Addicted to fast food.
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lemurcat12 wrote: »austinsneeze wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »You're not addicted to it, you just choose it over something else. Make different choices - plan meals, make a shopping list and stock your fridge and pantry with other options.
No offense, but the additives that are put in many of fast food products produce the same "opiate-like" chemicals, which induce a "feel-good" sensation, and can create an addiction. If someone were to live on fast food for several weeks or months, it can easily become an addiction.
What specific additives are you referring to? Isn't fast food a pretty diverse category? If I want a burger I am going to get a burger (or make it at home -- I don't think fast food burgers are especially tasty at all). Fast food is not interchangeable.
(I've seen this "opiate-like" claim about cheese, for the record. I don't buy that either. I eat cheese, and not at fast food places. Pretty sure cheese makes my brain light up, like petting sweet little puppies or kittens (at MFP that could be unfortunately misunderstood), however.)
Just because you personally do not like fast food doesn't mean it doesn't have additives. Just because it doesn't give you a "high" feeling doesn't mean it doesn't have addictive chemicals.
It's not just something I made up. I was learning about it in class last week, about which chemicals do certain things to the brain. I'd love to list off some sources for you if you'd like to read further on the topic. It's pretty interesting.
The last link in particular, "...these findings support the role of fast food as a potentially addictive substance that is most likely to create dependence in vulnerable populations."
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/you-illuminated/201108/7-reasons-we-cant-turn-down-fast-food
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/diet-and-weight/
http://www.news-medical.net/health/Obesity-and-Fast-Food.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/219996892 -
livingleanlivingclean wrote: »You're not addicted to it, you just choose it over something else. Make different choices - plan meals, make a shopping list and stock your fridge and pantry with other options.
This.
You aren't addicted to it. You can choose not to go there and choose to cook at home. I know the feeling though because I LOVE fast food! I've actually picked up fast food several times the last few weeks for various people in my family and didn't even want it though so I'm proud of myself. It's all about mindset. Just get your mindset on what you want to achieve and works towards it. You'll be surprised after about 2-3 weeks of eating at home and making better food choices how you will actually "prefer" other stuff rather than the fast food.
Feel free to friend me if you'd like! 0 -
Whether you are truly addicted or just feel like you are, breaking that addiction/habit is the same. Willpower. You have to make up your mind to control it. If you need to give it up entirely for a while then try. If you fail, try again. Otherwise, allow yourself a few fast food meals a week. If you have those to look forward to it might make it easier for you to stick to your plan on days you eat something else.0
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WickAndArtoo wrote: »The only way I was able to stop eating fast food was to treat it like an addiction, and honestly I do believe it is.
Also for those who disagree I'm not saying you are right or wrong but there have been studies done on the brain and the same areas associated with the high from drugs light up from foods also. It's difiniative, but it definitely shows that we enjoy those foods so much that our reward systems are as excited as if we do drugs!
I don't have the studies nor do I care whether you believe me (a simple Google search will help you find them) but it really did help me quit my fast food habit to view it like this.
As someone who knows the feeling of real addictions after quitting cigarettes and alcohol the cravings I get for fast food are equal if not stronger for McDonald's Big Macs. To me it doesn't matter what the true identification of the cravings are, I needed to quit them altogether because I had no control over my consumption so I did what worked and followed the same regimen and mental strength that worked for my other addictions.
Different things work for different people, this works for me. I don't beat myself up if I slip up, because it's not a big deal if it happens... but I do take it a day at a time and work towards the best me I can.
There are many things...basically anything pleasurable that will light up your dopamine receptors...the difference between actual drugs and petting a puppy or eating is that once the experience is over, everything goes back to normal...in the case of drugs, your receptors do not return to normal and require more and more and more and more to get the same effect. There's a huge difference.
I'm off the charts with my salmon right now...am I addicted...it's very enjoyable.8 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Whether you are truly addicted or just feel like you are, breaking that addiction/habit is the same. Willpower. You have to make up your mind to control it. If you need to give it up entirely for a while then try. If you fail, try again. Otherwise, allow yourself a few fast food meals a week. If you have those to look forward to it might make it easier for you to stick to your plan on days you eat something else.
All the time I've wasted in 12 step meetings! All I needed was more willpower!2 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Lots of studies tend to prove what the people conducting the study want to prove... If they want something to be addictive, cause weight gain, cause mind control to a point where we are not responsible for our own choices and behaviors, then they will conduct the study in a way that aims to support their theories.
It's not an excuse to eat uncontrollably. It's like telling a heroine addict to make a better choice: easier said than done considering the amount of neuroplasticity created when those "feel good" chemicals become an addiction.
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austinsneeze wrote: »Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Lots of studies tend to prove what the people conducting the study want to prove... If they want something to be addictive, cause weight gain, cause mind control to a point where we are not responsible for our own choices and behaviors, then they will conduct the study in a way that aims to support their theories.
It's not an excuse to eat uncontrollably. It's like telling a heroine addict to make a better choice: easier said than done considering the amount of neuroplasticity created when those "feel good" chemicals become an addiction.
People arent going to ruin their lives....alienate their family/friends..steal from their friends to sell for food...end up in jail from doing crimes...to pay for fast food. Do not compare "food addiction" to heroine5 -
austinsneeze wrote: »Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Lots of studies tend to prove what the people conducting the study want to prove... If they want something to be addictive, cause weight gain, cause mind control to a point where we are not responsible for our own choices and behaviors, then they will conduct the study in a way that aims to support their theories.
It's not an excuse to eat uncontrollably. It's like telling a heroine addict to make a better choice: easier said than done considering the amount of neuroplasticity created when those "feel good" chemicals become an addiction.
There are very physical withdrawals associated with coming off heroin. I won't go into it as it's not pretty at all!! I lost a very good friend to heroin.
I don't think one can make that comparison at all. Stopping fast food cold turkey isn't even in the same realm of stopping heroin! Not even close.7 -
austinsneeze wrote: »lemurcat12 wrote: »austinsneeze wrote: »livingleanlivingclean wrote: »You're not addicted to it, you just choose it over something else. Make different choices - plan meals, make a shopping list and stock your fridge and pantry with other options.
No offense, but the additives that are put in many of fast food products produce the same "opiate-like" chemicals, which induce a "feel-good" sensation, and can create an addiction. If someone were to live on fast food for several weeks or months, it can easily become an addiction.
What specific additives are you referring to? Isn't fast food a pretty diverse category? If I want a burger I am going to get a burger (or make it at home -- I don't think fast food burgers are especially tasty at all). Fast food is not interchangeable.
(I've seen this "opiate-like" claim about cheese, for the record. I don't buy that either. I eat cheese, and not at fast food places. Pretty sure cheese makes my brain light up, like petting sweet little puppies or kittens (at MFP that could be unfortunately misunderstood), however.)
Just because you personally do not like fast food doesn't mean it doesn't have additives.
Of course not. I must have been pretty dumb to say it did!
Oh, wait, that's not what I said at all? Hmm.
To repeat the key part, although I really don't think it was unclear before:
What specific additives are you referring to? Isn't fast food a pretty diverse category?Just because it doesn't give you a "high" feeling doesn't mean it doesn't have addictive chemicals.
Again, I didn't say that. Why are you pretending like I said something I did not.
I asked what these addictive chemicals are.
As for "chemicals" doing certain things to the brain, what is in fast food that has an effect on the brain are ingredients we typically find hyperpalatable in combination (and this is true even though I think most fast food is pretty bad compared to the alternatives) -- these are not special addictive chemicals, they are fat, carbs, and salt, in combination. French fries I made at home would also have similar properties, as would really good homemade fried chicken, etc.2 -
leanjogreen18 wrote: »austinsneeze wrote: »Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Lots of studies tend to prove what the people conducting the study want to prove... If they want something to be addictive, cause weight gain, cause mind control to a point where we are not responsible for our own choices and behaviors, then they will conduct the study in a way that aims to support their theories.
It's not an excuse to eat uncontrollably. It's like telling a heroine addict to make a better choice: easier said than done considering the amount of neuroplasticity created when those "feel good" chemicals become an addiction.
There are very physical withdrawals associated with coming off heroin. I won't go into it as it's not pretty at all!! I lost a very good friend to heroin.
I don't think one can make that comparison at all. Stopping fast food cold turkey isn't even in the same realm of stopping heroin! Not even close.
Yeah this to your body physically gets addicted to drugs food is not even remotely in the same realm no matter how you look at it.2 -
JaydedMiss wrote: »leanjogreen18 wrote: »austinsneeze wrote: »Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Lots of studies tend to prove what the people conducting the study want to prove... If they want something to be addictive, cause weight gain, cause mind control to a point where we are not responsible for our own choices and behaviors, then they will conduct the study in a way that aims to support their theories.
It's not an excuse to eat uncontrollably. It's like telling a heroine addict to make a better choice: easier said than done considering the amount of neuroplasticity created when those "feel good" chemicals become an addiction.
There are very physical withdrawals associated with coming off heroin. I won't go into it as it's not pretty at all!! I lost a very good friend to heroin.
I don't think one can make that comparison at all. Stopping fast food cold turkey isn't even in the same realm of stopping heroin! Not even close.
Yeah this to your body physically gets addicted to drugs food is not even remotely in the same realm no matter how you look at it.
Yeah I didn't sleep for weeks from coming off benzos.
Not the same as a mac attack.2 -
austinsneeze wrote: »No offense, but the additives that are put in many of fast food products produce the same "opiate-like" chemicals, which induce a "feel-good" sensation, and can create an addiction. If someone were to live on fast food for several weeks or months, it can easily become an addiction.lemurcat12 wrote: »What specific additives are you referring to? Isn't fast food a pretty diverse category? If I want a burger I am going to get a burger (or make it at home -- I don't think fast food burgers are especially tasty at all). Fast food is not interchangeable.
(I've seen this "opiate-like" claim about cheese, for the record. I don't buy that either. I eat cheese, and not at fast food places. Pretty sure cheese makes my brain light up, like petting sweet little puppies or kittens (at MFP that could be unfortunately misunderstood), however.)
Snack foods are high in added glutamates, a substance which can act on the brain's pleasure center similar to opiates. Physical addiction to certain foods probably doesn't exist, but I have no doubt there are additives that ring true to the slogan "betcha can't just eat one", as the potato chip commercial used to say.
Maybe, but I think a bigger issue is HOW we eat snack food on average -- out of a large bag or bowl, while watching TV or otherwise mindlessly, for pleasure, not hunger, not combined with anything particularly filling, often for self-comfort.
I find that if I go to a Mexican restaurant (not fast food, for the record) and there are good tortilla chips on the table plus some salsa or, worse, if we get guac, I tend to eat and eat them if I let myself start eating them. No control at all. Is this because I am addicted to chips? I don't think so -- I think it's because eating out of an unlimited amount like that is hard to control for a lot of us, add in that I'm hungry (waiting for dinner), it's tasty, and I'm not paying that much attention to the food but talking to friends, etc.
Another such example is that when I used to eat out of a pint of ice cream I'd eat at least half. If I spoon it into a small bowl or cup and decide "this is what I'm having" vs. "I'll have as much as I like," a half cup is plenty. But the context made me more likely to easily overeat in the former situation.2 -
I love fast food. I think it's either the salts or the sugars, but once I start eating it I have a hard time making better food choices - because I find the food so tasty and so convenient.
I do think the suggestion of cooking what you're craving at home is a very good way to begin to wean yourself off of fast food and get more comfortable in your kitchen and away from the drive-thru.0 -
Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »austinsneeze wrote: »Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »Lots of studies tend to prove what the people conducting the study want to prove... If they want something to be addictive, cause weight gain, cause mind control to a point where we are not responsible for our own choices and behaviors, then they will conduct the study in a way that aims to support their theories.
It's not an excuse to eat uncontrollably. It's like telling a heroine addict to make a better choice: easier said than done considering the amount of neuroplasticity created when those "feel good" chemicals become an addiction.
I am unsure how to read the first sentence..
are you saying that the studies are not an excuse to eat uncontrollably? Or are you saying that eating uncontrollably is not just an "excuse"?
But to answer both ways
The studies people usually post in support of their opinions are often used simply because they are geared to the way you believe, so a person claiming addiction to something, finds these studies and then uses those finds as a roll over excuse to their behaviors. IE: i am addicted to fast food > Fast food has chemicals in it that are the same as someone addicted to heroin > I am addict and it's not my fault and i have no control. So they keep doing it without making any attempts to change their behaviors to any real degree.. its very rare to see anyone post a board about addiction to something and see all the ways they have tried to stop, there usually isn't much of a list.
In regards to uncontrollable eating.. i think there is a lot more other options out there to address this issue rather then tossing the word addiction at it. I feel like this is really just an unhelpful bandaid, its like its got no gauze in it so its not helping fix the wound by keeping it clean and free of infection. Whats helpful is addressing it as an open ended issue that needs to be lead down a rabbit trail to find the actual problem. Does this person have an eating disorder? do they need therapy? Do they have emotional eating problems? maybe the stress is high in her life and therefor they constantly head to mcdonalds as a form of comfort... and maybe its just laziness.. not to sound harsh but there is a lot of people out there who just can't be bothered, i have co workers like that, one girl shes always complaining about her belly and every day she comes in with burger king.. and shes from the Philippines, the food she could make is amazing, but she just can't be bothered.
It is not okay for anyone to eat uncontrollably. And I agree with you, there are much larger issues which need to be addressed, like therapy. My degree is associated with counseling, which is the perspective I'm coming from. There are a lot of other factors, but my initial point was that we can't toss aside food addiction, because it is a problem. There are a lot of other factors, too.3 -
My brother was a smack addict.
I had to come off powerful psychoactive medications and sleeping tablets.
I can assure you neither of those were anything like learning not to eat a family bag of M&Ms in one sitting or to just drive past McDs when I was hungry. Not even close.6 -
I think one can can call it a behavioral addiction similar to gambling but to liken it to a chemical addiction I don't think there is any evidence.2
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