The media’s buzzing about food addiction: out-of-control eating that hooks your brain, almost like tobacco or street drugs. Take a look at Daymon Patterson, the self-promoting fast-food addict on YouTube (Dr. Oz has offered him drive-thru diet tips!) and a recent pronouncement from U.S. Secretary of Health Kathleen Sebelius that obesity can be “an addiction.” Clearly, for many of you, food is more than a way to fuel your body; it’s something you crave for the feeling it gives you — while you’re eating it. Later, it doesn’t feel so good. Just like any addictive substance.
What foods feed the urge to splurge? The culprits are salt, sweets and saturated-fat-laden ingredients, especially common as a terrible-for-you threesome in processed foods. These ingredients typically unleash waves of opium-like brain chemicals that trigger a temporary feeling of contentment. But it backfires: Eating terrible-for-your-health foods amps up inflammation that stresses your body and brain. That makes you want to eat more terrible-for-your-health foods so you’ll feel better (temporarily). You’re on a hamster wheel to nowhere good. Get the picture?
