Can You Be Addicted To Junk Food

Having Headaches Many Times In A Week

Another apparent symptom of food addiction is when an individual experience headache frequently in a week. Usually, when a person consumes sugary, fatty foods, it interferes with the body system. The body develops the habit of craving for more unhealthy contents of food, making the brain to send signals that trigger headaches. To overcome the resulting headache, an individual should avoid junk food and only take small amounts if necessary. Again, one should seek medical help when the condition worsens.

The Brain On Food Vs Drugs: A Crucial Distinction

Many studies that argue that food addiction is a real phenomenon focus on the similarities between food cravings and cravings for illicit drugs.

However, the concept of food addiction raises the important question: If foods can become addictive, are they bad for us?

Although both foods and drugs stimulate the reward system and pleasure center in the brain, foods do not exert the same pharmacological effect as drugs.

Also, people consume foods very regularly and in complex combinations. This makes quantification difficult and blurs the line between use and misuse.

How Food Addiction Works

People tend to get cravings when the brain starts calling for certain foods often processed foods that arent considered healthy or nutritious.

Even though the conscious mind knows theyre unhealthy, some other part of the brain seems to disagree.

Some people dont experience this and can easily control the types of foods they eat, while others cant.

This isnt due to a lack of willpower its a much more complex situation.

The fact is junk food stimulates the reward system in the brain in the same way as addictive drugs, such as cocaine.

For susceptible people, eating junk food can lead to full-blown addiction, which shares the same biological basis as drug addiction (

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Dont Start A New Diet

Most people try to overcome junk food addiction by starting a new diet but this approach doesnt work. Most diets are too rigid and impossible to stick to long-term.

People usually go back to old eating habits once they cant keep up with the new diet.

Instead of starting a new diet, change your eating habits. Replace junk food with healthier alternatives like veggies, fruits, legumes, and whole grains. Make sure you eat plant-based foods at every meal.

What Causes Food Addiction

Consuming highly palatable foods, or foods that are high in carbohydrates, fat, salt, sugar, or artificial sweeteners, triggers the pleasure centers of the brain and releases feel-good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. These foods affect the same area of the brain as drugs, alcohol, and behaviors such as shopping or gambling.

Highly palatable foods often contain unnatural substances or higher-than-normal levels of natural substances that your body and brain can’t process. This results in your body being flooded with feel-good chemicals.

To help you hang on to or recreate those good feelings, your body and brain will begin to crave highly palatable foods. And, because your brain will adjust its receptors to compensate for the rush of chemicals, you’ll eventually need to consume increasing quantities of highly palatable foods to get the same feel-good reaction.

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How To Minimize Cravings For Junk Food

But whether or not junk food is truly addictive, how can you cut back on your consumption if you choose to do so?

Gearhardt advised keeping a journal to identify the foods that incite the most cravings. She recommended that people keep those items out of the house and instead stock their pantry with healthier options they still enjoy.

In addition, Gearhardt recommended monitoring what triggers cravings and binges, whether that be an emotional state such as boredom, or a physical landmark such as a nearby fast-food restaurant. According to Gearhardt, people can manage those triggers by exploring other ways of alleviating difficult emotions or simply taking a different route home.

She also recommended eating healthy foods regularly, rather than skipping meals. “Making sure you are regularly fueling your body with nutritious, minimally processed foods that you enjoy can be important for helping you navigate a very challenging food environment,” she said .

Common Reasons Your Child Addicted To Junk Food

So now that weve debunked this idea of junk food being a thing, what are some of the underlying reasons your child may show erratic behaviors around these foods?

Consider these following factors if you’re worried about your child showing a high interest in snacks and sweets or who may seem obsessed with packaged snack foods:

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This Can Lead To Complicated Addictive Behaviors

Over time, food addiction can cause severe physical and psychological problems.

Many people who have been struggling with food addiction for a long time keep their eating habits a secret. They may also be living with depression or anxiety, which can contribute to addiction.

This is compounded by the fact that most people arent aware theyre experiencing food addiction. They may not realize they need help to overcome food addiction and that getting treatment for depression and anxiety can also help with addiction treatment.

Summary

People experiencing food addiction often hide their behavior from friends and family. Depression and anxiety often play a role in addictive behaviors.

Signs Of Food Addiction

Researchers at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Science & Policy have developed a questionnaire to identify people with food addictions.

Here’s a sample of questions that can help determine if you have a food addiction. Do these actions apply to you? Do you:

• End up eating more than planned when you start eating certain foods
• Keep eating certain foods even if you’re no longer hungry
• Eat to the point of feeling ill
• Worry about not eating certain types of foods or worry about cutting down on certain types of foods
• When certain foods aren’t available, go out of your way to obtain them

The questionnaire also asks about the impact of your relationship with food on your personal life. Ask yourself if these situations apply to you:

• You eat certain foods so often or in such large amounts that you start eating food instead of working, spending time with the family, or doing recreational activities.
• You avoid professional or social situations where certain foods are available because of fear of overeating.
• You have problems functioning effectively at your job or school because of food and eating.

The questionnaire asks about psychological withdrawal symptoms. For example, when you cut down on certain foods , do you have symptoms such as:

• Other physical symptoms

The questionnaire also tries to gauge the impact of food decisions on your emotions. Do these situations apply to you?

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Inability To Quit Eating Even When Obese

There instances that someone suffers from obesity, Alzheimers Disease, heart disease, or type 2 diabetes takes more junk food instead of minimizing the habit. Since these conditions are life-threatening, a person who continues to consume more food even with such diseases could be addicted. Such people can be assisted by nutritionists who will advise them on the best types of foods to take so that their health conditions can improve. Close family members to these individuals can then monitor if they strictly follow the advice from the nutritionist.

Eat Clean And Healthy Foods

If you want to overcome food addiction, your goal is to avoid eating unhealthy meals and cravings for addictive foods. So if you cant eat high-sugar, high-fat, or highly addictive food, it makes sense that you should start eating healthy. This doesnt mean, though, that you have to buy everything in the supermarket that contains low-sugar or fat-free foods because, in reality, they have sweeteners that have far more negative effects.

Start eating healthy by resorting to something fresher, like fruits, vegetables, grass-fed meats, and maybe something organic. Once your body gets used to not eating junk food or anything high-sugar or high-fat, you will see that you wont be having those unhealthy food cravings anymore. Also, dont forget to drink lots of water.

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Know The Truth About Junk Food

Most of us eat junk food without really knowing what we are eating. Finding out the ingredients in your favorite junk food can gross you out and make you crave it less.

For instance, processed foods like sausages and Tang contain carcinogens, which have been shown to increase the risk of cancer.

A quick google search will show you all the gross ingredients in your favorite food. You may even want to go farther and research how these foods are prepared.

How Science Creates Cravings

There is a range of factors that scientists and food manufacturers use to make food more addictive.

Dynamic Contrast

Dynamic contrast refers to a combination of different sensations in the same food. In the words of Witherly, foods with dynamic contrast have “an edible shell that goes crunch followed by something soft or creamy and full of taste-active compounds.

Think of the caramelized top of a creme brulee, a slice of pizza, or an Oreo cookiethe brain finds crunching through something like this very novel and thrilling.”

How about food that vanishes on the tongue like Cheetos or, as we say in the UK, wotsits. They are one of the most marvelously constructed foods on the planet. The puff’s uncanny ability to melt in the mouth. “It’s called vanishing caloric density,” Witherly said. “If something melts down quickly, your brain thinks that there are no calories in it . . . you can just keep eating it forever.”

Sensory Specific Response

Your brain likes variety. When it comes to food, if you experience the same taste repeatedly, you start to get less pleasure from it. Junk foods, however, are designed to avoid this sensory specific response.

They provide enough taste to be interesting . This is why you can swallow an entire bag of potato chips and still be ready to eat another. To your brain, the crunch and sensation of eating pringles or the like are novel and exciting every time.

Calorie Density

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Avoid Alcoholic Drinks And Caffeine

As much as you can, avoid alcoholic drinks and caffeinated beverages . Evidence shows that drinking alcoholic or caffeinated beverages triggers poor eating choices.

Coffee can cause the body to crave sugary drinks or sweet foods. In addition, too much caffeine can cause anxiety, and an anxious person may end up resorting to binge-eating comfort foods to feel better.

Drinking alcohol may also cause you to become hungry. After a night of drinking or bar-hopping with friends, eating whatever you see on the fridge, even junk food, seems like a good idea. Alcohol causes poor judgment in many people, so this can destroy your recovery.

Also, avoid soda because it has addictive substances and high sugar content. Dont make it a part of your everyday life to consume sugar because this can trigger addiction in your brain.

Throw Junk Food From The House

Can a heroin addict overcome his addiction if he keeps heroin in the house? Of course, he cant! Its the same thing with food addiction. You will overindulge if you keep junk food in the house.

Throw all the foods youre addicted to out of the house. Making junk food less accessible will reduce chances of overindulging. Chances are you wont drive to the supermarket in the middle of the night to buy a cookie or chocolate bar.

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Cravings Are A Key Feature Of Addiction

A craving is an emotional state characterized by a desire to consume a certain food. It should not be confused with simple hunger, which is different.

Cravings sometimes seem to appear out of thin air.

A person might be doing mundane things like watching a favorite TV show, walking the dog, or reading. Then suddenly a craving for something like ice cream appears.

Even though the cravings sometimes seem to come out of nowhere, they can be turned on by certain triggers, which are known as cues.

These cues can be as simple as walking past an ice cream parlor or smelling a pizza.

However, they can also be induced by certain emotional states, such as feeling depressed or lonely, a behavior known as emotional eating.

A true craving is about satisfying the brains need for dopamine. It has nothing to with the bodys need for energy or nourishment.

When a craving occurs, it can start to dominate a persons attention.

A craving makes it hard to think of something else. It also makes it hard to consider the health impacts of eating junk food.

While it isnt unusual to get cravings , repeatedly giving in to cravings and eating junk food, despite having made a decision not to, is cause for concern.

For those with food addiction, these cravings can be so powerful that they cause people to break rules they set for themselves, such as only eating unhealthy food on Saturdays.

They may repeatedly overeat, despite knowing that its causing physical harm.

Cant Stop Eating Junk Food Heres Why

Jump to: Isnt it down to willpower?How junk food is engineered to be just rightThe science behind the bliss pointWhat foods are the main culprits?Top tips to reduce junk food cravingsTake home message

Cravings for junk food are a common reason that people fall off the wagon with their healthy-eating plans. They can lead to unhealthy-eating habits and be one of the biggest obstacles to weight loss.

As surprising as it might sound, its actually possible to totally reverse these cravings such that you crave healthy food or simply have no cravings at all.

This change doesnt happen overnight, but its achievable over time by moving towards a way of eating that is based primarily on eating real foods, having plenty of protein, healthy fats, and reducing your consumption of highly-processed carbohydrates .

It sounds easier-said-than-done, which is why a lot of the secret is finding recipes that you genuinely love, that are easy to make, and dont lead to further junk-food cravings because theyre based on real food.

An ideal mindset to get to is one where you believe that youre eating indulgently, but the food youre eating is healthy at its foundation.

Our oat & banana pancakes would be the perfect example of this. They feel incredibly indulgent and satisfying, but at their core theyre healthy and based on high-quality real food.

If youre interested in giving the programme a go, the first step is to complete our health quiz.

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First Steps In Overcoming Food Addiction

A few things can help prepare for giving up junk foods and make the transition easier:

• Trigger foods. Write down a list of the foods that cause cravings and/or binges. These are the trigger foods to avoid completely.
• Fast food places. Make a list of fast food places that serve healthy foods and note their healthy options. This may prevent a relapse when hungry and not in the mood to cook.
• What to eat. Think about what foods to eat preferably healthy foods that are liked and already eaten regularly.
• Pros and cons. Consider making several copies of the pro-and-con list. Keep a copy in the kitchen, glove compartment, and purse or wallet.

Additionally, dont go on a diet. Put weight loss on hold for at least 13 months.

Overcoming food addiction is difficult enough. Adding hunger and restrictions to the mix is likely to make things harder.

After taking these preparatory steps, set a date in the near future like the coming weekend from which point onward the addictive trigger foods wont be touched again.

SUMMARY

To overcome food addiction, its important to plan. Make a list of trigger foods and know what is going to be eaten instead.

Craving For Junk Food In The Morning

Feeling hungry in the morning is healthy for everyone. If you wake up and the first thing in your mind is eating junk food, then thatâs unusual. It is medically advisable to take a balanced diet for a good start of the day. Studies show that craving for junk food in the morning arises from a lack of sufficient sleep triggering the release of leptin hormone that makes one have the urge to consume fatty food. Having enough sleep causes this condition to stop.

If you notice any of these symptoms, know that you are already hooked to junk food. The good news is that there are ways to get out of this addiction. However, you must remain committed to the course and stick to a healthy diet. Otherwise, you might be among the group that keeps sliding back into eating junk food.

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Inability To Follow Diet Rules

Some people frequently find themselves in circumstances that make them unable to follow strict meal timetables. They consume junk food such as sugary or fatty foods even when they are full. The inability to follow the rules increases the possibilities of these people getting many complications, such as obesity. People who are unable to follow eating rules should go for advice from skilled people like nutritionists. They can also strive hard to play by the right eating schedules and choose healthy meals for their benefits.

Can You Be Addicted To Junk Food

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