Why sugar, cheese and fast food are more addictive than Heroin

HEALTH

by Dr. Steve Hoody

Why is weight loss so hard? Junk food is easier to find and more immediately rewarding than even hard drugs. Cookies could be even more addictive than heroin.

Studies reveal the shocking power of sweetness. Human subjects were asked to push a button as soon as they sensed a hit of sugar placed upon their tongues. Their reactions were almost instantaneous — a fraction of a second after the sugar landed on their tongues, they sensed it.

“The smoke from cigarettes takes ten seconds to stir the brain, but a touch of sugar on the tongue will do so in a little more than half a second,” Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Michael Moss writes in his new book “Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions.” “That’s nearly twenty times faster than cigarettes.”

“Not only can food be as addictive as cigarettes, alcohol, and some drugs,” he said. “But in some way even more so.”

And food manufacturers take advantage of our base instincts and biology to get us hooked on their products, Moss told The Post.  (See the full article: https://nypost.com/article/why-sugar-cheese-fast-food-are-so-addictive/)

 What Can We Do? — There are ways to combat the strategies food manufacturers use to lure you into their unhealthy, weight gaining ways. And they are still delicious!

Start by Cooking at Home — Most foods that you purchase outside the home have chemicals added to preserve them. Research has linked chemicals in packaged foods to reproductive and developmental problems, liver and kidney disease, adverse effects on the immune system, and carcinogenic effects in rodents. People who eat out often are more likely to have higher levels of these chemicals in their blood.

Cooking at home requires a little thought, so you will normally prepare what is best for you and healthier. An article in Public Health Nutrition proves that the more you cook, the healthier you live. People who frequently cook dinner at home consume fewer calories than those who cook less.

For delicious and fun recipe ideas, check out our blog https://healthier2gether.com/category/recipes/

Make a Food Priority List

Another way to combat eating unhealthy foods is to make a list of the foods that you know are good, then of the foods that are moderately good but not too bad, and finally of the foods that are definitely not healthy.

Use the list when you are shopping. Use that list when you eat. Always eat from the good list first, a little from the second list and try to eat none of the third list. Follow that pattern at each meal. Most important is breakfast. Second most important is lunch, and third most important dinner. If you are going to eat anything from the third list, it should only be eaten after dinner.

Eliminate the Bad

And lastly, clean out the unhealthy foods from your refrigerator and pantry. Get them out of your house. You can always go to the deli or go to the store to get them. But make them harder to reach for.

Did you know you can set up a free, no obligation consultation with Healthier2gether own Dr. Hoody?  You can stop guessing and start living today. Visit Healthier2gether.com for more healthy recipes and free webinars on weight loss and healthy living.

(Photo credit: Ronise Daluz @ronsiefoodie – Girl with cookie on a plate)

Family Photo by Elina Fairytale, Junk Food and Green Peas Photos by cottonbro from Pexels