Wednesday, 01 July 2009
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Why We Are Addicted to Fat, Salt And Sugar
That’s right – the food industry has turned us into junkies.
We crave fat, salt and sugar. This is not part of our DNA. It’s an addiction that we have acquired over the past couple of decades.David Kessler, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration has written a book called “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite.” It addresses the problem of obesity in our society and how the food industry has been contributing to our craving for unhealthy food.
Dieting doesn’t work.
Kessler wanted to understand why people continue to eat even when they are no longer hungry.
“Why is it that Americans continue to crave such foods as potato chips and candy bars long after they feel full? No one has ever explained what’s happening to them and how they can control their eating,” he says in his book.
Kessler is a 57-year-old pediatrician and professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco.
He was commissioner of the FDA from 1990 to 1997. He worked hard to improve the labeling of food products and was a vocal opponent of the tobacco industry. In fact he should get a lot of credit for the recent successful legislation that gives the FDA the responsibility to regulate tobacco products.
Kessler found that there’s a “bliss point” – a combination of sugar, fat and salt – that makes a food practically irresistible.
He says that those ingredients excessively activate the rewards circuits of the brain. They over-stimulate the rewards-circuitry of the brain.
Can you order healthy food in restaurants?
Kessler says “Much of what we eat in restaurants is fat on fat on sugar on fat with salt. Pick any dish in any mid-American restaurant. What is spinach dip? Fat on salt with green stuff. Look at the average salad we’re eating. If you look at the bacon, the croutons, the cheese – it’s fats, salts and a little lettuce.”
He warns that we are conditioned by the food, that it actually affects the motivational circuits in our brains. We get conditioned as kids when we eat tons of fat, salt and sugar all the time. Eventually the neuro-circuitry gets laid down and it stays with us for life.
Plus there are plenty of cues – visual cues, ads, fast food available everywhere. This stimulus activates your craving and you want food when you aren’t even hungry.
Some food industry executives admit that fat, salt and sugar are the key components of a successful food product.
So the food industry designs highly stimulating products, and consumers come back for more. Nothing sells as much as something that stimulates the rewards-circuitry of the brain. It’s all about selling product.
The solution for Dr. Kessler is not more regulation but changing the perception of bad food. That’s what happened with cigarettes. Eventually people got turned off by the dangers of smoking. That can happen with the consumption of unhealthy food as well.
Remember the movie Super Size Me?
The director Morgan Spurlock described (after a few weeks of only eating at McDonald’s) how he felt after a McDonald’s meal. He thought it was a lot like how a junkie must feel after shooting heroin.
Right away you feel great as the fat, salt and sugar kicks in and your system goes into overdrive. Soon, after the stuff wears off, you fell like hell – tired, lethargic, cranky. Time for another fix.
Are you addicted to sugar, salt or fatty foods?
Written by Ken Currier and posted on http://stuffyourbrainlikes.com/
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Comments (27)
I'm not addicted to fat, salt, and sugar. I used to be, but I went cold turkey in high school when I started running track. Fat, salt, and sugar was not helping me train, so I just stopped. I rarely eat foods high in those things now that I kinda forgotten what it tastes like. lol
I think one of the biggest reasons is that no one seems to have time anymore and fast food has just become a convenience.
I think Super Size Me takes it to the extreme a little. He ate nothing but McDonald's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for thirty days. Plus, he singled out McDonald's, even though I am well aware that it is probably the most widely known fast food restaurant.
But...I guess there are some people who eat nothing but fast food for their meals.
I even think it's great that you can now find healthier choices at some fast food restaurants. I used to think that getting a salad at McDonald's was like going to a crack house for vitamins. When I was little, I actually liked the salads better than the McNuggets!
At no other point in human history has food been this accessible. So, our natural instincts to eat in order to store take over and everyone gets fat. It's really a terrible thing because its essentially a survival mechanism run rampant. You don't have to be perfect, but if you can't be active physically.. you're failing the human experience.
Nope. I eat a very low fat diet, no added salt, no added sugar, fruits, and vegetables. I couldn't care less for fatty foods. However, the body can be weened off of these bad foods. It is a very difficult thing to do and requires will power, but it can be done.
I used to be.. I used to crave ice cream and cookies and all sorts of sugary things. But my body has learned to handle those cravings by eating in moderation and getting satisfaction from what I eat.
no...not sugar. but i love salty stuff. *hangs head in shame*
this is a very informative post. thanks for sharing it.
no...i cut out fast foods/crap foods out of my diet long ago
you really do get addicted to it. now that i eat healthier though, i don't want it anymore.
ahhhh.... i used to be a be a binge-eater so i was very much addicted to fat, salt, and sugar.
i didn't want to become overweight so after many failed attempts i have stopped being a binge-eater for good. i'm still tempted all the time, and it takes extreme willpower for me to make healthier choices.
fooddd:(
no I don't add salt or sugar in my food
Eat my salad without dressing but we do need some fat
so I eat natural pb without any added salt and sugar
i remember watching super size me. i can't even imagine myself enjoying mcdonalds for every meal for a sing day. not a fast food fan.. although, i have to admit i eat too much sweets now. trying to cut out the junk food before summer ends!
This article is really useful. Now I know there is a scientific reason why we eat the way we do and that if I struggle to quit eating junkfood there is a good reason.
great article, i definitely know what it feels like to be addicted, but i don't anymore, i have a clean diet, vegan and i did a juice fast for 16 days to try and clear my system out,
Thanks for the info, it's something i kind of knew anyway, but you've cleared up some of the facts for me, xxxx
i think that fast food places are aliens that are trying to fatten us up to the point that we can't even move, so when they come down to take over earth, we can't fight back, and they'll kill us all. I WON'T EAT ALIEN FOOD!!!!
thanks for the information
Hi
Good evening to you from India.This discovery puts the whole food industry in a new (lurid Dracula) light!Thanks for the great post!
Sadaboy @xanga
@gettin_skinnay@xanga - That's just what I've always thought too!
For me, I had no more cravings for fast foods and takeouts in the past year since my parents put me in charge of making dinner for the family every night. Now I just cook everyday, although I don't mind eating convenient food when available, I do not crave them like I did a few years back.
"We crave fat, salt and sugar. This is not part of our DNA. It’s an
addiction that we have acquired over the past couple of decades."
This is absolutely incorrect. We have evolved to enjoy sugar and fat. We wanted to eat fat because calories were hard to come by back in caveman days, and fat is the most efficient way to get them (9 calories per gram versus 4 for carbs and protein). We evolved to crave sugar because fruits have have most sugars in them when they are ripe, which is also when they have the most nutrients. Simple sugars are also reach the brain the fastest, giving us a pleasing feeling. The more simple sugars and the less complex ones, the faster and more intense the good feeling we get from eating it. It biological and has been part of our bodies for millions of years.
That said, most of this article makes sense. We keep eating unhealthy foods because they have desirable sugars, fats, and salts. Companies are out to make money, and what better way to make money on food than making a food people are going to want to eat even after they aren't hungry anymore? Free-market capitalism at its finest.
@gettin_skinnay@xanga - To be honest, that's a more reasonable theory than half the stuff I see on Healthkicker. Except you're wrong. It's all been done by me. I'm a cannibal, and I'm planning a grand feast.
The modern addiction to tasty food is real. But it's silly to not recognize the DNA factor of fat, salt and sugar. Of course it's built in to us, that's why we crave it.
FAT: stores energy, very important over the past 10,000 years.
SALT: stores water, creates eloctrolytes, hugely important to human internal chemistry.
SUGAR: the ultimate "safety test" for primitive eating. Sweet = Safe (not poisonous)
The fact that human food cravings have turned into the fast food industry is no different than human sex cravings spawned the porn industry, or alcohol is now served on every street corner.
Cravings are built in to humans, so please don't blame the industries, they just find profit (and drive progress and the very medium you are posting on) In fact, let's stop blaming altogether.
Let's educate ourselves. Instead of selling diet pills, let's learn about foods. Instaed of regulating porn, let's learn about sexuality. Instead of selling alcohol ... oh god puhleeeze don't stop selling alcohol!!!
I am addicted to healthy food - strange but very true! I haven't touched anything processed, full of sugar, etc in 8 years and don't ever intend on doing so again. My diet is full of fatty fish (salmon, sardines, mackerel, etc) and wild/free ranged red meats along with copious amounts of vegetables and healthy fats from olives & oils. I crave salmon on a daily basis and sashimi makes me very very happy!
Oh and as for the question about ordering healthy in restaurants - I certainly can! It just takes some modifications to make my meal perfect & healthy!
I love salt. haha. x3
I love this post, it is kinda eye opening to see how much of the food offered to us by restaurants and food companies is laden with really unhealthy ingredients.
Anyways, I would say that I'm probably addicted to things with sugar in them, no so much salt though. I always crave chocolate or really rich creams or desserts. It's hard to stay away from them sometimes!
I live in South Korea as a missionary & ... American food is just overall bad! I came here & I had KFC & Burger King here, & I got sick from both of them!! Let me tell you: if you wanna lose weight, eat Asian food (not greasy Americanized Chinese food, but Korean food or Japanese food from an ACTUAL Asian supermarket)!
not really.
Actually, I'm pretty sure it is in our DNA to crave fat and sugar and salt... but that's a story for another time =]
I'm not addicted to anything full of grease. It's disgusting. I always choose low-fat options and I prefer to make my own food whenever possible.