Processed Food Addiction
FOOD ADDICTION
First of all, Food Addiction to “Processed Foods” is not your fault!
The American public has been manipulated into craving processed foods. Yes, I’m afraid so! We have scientific proof, and there’s nothing illegal about it (for the time being).
Read on to learn the basics about what Processed Food is, why we get addicted to it, details about binging, a video simplifying the brain functions we experience with addictive foods, and a quiz you can take to see if you truly have a food addiction….
So, what is Processed Food?
"Processed food" includes food that has been cooked, canned, frozen, packaged or changed in nutritional composition with fortifying, preserving or preparing in different ways. Any time we cook, bake or prepare food, we are processing food.
Processed food falls on a spectrum from minimally to heavily processed:
Minimally processed foods — such as bagged spinach, cut vegetables and roasted nuts — often are simply pre-prepped for convenience.
Foods processed at their peak to lock in nutritional quality and freshness include frozen fruit, vegetables, and canned tuna.
Foods with ingredients added for flavor and texture (sweeteners, spices, oils, colors and preservatives) include jarred pasta sauce, salad dressing, yogurt and cake mixes.
Ready-to-eat foods — such as crackers, granola and deli meat — are more heavily processed.
The most heavily processed foods often are pre-made meals including frozen pizza, breads and microwaveable dinners.
Are Processed Foods really addictive?
Dreaming about your next encounter with that bag of barbeque potato chips? If so, you’re not alone. It may be that we are more than partial to our favorite processed foods because they are actually highly addictive. That’s right, addictive. According to new research, our ultra-processed food choices (that bear little resemblance to actual foods that grow in the ground) are a major problem when it comes to our efforts to eat healthier.
Processed foods—including fries, frozen pizza, potato chips, and packaged cookies–have more in common with addictive substances like tobacco and cocaine than we might think.
In the same way that tobacco and cocaine are highly refined substances from plants, highly processed foods are stripped down from their natural states and reconfigured into “their most pleasurable ingredients”.
This stripping process removes fiber, protein, and water, leaving "industrial formulations" of sugar, salt, artificial flavoring, and other additives. Devoid of the barriers like fiber that are found in the pre-processed state, our food becomes addictive and we are rendered helpless when it comes to moderating consumption.
Our Bodies are Hardwired to Store Salt, Sugar and Fat
“The notion that some foods behave like narcotics goes back at least twenty years in scientific circles,” Michael Moss wrote in the 2013 book, Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. What Moss found in his research was that our predisposition to fat and sugar was a survival trait developed over thousands of years that we haven’t yet outgrown.
In nature, salt, sugar, and fat are rare. When our ancestors got their hands on these, they were hardwired to store as much as possible. They did that by eating until they couldn’t eat anymore. That’s the kink in the system; we no longer need to store food like our cave-dwelling ancestors, but we eat a bag of Doritos as if our life depended on it.
Yet, despite this, the food industry does little to address the issue. As a culture, we’ve sued the tobacco companies that addicted us to cigarettes and advertised to children, but we sit idly on the sidelines while the food companies do the very same thing. And we could make claim that the toll taken on the public health by a poor addictive diet, rivals that taken by the tobacco industry.
People don’t experience an addictive behavioral response to naturally occurring foods that are good for our health, like strawberries. It’s this subset of highly processed foods that are engineered in a way that’s amazingly similar to how we create other addictive substances. These are the foods that can trigger a loss of control and compulsive, problematic behaviors that parallel what we see with alcohol and cigarettes.
We are more likely to binge on Salt, Sugar, and Fatty foods
Research into binge eating disorders has also found this to be the case; foods considered “forbidden” or indulgent are more often binged on than generally healthy options like berries.
Our relationship with processed foods can be so extreme that some people experience withdrawal-like side effects when they reduce their intake of processed food. This can include headaches, fatigue, irritability, and depression.
Research has shown that certain processed foods were more likely to elicit addictive-like reactions, including intense cravings, a loss of control, and an inability to cut back, even when faced with "harmful consequences”.
Then, there’s the risk of developing a tolerance, also similar to what happens with regular use of tobacco and narcotics. It takes more to get you high, and in the case of processed food, that means eating more to feel the same satisfaction or pleasure. (When was the last time you had the discipline to put half a pint of ice cream back in the freezer?) When someone is unable to control their addiction to food, they eat more, despite knowing that it can lead to higher risks of obesity, type-2 diabetes, heart disease, and even some forms of cancer.
The Scientific explanation Processed Foods are Addictive
Food addiction is not necessarily the same as liking a particular type of food, or wanting to seek it out. Food addiction uses the reward pathways of the brain.
Some of the physiological routes that mediate food addiction are similar to the biochemical pathways that mediate drug addiction.
Processed food consumption increases activation of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) AMPA receptor (AMPAR). Motivational responses are mediated in part by NAcAMPAR transmission. The NAc is part of the mesolimbic pathway. It is located anterior to the caudate head, and posterior to the prefrontal cortex. This structure has a role in regulating dopaminergic reward activity.
Studies show that alterations in NAc function similar to those that are known to underlie drug addiction, also contribute to processed food addiction.
I highly recommend you watch this YouTube interview for an explanation of what happens when we eat processed foods (access the video HERE.)
It has also been shown that the taste, texture, and convenience of processed foods is responsible for their behavioral effects. And, that added fats and/or refined carbohydrates, clustered together, are associated with greater loss of control, liking, pleasure, and craving.
Processed foods contain enhanced amounts of salt, added sugar, and fat, as well as the use of additives in an attempt to make processed food highly irresistible.
How do you know if you are Addicted to Processed Foods? (see below to take the test)
I have witnessed plenty of my patients, close family and dear friends, struggle to change the way they eat, and my heart aches for them when I watch them fight-the-fight of breaking the habit of eating processed foods.
Joan Ifland, PhD. wrote the textbook, Processed Food Addiction. She learned the truth about overeating. It's often an addiction to processed foods.
Dr. Ifland has created an online quiz that you can take to see if you truly have an addiction to processed foods. Take the quiz HERE.
Why is it SO Important to stop America’s Addiction to Processed Foods, ASAP?
To be honest, there is NO WAY to Make America Healthy Again without curing our addiction to Processed Foods!
Of the (15) staggering statistics I outlined in last week’s newsletter (read HERE if you missed it) over half are directly related to Food Addiction.
From “Preventable chronic diseases accounting for 75% of our nation’s health care spending” to “Obesity rates in children tripling over the last three decades”, it will be impossible to turn these trends around without getting Americans off of the addiction to Processed Foods.
Beware of these Pitfalls
While you might think that organic brands or specialized foods, like popular gluten-free or allergy-friendly foods aren't part of the brand bundling, we're sorry to burst that bubble. For example, ConAgra Brands owns Earth Balance and Udi's Gluten Free breads. Annie's Homegrown Pasta (with the cute bunny mascot) was bought by General Mills in 2014.
Is it a bad thing to have so few companies controlling the food supply? YES, absolutely!
The fact that so few companies are controlling our food brands means they have a great deal of POWER over the supply chain. And because they are beholden to shareholders instead of customers, they oftentimes choose to use cheaper, more addictive ingredients, plus change recipes without telling customers.
If you're concerned with so few companies controlling so many brands, you can seek out smaller, independent brands, usually found at local or smaller grocery stores. Just don't be surprised when you hear they've been bought by a larger company.
So, how do I stop eating addictive Processed Foods?
The best approach to cutting out the opportunity of reaching for the wrong foods, may be the simplest: Filling up on healthy, single ingredient, fiber-rich foods. They’ll help you to feel full so that you’re less likely to binge on the unhealthy stuff.
Making sure you are regularly fueling your body with nutritious, minimally processed foods that you enjoy, can be important for helping you navigate a very challenging food environment.
Throw away all the processed foods in your house, and stock up on the healthy stuff.
This doesn’t mean that you can’t step foot in your favorite neighborhood grocery store, just stay on the perimeter of the store where the REAL food is. Once you kick the processed food habit, you won’t even miss those time wasting middle aisles…
Purchase only single ingredient “unprocessed” foods, cook at home so you know what is in your food, and season your REAL food with simple spices for flavor. Once you get the hang of it, you may then learn which foods you are safe to order when eating at restaurants. Just don’t get into the habit of eating out often. Trust me, you’d be surprised how a chef can sneak in processed food ingredients that can disrupt your progress, and you don’t even know that it’s happening.
Remember,
We can’t give away our health to any one. Our health is our responsibility, to preserve and protect.
Wellness promotes active awareness and participation in measures that preserve health, both as an individual and in our communities. Maintaining wellness and optimal health is a lifelong, daily personal commitment.
If you are having a hard time getting started with shifting your eating habits away from processed foods, or just can’t seem to overcome the temptations, don’t beat yourself up! Make sure to let us know by calling or telling us when you visit the office, and we will get you help.
Our families need to BE healthy, to STAY healthy, if we want to LIVE as long, or longer, than our parents did.
We need to improve the Health of Americans, NOW!
Maintaining wellness and optimal health is a lifelong, daily commitment by each of us, every parent, and every caregiver in our nation.
The best way to maintain health is to preserve it through a healthful lifestyle rather than waiting until sickness or to address health problems.
I hope that this newsletter today has helped you understand the truth about Addictive Processed Foods, and what you can do to help yourself, family and friends. Believe it or not, you don’t have to be a doctor to make a difference. Many times it’s just spreading the word, or setting an example, or even making a phone call to someone that will help make a change in their world.
By the way, we are holding our annual Patient Appreciation Day, this Tuesday, July 7th (all day long). Drop in and join us for games, snacks and raffle. Feel free to bring a guest; and show them how you stay so healthy!
As you dedicate yourself to educating this generation, you can affect positive health impacts, by helping to prevent a multitude of chronic illness, including PREVENTABLE diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
Thank you for joining me in making a huge difference in our children’s future and Making America HEALTHY again!
Please remember the (5) Essentials we talk about at Ferguson Life Health Centers…
Mindset
Nerve Supply
NUTRITION
Exercise
Minimizing Toxins
and follow along with me over the next few weeks, to discover what we can do for our children, families and communities to Make America Healthy Again!