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no sugar or flour, food addiction?

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  • Adventurista
    Adventurista Posts: 1,625 Member
    edited November 2024
    Interesting morning tv show 2023 story on survey results and the 'debate' around food addiction. Article also includes a little morning tv discussion video snippet.
    https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/cant-say-no-sweets-snacks-sign-food-addiction-rcna67881
  • Siren2024
    Siren2024 Posts: 61 Member
    ninerbuff wrote: »
    Personally I don't believe there's food addiction. How can you be addicited to something you need TO LIVE? Unlike alcohol, gambling, drugs, etc., food is a necessity. I have yet to see someone sell their body, steal from loved ones, or blow their paycheck on sugar and flour. This is NOT to say there aren't eating disorders. But those differ from actual addiction where more than just therapy is needed.


    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Oooh I dunno , ld pretty much do anything for a bar of Cadburys chocolate some days 😜
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 4,328 Member
    Back to the original post.
    Paraphrasing "doesn't a life without cookies seem sad".
    I used to love cookies! But then they started putting dough conditioners in all wheat flour in the US. No more cookies, no more bread, no more wheat pasta for me, please. A choice. You have the cookies and cake. I'll have seconds of meat, potatoes, salad, veggies.
    I used to drink 3 3-liter cokes a day. I ate about 800 calories of real food. When a dietitian pointed it out to me, I quit coke cold turkey. Things started tasting different. Through the years, I have eaten less and less sugar. By choice. It takes a lot less sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth.
    Now I pass right by the cookies without slowing down. I know that anytime I choose, I can have cookies. Today I choose to snack on raw broccoli. I like it!
  • canela767
    canela767 Posts: 1 Member
    I can have one alcoholic drink, and stop, but an alcoholic will drink until they're wasted and often cannot stop. Likewise, there are people who can eat a recommended serving of pasta, or one slice of pizza, and stop but I cannot. I'm going to eat a bowl of pasta half the size of my head, or at least half of a large pizza. Therefore, I consider it an addiction. I do great when I stick to foods I don't feel that way about. Not going to overdo it on vegetables, salad with sugar free dressing, or egg white omelets. No compulsion to. Doesn't taste THAT good, whereas pizza or pasta absolutely does taste THAT good to me. I can't touch any of my "out of control" foods if I want to lose weight.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,709 Member
    Corina1143 wrote: »
    Back to the original post.
    Paraphrasing "doesn't a life without cookies seem sad".
    I used to love cookies! But then they started putting dough conditioners in all wheat flour in the US. No more cookies, no more bread, no more wheat pasta for me, please. A choice. You have the cookies and cake. I'll have seconds of meat, potatoes, salad, veggies.
    I used to drink 3 3-liter cokes a day. I ate about 800 calories of real food. When a dietitian pointed it out to me, I quit coke cold turkey. Things started tasting different. Through the years, I have eaten less and less sugar. By choice. It takes a lot less sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth.
    Now I pass right by the cookies without slowing down. I know that anytime I choose, I can have cookies. Today I choose to snack on raw broccoli. I like it!

    I buy wheat flour without conditioners or any ingredients other than wheat. I can get hard red, hard white, soft white, bread, or pastry flour that don't have anything other than wheat. Look around; you can find it. Check your local food co-op. I buy in bulk so can just buy a bit at a time and keep it in the freezer so it doesn't go rancid as fast. I use whole wheat flour, and it doesn't have a long shelf life.
  • pdskelly0904
    pdskelly0904 Posts: 3 Member

    I absolutely believe that food addiction is real. Our reward system in our brains is reliant on a neurotransmitter called dopamine. We can have a highly stimulating experience that will release dopamine into a part of our brain that rewards us with a good feeling and a desire to repeat the behavior to obtain another reward. We know about stimulant drugs that directly impact this region of the brain. But any highly stimulating behavior can have a similar effect on the dopamine system, like gambling, sex/porn, and eating. People who consume highly palatable foods (sweet, salty, fatty) will receive a dopamine bump. The addiction begins where over the course of time, someone receives a continuous stream of dopamine and/or a very high dosage, they develop a tolerance to the dopamine, meaning they need more dopamine more often and in larger doses to receive their anticipated reward. If their anticipation isn’t satisfied, they will crave for their stimulation to surpass their tolerance level.

    The interesting thing about food is that one can find stimulation from three different senses: taste, texture, and tooth (crunchiness). To break a food addiction by lowering one’s tolerance is to replace the highly palatable foods with alternative foods with a high stimulation factor. Pickles are a good example because their sourness and crunchiness can have a similar effect as a cookie because it can modulate a craving while limiting caloric intake. A craving for pizza can be stopped with a bagel dipped in some hot sauce. This offers evidence, to those who think an onion is “spicy,” why some people love hot sauces. One’s mouth may burn, but it’s a rewarding burn.

    This is NOT universal. There are other reasons for overeating beyond a need to release dopamine. This model of addiction closely aligns with other addictive behaviors.

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