Why Americans Are Addicted to Junk Food- It's Not Your Fault

Who doesn't enjoy eating some occasional junk food?

But did you notice that once you start eating it, it is hard to stop?

Do you remember the potato chip commercial that said, " bet you can't eat just one." They were not kidding.  Studies are showing that processed food has actual addictive qualities. Making it  difficult to eat just one potato chip, cracker, piece of bread,  one bowl of cereal, pasta, pizza, or cookie for that matter.. 

According to new scientific research there may be a few reasons.

1. First, new research conducted by Paul Kenny, a neuroscientist, at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida reveals that frequent eating of foods that are high in sugar, salt and fat can begin to actually program the brain to crave more foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt, creating an actual addiction to these foods. This is the same kind of addiction that drug addicts experience. The new evidence suggests that junk food is addictive and that frequent indulgence can make you crave more . Making your eating patterns not a matter of will power, but a matter of addiction.

2. Secondly, Many women have a gene that makes their pancreas overreact when they eat carbohydrates, especially fast food carbs as opposed to carbs with a high fiber, nutrients, and low fat such as a sweet potato. Research at Yale University revealed that over 40% of women have this gene. The overproduction of insulin after eating carbs causes the blood sugar to drop, thus creating a need to eat more carbs to give them more energy. That is why women with this gene are prone to crave carbohydrates, which only triggers another blood sugar drop and the desire for additional carbohydrates to raise the blood sugar.

What does that mean to us and our kids? 

Well it means that we can become addicted to junk food and processed food and find ourselves overeating to reach a level of satiation.  Paul Johnson, one of the scientists at Scripps said, " This is the most complete evidence to date that suggests obesity and drug addiction have common neuro-biological foundations" He also added , " You lose control. Which is the hallmark of addiction". Obesity is an epidemic in the US!!

I made Black Bean brownies last week for my grand kids from black beans and other real foods. It was dense but tasty. It was made with no flour or commercial sugar ( made it with coconut crystals which are low glycemic). Since I had sent it to their home, I never tasted it. I asked my son how it was?

 He said it was really good . However, I was surprised when he said they still had half the cake
 left. He said, 'mom, when you eat something that is made with real food, you don't need more than one small piece. It is very satiating."  

How telling was that! It is true. We do tend to be more satisfied and eat less of real food that has fiber and nutrients! 

Try making a quick satisfying sushi bowl!(Recipe Link)

So, don't kid yourself. If your diet is mostly processed food with white flour, sugar, corn syrup, milk chocolate, you may be training your brain to desensitize and it will need greater amounts of processed food to experience the same good feelings it used to get from a lesser amount. This can set up a dangerous pattern for unhealthy eating and excessive weight gain for ourselves and out kids!



If you are looking for healthy real food recipes (all gluten free and mostly vegan) look through my blog

This post is part of my 31 days to better health series

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