possible and as tempting as possible, that's all about their bottom dollar. But that doesn't mean that everyone is susceptible to being addicted to it, there is nothing ignorant about that. I have no food addictions, I know my body, I understand this may be upsetting to other people but look around, there's lots of people who are not addicted to food.

And there are a lot of people who aren't addicted to nicotine, caffeine, cocaine, and heroine.

Addiction is not a "normal" reaction, so there are always more non-addicts than addicts. That doesn't mean addiction doesn't exist. There are actually very few substances that are universally addictive. If you force feed someone heroine or other narcotics they will become physically and psychologically dependent on the drug, but even then only a fraction would continue to have difficulty after being weaned from the drug.

It's very convenient to assume that addictions do not exist, just because you haven't experienced them.

For most of my life, I rejected the idea of food addiction (even when I felt completely powerless over some foods). After reading Kessler's book, I find it impossible to dismiss food addiction so easily.

Also, food addicts very much CAN eliminate their substance of choice, because no one is addicted to broccoli. Every one of the foods that are addictive can be eliminated from the diet with no adverse heallth effects.

No one NEEDS concentated sources of sugar, salt, and fat.

I don't see an issue with my word choice. Ignorance implies neither malice nor stupidity, just a lack of knowledge. And in this case, some empathy.

As I said, I agree that the issue is a bit blurry when we use hyperbolic language about food issues, and that most (but not all) people who say they have food "addictions" probably don't meet clinical definitions of addiction. I was completely blown away when this thread turned away from food cravings to the casual, wholesale dismissal of addiction in general. Some of these posts are just bizarre to me. I honestly thought that most reasonably educated people knew better in this day and age. Again, I find a silver lining in that, because it makes me think their lives have not been touched in some way by the scourge.

In general, I would agree that too many people discount their willpower and personal responsibility with their food choices. But gee willikers. Do people out there really think that a krokodil addict with their skin rotting off is just too weak and lazy to quit? I'd have thought there'd be more empathy in this crowd.

I can only speak for myself but I don't question the addictive properties of many substances. But addiction comprises of a number of factors including long term exposure and abuse of that substance. Those are behavioral components. I have tremendous empathy for someone struggling with addiction, that's why I don't think it's fair to compare a sweet tooth to a heroin addiction.

Well-said. Back to OP's question, what makes a food addictive for me is when eating it makes me want to eat more instead of just feel satisfied.

It's also unfair to compare an ordinary sweet tooth to most food addictions.

Or to compare social drinking to alcoholism.

With some substances, addiction can occur in as little as one dose (in the case of heroine and morphine). Others require longer us. The lines between responsible use, abuse and addiction aren't always clear.

Alcohol use, abuse and even addiction are entirely legal (at least for adults). As a result, the consequences for alcohol addiction is generally less severe than for that of heroine addiction, but we use the same word.

Maybe addiction isn't the best word (though there isn't currently a better one). Or maybe addiction needs to be further quantified according to the severity of consequences (which is actually done in clinical settings).

Food addiction, food abuse, carb ddiction, carb abuse, carb dependence, sugar addiction, sugar/fat/salt addiction or abuse, conditioned hypereating.......

I don't care what we call it, as long as we understand that it does exist, and equating a sweet tooth with food addiction is as insulting as equating an occasional glass of wine with alcoholism.

Some people find it easier to avoid x altogether than to use x in moderation.

That's all we really need to know, and it doesn't really matter what we call it.

Food addiction can destroy lives and damage relationships. True the consequences tend to be less severe and slower progressing than with some other problem substances and behaviors, but to dismiss it as nonexistent is naive (a synonym for ignorant, really).

I think there is a distinction to be made between the many degrees of addictive behaviors and their consequences. I don't think it's as simple as the addictive substance/behavior.

The severity of addictions is measured by the consequences, not the identity of the substance/behavior. How much damage is done to a person's body, mind, and degree of functionality in daily life. How has it damaged interpersonal relationships....

In that regard there are sex addicts, food addicts, and shopping addicts who have more severe addictions than some alcoholics and cocaine addicts.

If you can say that your use of ______ has never felt out of your direct control, and has had no negative impacts on your health, employment, social relationships or quality of life, then you can rule out abuse or addiction for whatever you put in that blank.


The addiction model, whether or not addiction is the "right" word, can be very helpfl in the treatment of eating disorders including anorexia and bulimia.

Ironically, it's generally easier for people to see anorexia and bulimia (well, as long as the bulimic is of average weight or under) as a disease or disorder than overeating and severe obesity, which are often attributed to simple greed, gluttony, and sloth.

The addiction model may not fit, but right now there isn't a better one.

This is a very interesting thread. I'll just throw my two cents in if you don't mind.

I think that the problem with the term 'food addiction' is that it implies you feel as if you can't live without it - which is absolutely true! For this reason you can't compare it to drugs and alcohol additction. Perhaps 'food abuse' is a better term?

I think we people abuse food, it's for various reasons. For me it's to numb my senses or distract me something stressful, temporarily making me feel better. Everyone does it to some extent. It's when it starts causing impacting negatively on your life that it becomes a problem.

At the same time, I agree that some foods have addictive properties e.g. by giving you a sugar/caffeine high. These foods are tempting because they give you a bigger hit, but I think people need to ask themselves why they need that in the first place.

Obesity/overweight leads to changes in biochemistry. You can shut down your gene expression of fat burning, down regulate it. So your body is used to/ forced to keep you hungry for carbs....constantly. It is experienced as addiction but also has a biochemical basis.

But way of eating determines biochemistry. You can up regulate your fat burning. By eating more fats, lowering your carbs.

Your mine everyone's body is very smart and powerful. Also when eating high carb you often don't get the nutirients your body needs. You can eat 5,000 calories a day. It doesn't matter. Your body will keep you hungry until you get the nutrient dense food and fat it needs.

When I switched to high quality fats and lowered carbs my hunger went away. Closest thing to 'magic' I've ever experienced. But in reality backed by science. In fact I knew this was likely to happen because so many people reported it before me and explained the science.

Ultimately I decided my food choices were, by far and away, the biggest determinant of my hunger. If I changed my biochemistry I changed my hunger and relationship to foods for life. I urge everyone to try clean for a month, no processed food, no or little grain, much more fat. You can then add stuff back and see how you do. Yes not a fun month. But a super fun life for ever after, afterwards.

Addiction defined #1
 

Here is a definition of addiction that I like that is used by a psychiatrist who successfully treated people with addictions for years. He lists 5 essential characteristics:

Addiction is any compulsive, habitual behavior that limits the freedom of human desire. It is caused by the attachment, or nailing, of desire to specific objects.

1) Tolerance. Wanting or needing more of a substance to feel satisfied

2) Withdrawal symptoms. Two types of withdrawal symptoms are experienced when an addictive behavior is curtailed. The first is a stress reaction.When the body is deprived of something it has become accustomed to, it responds with danger signals, as if something is wrong. The response is mediated by the autonomic part of the nervous system... Stress reactions may range from mild uneasiness & irritability to extreme agitation with rapid pulse, tremors, & overwhelming panic.

The second type of withdrawal symptom is a rebound or backlash reaction. The person experiences symptoms that are the exact opposite of those caused by the addictive behavior itself. Backlashes occur because the body's balancing mechanisms have become dependent on a particular substance or pattern of behavior.... continued...

Addiction defined #2
 

Addiction defined & described, contd.

3. Self-deception. One of the most significant hallmarks of addiction is the exquisite inventiveness that the mind can demonstrate in order to perpetuate addictive behaviors. Here, where the will fights against itself in a morass of mixed motivations & contradictory desires, the creative power of the brain is used unconsciously to subvert each & every attempt to control the addictive behavior. Mind tricks are so malignant, and have such a corrosive effect on self-esteem, that I will be discussing them at some length...

4. Loss of Willpower. As soon as one tries to control any truly addictive behavior by making autonomous intentional resolutions, one begins to defeat oneself....A fundamental mind trick of addiction is focusing attention on willpower....
Loss of willpower is especially important for defining the difference between the slavery of true addiction & the freedom of...choosing to satisfy simple desires. If you find yourself saying "I can handle it" or "I can do without it" try to perform a very simple test; simply go ahead and stop it. Do without it. If you are successful, there is no addiction. If you cannot stop, no amount of rationalization will change the fact that addiction exists.

5. Distortion of attention. The mind is often able to keep these addictions hidden, even from ourselves, as long as we are getting a sufficient supply of the object of attachment & are experiencing no great conflict about it....Addiction & its associated mind tricks inevitably kidnap & distort our attention.

Addiction and Grace by Gerald May MD 1988 He published it before the obesity epidemic. His example to illustrate addiction to the non-addicted population was simply someone who had used nasal drops for a cold and became addicted to the relief they provided. His work also pre-dates recent findings about neurological pathways such as reward centers in the brain, which tend to corroborate his description and nail it to our anatomy & physiology. This is where Kessler's book goes Part 1 and hence is that much more convincing, imho.