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Why do people overeat and/or become obese? Is it harder than average for some to lose weight?

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  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
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    Even white flour specifically, still complex carb.
    Glucose, Fructose, galactose - monosaccharides = "simple carbs"
    Table sugar, lactose, maltose - disaccharides, not as simple anymore but usually still lumped together with them
    Starch, Fiber, glycogen - polysaccharides = "Complex carbs"
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Hmmmm. I'll disengage with this back and forth with you because it's obvious that you don't relate. That's fine.

    and maybe it's due to personal experience and/or history of addiction that makes me feel the way I do...
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    edited June 2016
    Options
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Hmmmm. I'll disengage with this back and forth with you because it's obvious that you don't relate. That's fine.

    and maybe it's due to personal experience and/or history of addiction that makes me feel the way I do...

    I don't have a history of addiction. I rarely take any medications. I don't have any presciptions from a doctor nor do I take over the counter medications unless I have a cold or a bad headache. But I rarely get headaches. I drink a couple cups of coffee a day.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
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    Perhaps the sugar sensitivity isn't addiction. Point taken.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    Options
    Even white flour specifically, still complex carb.
    Glucose, Fructose, galactose - monosaccharides = "simple carbs"
    Table sugar, lactose, maltose - disaccharides, not as simple anymore but usually still lumped together with them
    Starch, Fiber, glycogen - polysaccharides = "Complex carbs"

    Thanks.
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    edited June 2016
    Options
    Even white flour specifically, still complex carb.
    Glucose, Fructose, galactose - monosaccharides = "simple carbs"
    Table sugar, lactose, maltose - disaccharides, not as simple anymore but usually still lumped together with them
    Starch, Fiber, glycogen - polysaccharides = "Complex carbs"

    I find I react to white flour products in isolation but can consume them with protein and fiber and be okay.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    I think this is interesting:
    Naltrexone is one of the medications currently being prescribed by doctors who help people lose weight. It is prescribed either alone or in combination with other drugs to help control food cravings.
    It was initially used in treatment for opioid dependence and later in treatment of alcohol use disorders. Naltrexone appears to reduce craving in people who are alcohol dependent, thus enhancing the ability of patients to abstain from drinking. Naltrexone also appears to reduce pleasure from drinking alcohol, which may reduce the amount of heavy drinking in those who continue to drink.
    Naltrexone also appears to similarly reduce food cravings and pleasure from eating. Not everyone would want the pleasure from eating reduced, but naltrexone does have promise for certain patients. It may reduce the tendency to overeat, just as it reduces the amount of heavy drinking in people with an alcohol use disorder who continue to drink.

    yes same thing was applied to champix...depressive medication and people noticed they didn't want to smoke...interesting how one med is designed for X but then it's found to applied for something totally different.

    I would never want the pleasure from food taken away...it's one of my great joys...
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,411 Member
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    @SezxyStef I am chuckling. I didn't know what Champix was so I looked it up...Chantix is the name I know it by, for smoking cessation?
  • iamstephenolan
    iamstephenolan Posts: 3 Member
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    Looking only at CICO, would be like on looking at final scores in sports to figure out why one team does better than another one does.
    How long would a coach or manager last only saying, "score more goals than the opposing team"?

    The body can turn 100 calories of sugar into more fat than with 100 calories of protein.
    Resistence training increases the calories burned during rest for hours after the training is finished.
    Those two things alone pretty much invalidate pure CICO thinking.
    And the there is metabolic syndrome.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    Options
    Looking only at CICO, would be like on looking at final scores in sports to figure out why one team does better than another one does.
    How long would a coach or manager last only saying, "score more goals than the opposing team"?

    The body can turn 100 calories of sugar into more fat than with 100 calories of protein.
    Resistence training increases the calories burned during rest for hours after the training is finished.
    Those two things alone pretty much invalidate pure CICO thinking.
    And the there is metabolic syndrome.

    The first thing is incorrect and the second one negligible. So no.
  • JaneSnowe
    JaneSnowe Posts: 1,283 Member
    Options
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Am I reading this right? Does this say cigarettes aren't addictive?
  • KetoneKaren
    KetoneKaren Posts: 6,411 Member
    Options
    From the American Society of Addiction Medicine:

    "Is there a difference between physical dependence and addiction?

    Yes. Addiction—or compulsive drug use despite harmful consequences—is characterized by an inability to stop using a drug; failure to meet work, social, or family obligations; and, sometimes (depending on the drug), tolerance and withdrawal. The latter reflect physical dependence in which the body adapts to the drug, requiring more of it to achieve a certain effect (tolerance) and eliciting drug-specific physical or mental symptoms if drug use is abruptly ceased (withdrawal). Physical dependence can happen with the chronic use of many drugs—including many prescription drugs, even if taken as instructed. Thus, physical dependence in and of itself does not constitute addiction, but it often accompanies addiction. This distinction can be dificult to discern, particularly with prescribed pain medications, for which the need for increasing dosages can represent tolerance or a worsening underlying problem, as opposed to the beginning of abuse or addiction."
  • DebSozo
    DebSozo Posts: 2,578 Member
    Options
    JaneSnowe wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Am I reading this right? Does this say cigarettes aren't addictive?

    It took 51 years (starting at 13 years old) for my dad to finally get free from cigarette smoking. He would try many times to quit over the years.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    JaneSnowe wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Am I reading this right? Does this say cigarettes aren't addictive?

    No they are addictive but not in the same sense that most believe. And it is not always the nicotine that brings a smoker back. Nicotine is out of your body in 72 hours after you stop smoking so the question remains what makes an ex smoker go back? Habits mainly emotional and mental. I use an ecig still with no nicotine...to prevent me from going back...
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    @SezxyStef I am chuckling. I didn't know what Champix was so I looked it up...Chantix is the name I know it by, for smoking cessation?

    Yes...US vs Canada
  • MakePeasNotWar
    MakePeasNotWar Posts: 1,329 Member
    Options
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    JaneSnowe wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Am I reading this right? Does this say cigarettes aren't addictive?

    No they are addictive but not in the same sense that most believe. And it is not always the nicotine that brings a smoker back. Nicotine is out of your body in 72 hours after you stop smoking so the question remains what makes an ex smoker go back? Habits mainly emotional and mental. I use an ecig still with no nicotine...to prevent me from going back...

    That may be your experience, but it isn't an accurate depiction of smoking addiction. Obviously habit plays a role, but it's the effect of nicotine and monoamine oxidase inhibitors on neurotransmitter function that make smoking addictive (in those for whom it is; there will always be those who aren't as susceptible.)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2928221/

    A smoking habit and cigarette addiction are not the same thing.

    Addicts usually go back because they believe they can have just one cigarette (or smoke for a short time) and then stop again, but once the acetylcholine receptors are saturated, the compulsion returns full force.

  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    Options
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    JaneSnowe wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    SezxyStef wrote: »
    DebSozo wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Secret Eaters is crazy. Some people are in unbelievable denial.
    DebSozo wrote: »
    Bill mentioned that some people find satiety by not eating certain foods. I was trying to explain this with my description of how sugar consumption and refined flour cause cravings for me soon after eating so I try to avoid them. People overreacted and said various things that I did not mean at all. I explained that I couldn't come up with a term that is stronger than craving but not as "loaded" as an addiction to sugar and white flour.

    You didn't respond to my comment on this, but I think it's not uncommon that refined carbs cause cravings (especially in conjunction with fat). I really don't recall people overreacting, except obviously you have a different understanding of what "addiction" means than many of us (which is why I think it's generally not a helpful term)...

    I did explain why I used that term. If anyone can come up with a more appropriate word to describe the craving for more sugar when I eat sugar please help me out. If I don't eat sugar for instance I don't start the crave, crash, crave cycle.

    why does it have to be stronger than Crave...so what if it was said we all get cravings...we do.

    I crave salt some days like no one's business...I crave beef and I have to eat it (I assume my iron is getting low)...or that's all I think about.

    Cravings are real and valid...so what is wrong with that term?

    Nothing. There's nothing wrong with the word addiction either. Addiction is a real and valid word also. They are just words. I think that you mentioned that in your opinion you don't believe people can become addicted to certain foods. I disagree because I am addicted to sugar, IMO. I don't understand all the touchiness regarding this subject. If someone told me that they are addicted to cigarettes, then I wouldn't say I don't believe people really can get addicted to them and tell them to call it "craving cigarettes" instead. I think you have an idea that an addiction has to be uncontrollable and at the point of destroying lives which isn't so.

    Totally up to you...if you want to run around these boards saying you are an addict go ahead...

    I said I don't believe that people can be addicted to food...esp those who say carb or sugar...why because those people give up certain types of carbs but eat others or give up one type of sugar but eat other types...as I suspect you still have milk and fruit in your diet.

    and as an ex smoker yes it was a craving for that smoke...a physical dependency on something is different than being an addict. And since the advent of E cigs they have done studies on the addictive properties of nicotine and found that it was difficult to get mice addicted to just nicotine...it's more of a mental/emotional thing that smokers get into...habits when they smoke etc....because if it was the actual cigarette they were addicted to...there would be no cravings after the chemicals were out of the body but there are.

    dependency, habit forming, cravings but not addiction.

    Am I reading this right? Does this say cigarettes aren't addictive?

    No they are addictive but not in the same sense that most believe. And it is not always the nicotine that brings a smoker back. Nicotine is out of your body in 72 hours after you stop smoking so the question remains what makes an ex smoker go back? Habits mainly emotional and mental. I use an ecig still with no nicotine...to prevent me from going back...

    That may be your experience, but it isn't an accurate depiction of smoking addiction. Obviously habit plays a role, but it's the effect of nicotine and monoamine oxidase inhibitors on neurotransmitter function that make smoking addictive (in those for whom it is; there will always be those who aren't as susceptible.)

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2928221/

    A smoking habit and cigarette addiction are not the same thing.

    Addicts usually go back because they believe they can have just one cigarette (or smoke for a short time) and then stop again, but once the acetylcholine receptors are saturated, the compulsion returns full force.

    It is accurate actually if you look at the stats of people using ecigs to get to 0 nicotine and stop using the ecigs they go back to smoking where as those who continue with the ecigs don't start smoking again.

    I've smoked for over 20 years and quit numerous times and this is the longest I've quit and don't expect to return to smoking ever but who knows