Food Can Be Literally Addictive, New Evidence Suggests

The sugar lobby says welcome to 30 years ago.

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I've said for years, the one thing I envy of people quitting alcohol or other drugs, is the simplicity of the rules.

In their case the rule is just "No". At every time, place, or circumstance, no matter what, it's just "No".

It would be so nice if food was that simple.

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Seriously. Quitting cigarettes is childs play compared to eating healthy. I've managed to not smoke for years after quitting cold turkey. I've been trying to lose weight for a decade or more with varying degrees of success and failure. If I could just never have food and be fine, I would have been healthy a long time ago. But your body requires food, often multiple times a day. And life doesn't always give you the time or options you need to keep healthy. And not even getting into the horrible nutrition education I've had my entire life, it's like everything was set up for me to fail, and then everyone's mad at me for failing, like it wasn't the expected outcome.

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- It’s serious medicine and not right for everyone but if you’re seriously obese then consider discussing Semaglutide or similar medications with your doctor. For some people it had been a game changer. It can make it easier to eat a small portion and then stop and it can quiet the persistent food thoughts. The side effects can be too much for some folks and it’s definitely something that shouldn’t be started without doing research and discussing with a physician. But it can make dietary changes much more attainable.
  
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- Sunday meal prep for the week. In 2023, it's not only necessary, it's imperative if you don't want to eat FF. Welcome to capitalism.
  
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Yo!! I have never even thought of it like that. I think you are spot on. We can’t completely avoid food. Although it was a struggle, quitting nicotine, alcohol and benzodiazepines has been extremely successful in comparison to my issues with baked goods. Now I feel like it makes more sense when I think of most of the food in my grocery store as constant “gateways” back to donuts.

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- Be kind to yourself. A weakness for baked goods is a significant upgrade from those other vices. If the baked goods have helped you at all from abstaining from them, it's a small price
  
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- I made a kind of deal with myself that if I wanted baked goods and sweets I had to make them myself. Since then I've learned to make brownies, cookies, ice cream, sorbet, chocolate ganache tarts, pancakes, and more. It's fun, allows you to be creative, and the extra work of having to make if yourself keeps you in check.
  
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@Steve @shish_mish There is one rule I follow: no packaged snacks. Any snacks I want, I make at home. I got into it for environmental reasons, but after I went vegan, it was the main principle stopping me from going for all of those vegan junk food options. Instead, I make bliss balls and, occasionally, cookies or other treats. Those combined with fruit make great snacks while not destroying my health.

Oh, I also pretty much always go for WFPB recipes, even for snacks.

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The nice thing about just saying no to food is that you don't have to do it for as long as those guys with a drug addiction. So that's a good point.

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Careful there. Breatharians might like a word with you.

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It sort of is that simple. There are no addictive ingredients in whole foods. Fruit, vegetables, whole grains, non-processed proteins. People just have to make better decisions at the grocery store.

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- You're still eating food right?
  
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I don’t stop eating when I am full. I stop eating when I hate myself. And then some.

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- I switched to sparkling water. Satisfies the "cold fizzy thing" itch without extra sugar. Though, apparently finding plain seltzer is hard in some parts.
  
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- I used to drink a shitload of soda.
  
  Then after college I was living at home with my folks, two hours away from my fiancee. I had nothing better to do so I decided to focus on my health. Took 6 months, did a lot of p90x, went almost entirely cold turkey on processed foods, added sugars, and alcohol.
  
  I ended up losing over 60lbs, almost all of which I have gained back for various reasons. But one thing that stuck is I cannot handle non-diet soda anymore. It makes me feel physically sick to drink more than a couple ounces. I will occasionally drink a diet soda, but even those are few and far between.
  
  It's like I rewired something inside of me and I just can't deal with those sugar bombs anymore. I'm sure part of it may also just be me getting older.
  
  Anyway the point of the story is, there is hope! It takes some willpower, but if I could do it, you can too!
  
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- You can do it!
  
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- Getting soda by the can really helps me- It’s hard not to finish whatever I open and at least the can is an ok size for the day. A bit more expensive per volume and a bit worse for the environment, but at least it’s one part of my diet under control
  
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Yeah, it's a serious problem for me. I'm largely channeling those feelings of hatred into reminding myself not to do that.

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I've got syrup in my veins for blood

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The way I behave around Takis is not a reflection of who I am as a person.

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I'm the same way with Dot's Original pretzels

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My sister bought me a bunch of pastries for my birthday, and just left them in my refrigerator. Like seriously a problematic amount of pastries, that I had to schedule my days around. I work from home, and after a while, I just got used to deking into the fridge for a quick pastry. It was ridiculous, but also a lot of fun.

Anyway, when those pastries finally ended, man... the jonesing I felt when I realised I couldn't just reach for a pastry all of a sudden...

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Sugar baby. You developed a sugar dependency.

Note that no actual sugar is required to develop a dependency, because flour, and almost all sources of carbohydrates are effectively sources of sugar.

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Once for my birthday my aunt baked me not one but two cakes! She couldn't remember if I prefer chocolate or vanilla so she just made both. That was a week of indulgence I vividly remember, and my god at the end there I was so relieved those damn cakes were eaten omg XD

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- Chocolate can definitely be cloying after a while, I find. But a St. Honoré... foof, it's like eating a rich, refreshing cloud. I could have kept eating it every day.
  
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I tried to go cold turkey but only lasted a few weeks before the doctors put me on a forced feeding tube.

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Was it at least on a sandwich?

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- Too big to fit in the tube. Only mashed potatoes for him.
  
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from personal experience, I don't think it's something I can be weened off of.

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I bet you're hooked on water also, degenerate.

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- I've heard the withdrawal for that is lethal
  
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- Didn't read the article did you?
  
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Next article: water is wet

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Yeah, just about everyone is addicted to caffeine, but no one bats an eye. It's only the drugs that were made illegal that people usually have issues with people being addicted to. All addiction is bad and we should try to have better resources and understanding to help anyone with any addiction.

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- Ehhh as an addict, I can say that there are some pretty big material differences between quitting smoking, sugar, alcohol, etc. Legality and how the substance is socialised are for sure huge factors in its perception, and how addiction is internalised, but yeah... there are real physical differences.
  
  Not that you were necessarily making that point, but close enough, and I've seen it made before. No offense.
  
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strongest addiction

That sounds like a big stretch.......

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- A person with a crippling addiction to sugar is going to look like a morbidly obese person. A person with a crippling addiction to heroin is going to look like that homeless person you're picturing. But the obese person can have sugar delivered to their door on a daily basis, and the drug addict has to do some sketch shit to maintain their addiction.
  
  Most people are far further down the scale than either of those two obvious examples, and may be indistinguishable from someone who isn't actively addicted to something. Though, the 40% obesity rate night have something to do with that.
  
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Not only have we had proof of this for a very long time, the entire US industrial food industry is built around making processed foods as addictive as possible.

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I'm a sugar addict. I went keto 2 years ago and lost 150lbs. I still need to lose around 30. 90% of our "food" isn't real food. You need meat and veggies. Nothing else. It's hard to stop though. I still gotta have a doughnut at least once a month.

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You don't need meat.

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- maybe you don't but I do. I was a vegan and I was unhealthy and sick. Switched to mostly ketovore and I'm better in my 40s than I was in my 20s. I was able to stop every medication that I had been taking for 10+ years.
  
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I gave up alcohol a year ago but my soda habit is off the charts. 😔

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Interesting. I didn’t have a hard time giving up food, I quit about three years ago, but I drink constantly

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- Wait... what do you mean by "giving up food" exactly? You got me worried dawg!
  
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What helped me drink a lot less soda was to begin looking at the sugar content on everything. A can has 75% of your daily recommended max intake, a bottle has 125%. Combined with the amount of sugar in a lot of other things, I’m pretty sure many Americans consume like double the amount of sugar they should pretty often. Plus, the 50 grams they recommend is still a lot of sugar and you shouldn’t be even consuming that much

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- For me, getting soda on cans made a huge difference - the parent didn’t estimate the sugar content if a 2l bottle. Anyhow having cans both let’s me off the hook for having one, keeps me from rationalizing that I don’t want to waste it by letting it get flat, and I find it easier to limit myself to only one per day
  
  (Plus it’s diet. I’m not sure that’s entirely better so still worth limiting, but it’s not sugar, or empty calories)
  
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That's okay bud, I'm proud of you! :)

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Getting a seltzer maker satisfied a lot of the desire for soda for me. Mostly I want cold, wet fizz.

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true, I find I can only go so long before I’m jonesing for food again

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Relevant Supersize Me clip

Edit: Oh Lemmy why can't you get & right

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The headline is misleading. This is about highly processed foods.

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I thought we had generally agreed that anything can be addictive?

And this link is broken for me. Anyone else?

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Yes, but there are different types of addiction. I made this comment on another post, but I’ll put it here too:

There’s a big difference between something being psychologically addictive, and something being chemically addictive.

Like, yea, you can technically get addicted to anything. But there’s a massive difference between getting addicted to, say, working out, and getting addicted to nicotine.

So food being chemically addictive is not something that’s been known for decades, in fact it’s been a common topic of debate.

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- okay 'chemically' vs psychologically is the distinction I was looking for, thanks.
  
  Although if we give science enough time maybe they will arrive at the conclusion that its the same mechanism, 'psychologically' addictive just means a dopamine addiction as far as I know. Its still a chemical.
  
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- Isn't type 2 diabetes functional evidence of a sugar addiction?
  
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Been trying Keto for about a week now and I never really noticed my addiction to bread. Not the ordinary sandwich type bread, but the good stuff like naan and pita bread. Crackers and hummus, most soups, BBQ, anything sweet that isn't sucralose-y. I'm making due with the low carb tortillas but it isn't the same.

The only fast food that I can get reliably that fits in the diet is the grilled chicken nuggets at Chick-fil-A.

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I do keto yearly to cut weight. Makes portions just very easy for me. For some quick fast food options in a pinch, McDonald's triple with cheese* sans bun (easy to order on mobile), extra pickles/lettuce. Chipotle/Moe's/Qdoba lots of options. I like a double meat salad with fajita veg, cheese, sour cream, salsa of choice, no rice/bean/corn salsa. Wings/salad at lots of pizza joints, verify they're not fried. Panera salads, just check the dressings. Greek restaurants usually have a nice selection of salad or grilled meat and veg options just nix the rice or bread.. and sadly hummus.

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Another reliable fast food option is Jimmy John's. Their "un-which" is your sub of choice wrapped in lettuce leaves. The gargantuan un-which is my go-to.

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Keto'ers: Yeah, no shit

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As a person with chronic pain and depression.....no shit Sherlock.

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Anyone arguing otherwise is either willfully ignorant or being paid by lobbyists.

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And the withdrawal could literally kill you

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I just finished off a bag of mini kit-kats "Eh, just 3 more" at a time.

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I used to spend more on weed than food monthly but now I spend way more on food per month.

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I mean, after three days of not eating I start to get light headed, weak, and irritated. Two weeks, and I'd be near death. So I guess,it is an addiction

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I mean, you couldn't tell by looking at morbidly obese people?

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i am addicted to breathing

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What about pissing and shitting?

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- Can’t wait to get to the bathroom and pull all the stops
  
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Vegans tend to argue cheese addiction via casomorphins. I don't believe its scientific consensus at all this point but I personally believe it's addictive. It was easily the most difficult to rid out my diet.

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I'm addicted to water. If I don't drink enough I have strong headaches and feel awful and tired.

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Best to quit it cold turkey before it does any more damage.

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- If you have trouble quitting, there's this medication called rabies that you can get to help you cut out all water consumption.
  
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Can we please stop using the word addiction? No one in online discussion agrees on what it means, so it always ends with angry people screaming past each other.

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That's why the headline says "literally addictive", not just "addictive". It's addictive in the biological sense.

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- If you think biological addiction to heroin and chips are equivalent enough to use the same word, I can’t help you.
  
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Literally anything can be addictive.

Imagine being a scientist and not being intelligent enough to come up with a new theory to prove.

Edit It's easy to understand the confusion of the person below me. They don't realize that headlines shouldn't just be clickbait that misleads readers. That's poor science and poor journalism.

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Your confusion is easy to understand, given the overly simplistic nature of much science reporting. And how that's especially true with headlines. (I assume you didn't read the article)

But this is claiming that modern food has been perfected, so as to actually trigger chemical dependency. Which is a whole different level from behavioral addiction.

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