WHY is soda so addicting? Has anyone figured it out?

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Replies

  • jamesleesmith
    jamesleesmith Posts: 60 Member
    For me, saying sugar is addictive is a cop-out and an excuse to not use self control.

    I crave sugar sometimes. I either feed that craving or move past it. I also crave brussel sprouts sometimes - are they addictive too?

    Using food to control your emotions or to comfort yourself is a real thing and something many of us have to overcome. I think people wrongly label this as food addiction. Yes, people use food for the wrong reasons but I don't believe food is addicting in the same way drugs or nicotine are. Has anyone here ever sucked **** for a chocolate bar?

    sugar may not be addictive but caffeine is.
  • 1brokegal44
    1brokegal44 Posts: 562 Member
    Such an over-used word. It's soda, not heroine. Addicting? :huh:
  • Spokez70
    Spokez70 Posts: 548 Member
    SUGAR IS just as ADDICTIVE as any drug that is ILLEGAL, so it's not just soda you can be addicted to its anything with SUGAR! Sugar really is a toxic to our systems.
    Don't even get me started on diet soda.

    ^This is an insult to drug addicts everywhere.

    I sat with my father as he went through DT's with alcohol- I don't really see that happening too much with soda / diet soda.
  • JeneticTraining
    JeneticTraining Posts: 663 Member
    The sugar. The color. The rush it gives you like lordeeeee lord help me.
    I had a crazy soda addiction; I would drink soda like water. It's hard to break up with soda, but it's well worth it.
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    Why? Because at least in the case of Dr. Thunder, NOTHING else ( short of cocktails) that you can drink tastes anywhere near as good. I used to drink 2 liters a day, 4 in the summer. Diet version. Until I was told to lay off the aspartame. I never thought I could, or would, give it up.
  • heykatieben
    heykatieben Posts: 398 Member
    If its caffeinated the caffeine is addictive. I also drink sparkling water/seltzer because of the bubbles. I save the Cola for special occasions. It should not be a daily drinkI only a treat once in awhile. There is an additive in colored drinks that reduce the calcium in your bones.

    No, it doesn't. It's just that people who drink soda usually don't drink enough milk.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119248988392159947.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Pop ular

    http://www.oprah.com/health/The-Health-Inspector-Common-Medical-Questions_1/3 ( normally would not link to oprah.com as a source, but Dr. Harriet Hall is a well-respected physician and one of the founders of Science Based Medicine)

    Interesting. I've been craving milk lately but don't want to drink too much of it since it doesn't seem to provide good fill-factor for the calories (for me)..
  • lithezebra
    lithezebra Posts: 3,670 Member
    I drink soda occasionally, if I'm in the middle of the desert at the only gas station for miles around, the tap water comes from a brackish well, and there isn't anything better, but I wouldn't call it "addicting." I just don't like most sodas.
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
    If its caffeinated the caffeine is addictive. I also drink sparkling water/seltzer because of the bubbles. I save the Cola for special occasions. It should not be a daily drinkI only a treat once in awhile. There is an additive in colored drinks that reduce the calcium in your bones.

    No, it doesn't. It's just that people who drink soda usually don't drink enough milk.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119248988392159947.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Pop ular

    http://www.oprah.com/health/The-Health-Inspector-Common-Medical-Questions_1/3 ( normally would not link to oprah.com as a source, but Dr. Harriet Hall is a well-respected physician and one of the founders of Science Based Medicine)

    Interesting. I've been craving milk lately but don't want to drink too much of it since it doesn't seem to provide good fill-factor for the calories (for me)..

    I do like Harriet Hall, but do not agree with everything she believes.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member
    If its caffeinated the caffeine is addictive. I also drink sparkling water/seltzer because of the bubbles. I save the Cola for special occasions. It should not be a daily drinkI only a treat once in awhile. There is an additive in colored drinks that reduce the calcium in your bones.

    No, it doesn't. It's just that people who drink soda usually don't drink enough milk.

    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119248988392159947.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Pop ular

    http://www.oprah.com/health/The-Health-Inspector-Common-Medical-Questions_1/3 ( normally would not link to oprah.com as a source, but Dr. Harriet Hall is a well-respected physician and one of the founders of Science Based Medicine)

    Interesting. I've been craving milk lately but don't want to drink too much of it since it doesn't seem to provide good fill-factor for the calories (for me)..

    that's crazy talk. no one NEEDS milk in their diet. I don't drink soda AND i don't drink milk. like... yeah if you drink soda you're drinking less milk, but you're probably drinking less water too... and everything else.

    i'm not saying milk is bad, and if you like it go for it, but no one NEEDS it.
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
    Because they put an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it fortnightly.
  • ImtheOnethatsCool
    ImtheOnethatsCool Posts: 212 Member

    i'm not saying milk is bad, and if you like it go for it, but no one NEEDS it.

    Starbucks needs it.
  • CoachReddy
    CoachReddy Posts: 3,949 Member

    i'm not saying milk is bad, and if you like it go for it, but no one NEEDS it.

    Starbucks needs it.

    :laugh:
  • taylorwaylor
    taylorwaylor Posts: 417 Member
    Isnt it the caffeine?? Idunnno ha. But I USED to be addicted to mt dew... I HAD to have it, every single day! I dont really know how ended the addiction.... But now I dont even like soda! I think you should start by limiting yourself to only one soda a day... then like 4 a week and so on... it will be hard at first, but dont give up! :)
  • etoiles_argentees
    etoiles_argentees Posts: 2,827 Member
    Because they put an addictive chemical in it that makes you crave it fortnightly.

    What chemical is that?
  • PetulantOne
    PetulantOne Posts: 2,131 Member
    Soooo.... How many of you started turning tricks to get a Dr. Pepper? Anybody stealing from their job to buys some Oreos?




    Addicting

    tumblr_lroen5OC4z1qhgr6oo1_400_zps0218004f.gif

    :flowerforyou:
  • stargazer008
    stargazer008 Posts: 531
    It is easy to figure out why soda is addicting, it is the excess amount of sugar! Fat, salt and sugar are very pleasurable to the brain so be wary of them (But you need fats, okay. Healthy fats to be more specific).
  • mgore0404
    mgore0404 Posts: 65 Member
    I hate it when people make sweeping statements with scary capitalized words in them.

    Sugar is not addictive like all illegal drugs. Sugar does not cause physical addiction like heroin, for example. However, sugar is psychologically addictive for the same reason that cocaine is psychologically addictive. Not all people are susceptible to the dopamine reward cycle addiction that both sugar and cocaine create. So, naturally, those folks who don't experience that sort of addiction think it's a bunch of poppycock.

    But, seriously, don't compare sugar addiction to heroin addiction. Nobody ever prescribed methadone to a recovering sugar addict.

    Your right , please forgive me, what I meant to say is that it acts the same way in the brain as when you take cocaine. It creates the same dopamine response in your brain. I appoligize for using caps. This topic is a very sensitive on for me. I have a tumor that has caused a major life change. My doctors have asked me not to eat sugar, and other forms of sugars that can feed this type of tumor. Sorry for offending anyone. Heroin is a completely different story for sure, but I have really started studying up on sugar and what it does in the body ever since I was diagnosed with this condition, and why I might have it.
  • k8blujay2
    k8blujay2 Posts: 4,941 Member
    For me it's the sugar and the bubbles... and a sparkling water with fruit or crystal light (even the ones made with stevia) just don't seem to cut it for me either... so it must be something else...
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    I hate it when people make sweeping statements with scary capitalized words in them.

    Sugar is not addictive like all illegal drugs. Sugar does not cause physical addiction like heroin, for example. However, sugar is psychologically addictive for the same reason that cocaine is psychologically addictive. Not all people are susceptible to the dopamine reward cycle addiction that both sugar and cocaine create. So, naturally, those folks who don't experience that sort of addiction think it's a bunch of poppycock.

    But, seriously, don't compare sugar addiction to heroin addiction. Nobody ever prescribed methadone to a recovering sugar addict.

    Your right , please forgive me, what I meant to say is that it acts the same way in the brain as when you take cocaine. It creates the same dopamine response in your brain. I appoligize for using caps. This topic is a very sensitive on for me. I have a tumor that has caused a major life change. My doctors have asked me not to eat sugar, and other forms of sugars that can feed this type of tumor. Sorry for offending anyone. Heroin is a completely different story for sure, but I have really started studying up on sugar and what it does in the body ever since I was diagnosed with this condition, and why I might have it.
    Again, as I already mentioned, eating anything at all causes that same dopamine response. It's not just sugar. The anti sugar crowd latched onto the dopamine response and tried to make it into something that it isn't. Every single positive action in your life elicits a dopamine response, that's how the brain conditions humans to keep doing things that keep us alive.
  • JeneticTraining
    JeneticTraining Posts: 663 Member
    Dat sugar
  • olDave
    olDave Posts: 557 Member
    You ask..."Why is soda so addicting?'

    For the same reason that anything else is addicting...because people enjoy it.:smile:
  • JusticeGirl25
    JusticeGirl25 Posts: 703 Member
    Pop is a stimulant. It keeps you going when you really need it. Prefer it over energy drinks. I need a can of pop at a point in the day so I can try to stay awake until the end of my shift.
  • kramalicious
    kramalicious Posts: 143
    It's the sugar and the high fructose corn syrup. You are never going to feel satisfied, you always want more. OMG this is my Achilles Heel as far as "bad" food goes. The diet ones aren't really better. They will keep you from feeling satisfied, too. There's a movie out I watched on Netflix that explains this in detail. Sodas alone can wreck a diet plan. Plus, you're drinking your calories so you don't get a feeling of fullness that you would if you ate , say, 200 calories worth of food.
  • allisondra23
    allisondra23 Posts: 38
    Soda is so addicting because 1) You are overloading on either aspertame or sugar (depending on your soda of choice) 2) The caffeine 3) Some people really need the burn of the carbonation, they love it.

    I stopped and restarted drinking soda sooo many times. I finally stopped for good about a year ago by first switching over to sobe life water, then I would cut those down and replace them with tea. Now I NEVER crave soda, the thought of it honestly makes me want to throw up. If I ever take a sip of someone elses it literally tastes like chemicals and repulses me especially coke.

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