Food Can Be Literally Addictive, New Evidence Suggests : science

[–] Unaware7013@kbin.social 117 points 1 year ago

The sugar lobby says welcome to 30 years ago.

[–] Steve 91 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

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.

[+] MacAttak8@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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[–] speck@kbin.social 16 points 1 year ago

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

[–] Barack_Embalmer@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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.

[–] lightnsfw@reddthat.com 6 points 1 year ago

I did the same thing with my meth addiction.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 year ago

Making it yourself also lets you make it healthier. It's super easy to choose recipes with less sugar and put fruit, veg, healthy fats, etc into baked goods. It's not going to make it a health food, but it's better than Little Debbie.

[–] chiraag@mastodon.online 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

@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.

[–] gowan@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

WFPB?

[–] chiraag@mastodon.online 5 points 1 year ago

@gowan Whole Foods Plant Based. So basically, not using any refined foods (think dates instead of sugar for sweetening something, for example).

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

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.

[–] Zardoz@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Careful there. Breatharians might like a word with you.

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[–] MxM111@kbin.social 52 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I don’t stop eating when I am full. I stop eating when I hate myself. And then some.

[+] AngryAnusHornets@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

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[–] TurboDiesel@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I switched to sparkling water. Satisfies the "cold fizzy thing" itch without extra sugar. Though, apparently finding plain seltzer is hard in some parts.

[–] Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Would a sodastream type solution satisfy your needs? Things like that have gotten super cheap. My dad also just uses unsweetened drink flavoring in his like bubly. Can also use natural flavours instead of buying artificial ones. Concentrated lemon juice is easy enough to find, I'm sure other concentrated flavours are possible to find or make too. But yeah, by default it just makes carbonated water, adding flavour or sweetening it is an optional second step.

Devices that carbonate water have been around for decades, the upside of the new ones is just that they hit a critical mass in enough markets now that the co2 cartridge replacements are everywhere and cheap now. I live in a small town of 2000 people up in Canada, and we have a sodastream canister exchange program in our local hardware store, lol. And a canister is 20$cad and lasts me about 100 drinks, the water I use is filtered tap water, so the price there is pretty negligible per drink. Totals up to about 25 cents per drink. The price of the machine itself was 80$cad, so if I only add that to the first batch, those first hundred liters were more like a dollar each. Pretty easy to swallow. Though it's carbonated, so best to sip anyway.

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[–] theragu40@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

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!

[–] NovaPrime@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 year ago

You can do it!

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[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

I've got syrup in my veins for blood

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[–] Gradually_Adjusting@lemmy.world 38 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

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[–] watcher@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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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[–] robbotlove@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

from personal experience, I don't think it's something I can be weened off of.

[–] Dasnap@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago

I've heard the withdrawal for that is lethal

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[+] doom_and_gloom@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

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[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 8 points 1 year ago

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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[–] blackwateropeth@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago

Next article: water is wet

[–] roofuskit@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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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[–] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I gave up alcohol a year ago but my soda habit is off the charts. 😔

[–] Hikiru@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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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[–] TheFriar@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

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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[–] pc_admin@aussie.zone 4 points 1 year ago

That's okay bud, I'm proud of you! :)

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[–] letsgo2themall@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago (7 children)

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.

[–] gowan@reddthat.com 5 points 1 year ago

You do not need meat. You do need protein.

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[–] mateomaui@reddthat.com 9 points 1 year ago

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

[–] mo_ztt@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Relevant Supersize Me clip

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

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

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

[–] WheeGeetheCat@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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

And this link is broken for me. Anyone else?

[–] CaptainEffort@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (3 children)

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.

[–] WheeGeetheCat@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago

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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[–] Gork@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

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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[–] duke_valentino@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

And the withdrawal could literally kill you

[–] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Keto'ers: Yeah, no shit