OUR GOVERNMENT AND FOOD INDUSTRY both encourage more “personal responsibility” when it comes to battling the obesity epidemic and its associated diseases. They say people should exercise more self-control, make better choices, avoid over-eating, and reduce their intake of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed food. We are lead to believe there is no good food or bad food—that it’s all a matter of balance. This sounds good in theory, except for one thing …
New discoveries in science prove that industrial processed, sugar-, fat-, and salt-laden food—food that is made in plant, rather than grown on a plant, as Michael Pollan would say—is biologically addictive.
Imagine a foot high pile of broccoli, or a giant bowl of apple slices. Do you know anyone who would binge broccoli or apples? On other hand, imagine a mountain of potato chips or a whole bag of cookies, or a pint of ice cream. Those are easy to imagining vanishing in an unconscious, reptilian brain eating frenzy. Broccoli is not addictive, but cookies, chips, or soda absolutely can become addictive drugs.
The “just say no” approach to drug addiction hasn’t fared to well. It won’t work for our industrial food addiction either. Tell a cocaine or heroin addict or an alcoholic to “just say no” after that first snort, shot, or drink. It’s not that simple. There are specific biological mechanisms that drive addictive behavior. Nobody chooses to be a heroin addict, cokehead, or drunk. Nobody chooses to be fat either. The behaviors arise out of primitive neurochemical reward centers in the brain that override normal will power and overwhelm our ordinary biological signals that control hunger. Consider:
- Why do cigarette smokers continue to smoke even though they know smoking will give them cancer and heart disease?
- Why do less than 20 percent of alcoholics successfully quit drinking?
- Why do most addicts continue to use cocaine and heroin despite their lives being destroyed?
- Why does quitting caffeine lead to irritability and headaches?
It is because these substances are all biologically addictive.
Why is it so hard for obese people to lose weight despite the social stigma and health consequences such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, and even cancer even though they have an intense desire to lose weight? It is not because they WANT to be fat. It is because certain types of food are addictive.
Food made of sugar, fat, and salt can be addictive. Especially when combined in secret ways the food industry will not share or make public. We are biologically wired to crave these foods and eat as much of them as possible. We all know about cravings, but what does the science tell us about food and addiction, and what are the legal and policy implications if certain food is, in fact, addictive?
The Science and Nature of Food Addiction
Let’s examine the research and the similarities between high-sugar, energy-dense, fatty and salty processed and junk food and cocaine, heroin, and nicotine. We’ll start by reviewing the diagnostic criteria for substance dependence or addiction found in the bible of psychiatric diagnosis—the DSM-IV and look at how that relates to food addiction.
- Substance is taken in larger amount and for longer period than—a classic symptom in people who habitually overeat
- Persistent desire or repeated unsuccessful attempts to quit—consider the repeated attempts at diet so many overweight people go through
- Much time/activity is spent to obtain, use, or recover—those repeated attempts to lose weight take time
- Important social, occupational, or recreational activities given up or reduced—I see this in many patients who are overweight or obese
- Use continues despite knowledge of adverse consequences (e.g., failure to fulfill role obligation, use when physically hazardous)—anyone who is sick and fat wants to lose weight, but without help few are capable of making the dietary changes that would lead to this outcome
- Tolerance (marked increase in amount; marked decrease in effect)—in other words you have to keep eating more and more just to feel “normal” or not experience withdrawal
- Characteristic withdrawal symptoms; substance taken to relieve withdrawal—many people undergo a “healing crisis” that has many of the same symptoms as withdrawal when removing certain foods from their diet
Few of us are free from this addictive pattern. If you examine your own behavior and relationship to sugar, in particular, you will likely find that your behavior around sugar and the biological effects of overconsumption of sugar match up perfectly. Many of the criteria above are likely to apply to you.
We blame the fat person. But how can we blame a two-year-old for being fat? How much choice do they have?
Researchers from Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity validated a “food addiction” scale.(i) Here are a few of the points on the scale that are used to determine if you have a food addiction. Does any of this sound familiar? If it does you may be an “industrial food addict.”
- I find that when I start eating certain foods, I end up eating much more than I had planned.
- Not eating certain types of food or cutting down on certain types of food is something I worry about.
- I spend a lot of time feeling sluggish or lethargic from overeating.
- There have been times when I consumed certain foods so often or in such large quantities that I spent time dealing with negative feelings from overeating instead of working, spending time with my family or friends, or engaging in other important activities or recreational activities I enjoy.
- I kept consuming the same types of food or the same amount of food even though I was having emotional and/or physical problems.
- Over time, I have found that I need to eat more and more to get the feeling I want, such as reduced negative emotions or increased pleasure.
- I have had withdrawal symptoms when I cut down or stopped eating certain foods. (Please do NOT include withdrawal symptoms caused by cutting down on caffeinated beverages such as soda pop, coffee, tea, energy drinks, etc.) For example: Developing physical symptoms, feeling agitated, or feeling anxious.
- My behavior with respect to food and eating causes significant distress.
- I experience significant problems in my ability to function effectively (daily routine, job/school, social activities, family activities, health difficulties) because of food and eating.
Based on these criteria and others many of us, including most obese children, are “addicted” to industrial food.
Here are some of the scientific findings confirming that food can, indeed, be addictive(ii):
- Sugar stimulates the brain’s reward centers through the neurotransmitter dopamine exactly like other addictive drugs.
- Brain imagining (PET scans) shows that high-sugar and high-fat foods work just like heroin, opium, or morphine in the brain.(iii)
- Brain imaging (PET scans) shows that obese people and drug addicts have lower numbers of dopamine receptors, making them more likely to crave things that boost dopamine.
- Foods high in fat and sweets stimulate the release of the body’s own opioids (chemicals like morphine) in the brain.
- Drugs we use to block the brain’s receptors for heroin and morphine (naltrexone) also reduce the consumption and preference for sweet, high-fat foods in both normal weight and obese binge eaters.
- People (and rats) develop a tolerance to sugar—they need more and more of the substance to satisfy themselves—just like they do for drugs of abuse like alcohol or heroin.
- Obese individuals continue to eat large amounts of unhealthy foods despite severe social and personal negative consequences, just like addicts or alcoholics.
- Animals and humans experience “withdrawal” when suddenly cut off from sugar, just like addicts detoxifying from drugs.
- Just like drugs, after an initial period of “enjoyment” of the food the user no longer consumes them to get high, but to feel normal.
Remember the movie Super Size Me, where Morgan Spurlock ate three super-sized meals from McDonald’s every day? What struck me about that film was not that he gained 30 pounds or that his cholesterol went up, or even that he got a fatty liver. What was surprising was the portrait it painted of the addictive quality of the food he ate. At the beginning of the movie, when he ate his first supersized meal, he threw it up, just like a teenager who drinks too much alcohol at his first party. By the end of the movie, he only felt “well” when he ate that junk food. The rest of the time he felt depressed, exhausted, anxious, and irritable and lost his sex drive, just like an addict or smoker withdrawing from his drug. The food was clearly addictive.
This problems with food addiction are compound by the fact that food manufacturers refuse to release any internal data on how they put ingredients together to maximize consumption of their food products despite requests from researchers. In his book, The End of Overeating, David Kessler, MD, the former head of the Food and Drug Administration, describes the science of how food is made into drugs by the creation of hyperpalatable foods the leads to neuro-chemical addiction.
This binging leads to profound physiological consequences that drive up calorie consumption and lead to weight gain. In a Harvard Study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, overweight adolescents consumed an extra 500 calories a day when allowed to eat junk food as compared to days when they weren’t allowed to eat junk food. They ate more because the food triggered cravings and addiction. Like an alcoholic after the first drink, once these kids started eating processed food full of the sugar, fat, and salt that triggered their brain’s reward centers, they couldn’t stop. They were like rats in a cage.(iv)
Stop and think about this for one minute. If you were to eat 500 more calories in a day, that would equal 182,500 calories a year. Let’s see … if you have to eat an extra 3500 calories to gain one pound, that’s a yearly weight gain of 52 pounds!
If high-sugar, high-fat, calorie-rich, nutrient-poor, processed, fast, junk food is indeed, addictive, what does that mean? How should that influence our approach to obesity? What implications does it have for government policies and regulation? Are there legal implications? If we are allowing and even promoting addictive substances in our children’s diets, how should we handle that?
I can assure you, Big Food isnt’ going to make any changes voluntarily. They would rather ignore this science. They have three mantras about food.
- It’s all about choice. Choosing what you eat is about personal responsibility. Government regulation controlling how you market food or what foods you can eat leads to a nanny state, food “fascists,” and interference with our civil liberties.
- There are no good foods and bad foods. It’s all about amount. So no specific foods can be blamed for the obesity epidemic.
- Focus on education about exercise not diet. As long as you burn off those calories, it shouldn’t matter what you eat.
Unfortunately, this is little more than propaganda from an industry interested in profit, not in nourishing the nation.
Do We Really Have a Choice About What We Eat?
The biggest sham in food industry strategy and government food policy is advocating and emphasizing individual choice and personal responsibility to solve our obesity and chronic disease epidemic. We are told if people just wouldn’t eat so much, exercised more, and took care of themselves, we would be fine. We don’t need to change our policies or environment. We don’t want the government telling us what to do. We want free choice.
But are your choices free, or is Big Food driving behavior through insidious marketing techniques?
The reality is that many people live in food deserts where they can’t buy an apple or carrot, or live in communities that have no sidewalks or where it is unsafe to be out walking. We blame the fat person. But how can we blame a two-year-old for being fat? How much choice do they have?
We live in toxic food environment, a nutritional wasteland. School lunchrooms and vending machines overflow with junk food and “sports drinks.” Most of us don’t even know what we’re eating. Fifty percent of meals are eaten outside the home and most home cooked meals are simply microwavable industrial food. Restaurants and chains provide no clear menu labeling. Did you know that a single order of Outback Steakhouse cheese fries is 2900 calories or a Starbucks venti mocha latte is 508 calories?
Environmental factors (like advertising, lack of menu labeling, and others) and the addictive properties of “industrial food” when added together override our normal biological or psychological control mechanisms. To pretend changing this is beyond the scope of government responsibility or that creating policy to help manage such environmental factors would lead to a “nanny state” is simply an excuse for Big Food to continue their unethical practices. Here are some ways we can change our food environment:
- Build the real cost of industrial food into the price. Incude its impact on health care costs and lost productivity
- Subsidize the production of fruits and vegetables. 80 percent of government subsidies presently go to soy and corn which are used to create much of the junk food we consume. We need to rethink subsidies and provide more for smaller farmers and a broader array of fruits and vegetables.
- Incentivize supermarkets to open in poor communities. Poverty and obesity go hand in hand. One reason is the food deserts we see around the nation. Poor people have a right to high-quality food too. We need to create ways to provide it to them.
- End food marketing to children. 50 other countries worldwide have done this, why haven’t we?
- Change the school lunchroom. The national school lunch program in its present form is a travesty. Unless we want the next generation to be fatter and sicker than we are, we need better nutriton education and better food in our schools.
- Build community support programs with a new workforce of community health workers. These people would be able to support individuals in making better food choices.
We can alter the default conditions in the environment that foster and promote addictive behavior.(v) It’s simply a matter of public and political will. If we don’t, we will face an ongoing epidemic of obesity and illness across the nation.
For those with personal struggles with food addiction, remember it is not a moral failing or lack of willpower. Here are a five suggestions I offer my patients to help them break their food addictions.
1. Balance your blood sugar: Research studies say that low blood sugar levels are associated with LOWER overall blood flow to the brain, which means more BAD decisions. To keep your blood sugar stable:
- Eat a nutritious breakfast with some protein like eggs, protein shake or nut butters. Studies repeatedly show that eating a healthy breakfast helps people maintain weight loss.
- Also, have smaller meals throughout the day. Eat every 3-4 hours and have some protein with each snack or meal (lean animal protein, nuts, seeds, beans)
- Avoid eating 3 hours before bedtime
2. Eliminate sugar and artificial sweeteners and your cravings will go away: Go cold turkey. Eliminate refined sugars, sodas, fruit juices, and artificial sweeteners from your diet, as these can trigger cravings.
3. Determine if hidden food allergies are triggering your cravings. We often crave the very foods that we have a hidden allergy to. For a simple allergy elimination program, consider trying The UltraSimple Diet, or The UltraSimple Diet Challenge Home Study Coaching Program.
4. Get 7-8 hours of sleep. Research shows that lack of sleep increases cravings.
5. Optimize Your Nutrient Status: Craving Cutting Supplements
- Optimize your vitamin D level: According to one study, when Vitamin D levels are low, the hormone that helps turn off your appetite doesn’t work and people feel hungry all the time, no matter how much they eat.
- Optimize omega 3s: Low levels of omega-3 fatty acids have also been associated with depression, Alzheimer’s disease and obesity.
- Consider taking natural supplements for cravings control. Glutamine, tyrosine, 5-HTP are amino acids that help reduce cravings. Stress reducing herbs such as Rhodiola can help. Chromium balances blood sugar and can help take the edge off cravings. Glucomannan fiber is very helpful to reduce the spikes in sugar and insulin that drive cravings and hunger.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
References
(i) Gearhardt, A.N., Corbin, W.R., and K.D. 2009. Brownell. Preliminary validation of the Yale Food Addiction Scale. Appetite. 52(2): 430–436.
(ii) Colantuoni, C., Schwenker, J., McCarthy, P., et al. 2001. Excessive sugar intake alters binding to dopamine and mu-opioid receptors in the brain. Neuroreport. 12(16): 3549–3552.
(iii) Volkow, N.D., Wang, G.J., Fowler, J.S., et al. 2002. “Nonhedonic” food motivation in humans involves dopamine in the dorsal striatum and methylphenidate amplifies this effect. Synapse. 44(3): 175–180.
(iv) Ebbeling CB, Sinclair KB, Pereira MA, Garcia-Lago E, Feldman HA, Ludwig DS. Compensation for energy intake from fast food among overweight and lean adolescents. JAMA. 2004 Jun 16;291(23):2828-2833.
(v) Brownell, K.D., Kersh, R., Ludwig. D.S., et al. 2010. Personal responsibility and obesity: A constructive approach to a controversial issue. Health Aff (Millwood). 29(3): 379–387.
Dear Dr Hyman,
i have just listened to your audio book the 5 senses of wellness.Oh my goodness me it was really fascinating.I have been on a very unsuccessful diet for 25 years.I still a very repulsive 16 stone i am afraid.I do love to go on my bike cycling around the countryside four times a week which i love.I also meditate every day for half an hour.I feel amazing in my head.I just need to shed all this access weight now and my life will be the best it could be.I live in Englan so i dont think you have a centre here for me to go to.But i am going to get your books to do the recipes.I am going to get my health as good as i can.Life is the most precious thing.I cant believe how food can as you get older make you feel so ill.My parents are both type 2 diabetics and i am definetly not going to be.I am going to beat this food addiction.Thankyou so much for throwing me this lifeline.Your book and website is truly inspirational.
Kindest regards to you and your family
Claire
Thank you for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
Very informative, thank you! Just to be on the picky side, Morgan Spurlock didn’t eat three super-sized meals a day. He only super-sized the meal when the cashier asked. All the side effects were alarming, though!
What do you do, when you are a sugar addict and can’t stop eating it? What steps would Dr. Hyman recommend?
if there were true informed consent (like a warning label saying “this food has been chemically altered and bio-engineered to induce food addiction response”) — then the arguments on “personal responsibility” might hold more weight.
I don’t… think anyone tries cocaine w/o knowing it is dangerous, addictive, etc… but for example in the 90s we were all in the low-fat craze and my husband & I used to eat boxes of plain white pasta with some veggies for dinner — we thought that was “healthy”. If we knew that white pasta was a glycemic nightmare, causes cravings for more carbs, was implicated in diabetes (which I later developed) — if there were a warning, we probably would have made different choices.
And now, getting husband to NOT eat white pasta is impossible. worse, is he feels that crap to our kids despite my objections/warnings.
Please send this … or a shorter version … off to the Huffington Post.
The country needs this info …
I had a heart attack in late 2009. Being overweight is not my issue but blood sugar, cholesterol level, and plaque formation are. My challenge is wheat which digests straight to blood glucose. I follow a Weston A Price diet that is both nourisihing and satisfying. Part of sugar addiction that the body still needs nourishment, regardless of how many emply calories we consume. Saturated fats are a slow to digest and dampen blood sugar fluctuations, which cause food cravings. And if the fat comes plants (especially coconut and palm trees) or from pasture-fed animals, then it is highly highly nourishing. Saturated fat and dietary cholesterol (eggs) are only weakly related cholesterol and heart disease. Wheat, on the other hand, is treacherous!
An excellent article and focused detail. However the root cause of government statements is not out of any concern for people’s health – the comments about personnel control – all part of the spin to build a case for their true objective, which has recently revealed itself in the satellite “see how it goes” method:-
Takeaway outlets could be faced with a £1,000 ‘fat tax’ in a bid to help tackle the UK’s ever rising obesity levels.Oldham council in Manchester cooked up the idea after discovering that one in four children living in the borough are obese.read more: http://www.tntmagazine.com/tnt-today/archive/2011/02/02/takeaway-food-faces-fat-tax.aspx#ixzz1D5EG7nX6
The “see how it goes method” is to have a “councillor” in a local area, propose a scheme and beat the drum about the necessity of it and how to curtail it with “a tax” – another stealth tax on what people spend lots of their “already heavily taxed” money on under the guise of “we are doing it for your benefit, and to save you money in the long run as it will say health costs due to obesity and its ailments. If this gets implemented and there is no great fuss, it gets adopted by more local authorities and then the government introduces a national ruling and bish bash nosh we have another tax that can be regularly increased on the basis that it is for our health and the more tax i.e. costly it is it will deter people from buying it – yep the same as cigarettes, alcohol, petrol [the more it cost the less people will use their cars] so another marvellous opportunity/causation for a stealth tax is the so called “fat tax”
They do not STOP the manufacturer of the food to STOP the stealth processes of making the food addictive etc., etc., which Dr Hymans article highlight – can’t do that as it is mega business the companies are too influential for any government to subdue and of course they all get their “share” of the spoils.
This is the set up of the “Legal” Mafioso of modern day and any move to dent their business is put to the power of their political clout and massive information black ops in all media areas – into action.
It really is a heinous situation and we the masses are the cattle of profit and taxation, and not the spin of those “Mafioso” about concerns for the masses health or well being only the fodder…….I could rant and rave also about the Pharmaceutical, Chemical, Power & Utilities, Oil & Gas………..so on and so forth, who also adopt the control of the masses methodology to generate ever increasing profit margins – but what use is it, as no one listens until forced to and that my friends will be when it is too late.
I loved this article and believe every word in it Dr. Hyman.
I have said for years that I am addicted to Doritos—I have constantly mentioned to my husband that every time I buy a bag, I cannot just eat a small portion. I am not satisfied until the entire bag is gone and I am the only one eating the Doritos. This has been going on for years.
Two years ago I decided that I cannot keep them in our home and I know that if I were to buy them for the Super Bowl tomorrow, they’d be gone before the game is over!!!
I truly believe that most of our processed foods are addictive and are killing us.
Thanks for your attention and detail to this very important subject!
I love your website. The facts are always laid out straight forward.
Another site that is great is NaturalNews.com or Natural New.TV
Great article, thank you for the information.
Personal responsibility is not in conflict with the idea of appropriate government. You make the very good point that we do not have the information to make informed choices. Food labeling laws are definitely part of the function of government, as is informing its citizens of any dangers in their environment… and addictive foods are a danger.
Raising the price of junk food while at the same time subsidizing the ingredients is an obvious joke. Don’t subsidize! The argument that the incidental harm to health should be included in the price is discriminatory unless you do it for all items, including cars, road tar, pesticides, mercury containing fluorescent lights, fluoride tooth paste, batteries, etc.
Are hydrogenated chocolate bars and cheap hydrogenated chocolate Easter bunnies part of your vision for foods that harm thus need to be taxed extra? How about high fructose fruit? Or plain old flour? For that matter, if you remove all cheap food from a poor person’s diet, what remains? Dried beans and potatoes?
The answer is in education and disclosure and appropriate subsidy. This is compatible with the proper mix of government responsibility (labeling, educating, informing, financing alternatives) and personal responsibility.
You do seem to blame everyone but the personal responsibility involved in the decision to eat junk food. If I want to eat a bag of chips, I should be able to do so. If that causes me to be fat and then need more health care, paying for that is not my neighbors responsibility. It comes down to education and responsibility. If people would stay in school and actually get an education they might learn some of this. Its not the governments responsibility to control what foods we have access to.I agree that nutritional foods should be accessible to all but the person has some responsibility in the matter. All stores carry fruits and vegetables. Our education system already teaches about these items. Perhaps that could be improved. If no one ate the bad stuff, it wouldn’t be here. So who’s to blame. If you look at a fat kid, more than likely their parents are overweight. And all those countries that control what ‘choice’ people have are not the US for good reasons.
This ought to be required reading for everyone. People need to know the truth. You are right on and we have to stop this insanity and trend. Thank you for sharing your wisdom and your commitment to helping people regain their health.
Dr Hyman, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for holding up the truth as to why we have the epidemic of childhood diabetes and all other childhood diseases. We definitely are what we eat and it takes people like you who have the education and clout to make the powers that be sit up and take notice. I believe because of Doctors like you who have changed the way they look at illness we now have a chance.
It is important for the public to hear from Doctors that we need to make our health a personal responsibility and stop just handing over our money mindlessly to foods and drugs that are actually making our bodies sick and in many instances causing unnecessary deaths. I know this route you have chosen is not an easy one, it was not too many years ago that Doctors were thrown in prison to rot for standing up against the government, however it is possibly the most important of all messages we need to hear.
Kudos and thanks to you and all Doctors who are walking this path!
Thank you so much for shedding light on this problem. I don’t think many people think to frame it as an addiction- it is much easier to deal with when you know the strong forces you are fighting against. I am thin and in shape, but I struggle with sugar addiction occasionally. If I eat any sugar at all, I then crave it in a really strong way for days afterward. I know how hard it is to fight it and I hope this article gets circulated across America! Thank you.
Thank you so much for this article. It certainly supports what I have been seeing clinically and personally. I would like to hear more about managing the emotional component as well.
Last June, I decided to do the week-long UltraSimple Diet, as a short detox. I did not intend to stop drinking my diet sodas, as I didn’t believe it was possible for me to do so. But the day I started, I didn’t want a soda. By the end of the week, I discovered that all of my food craving were gone. I went from wanting fast food and soda every day, to not needing it at all.
I think the key for me was the flax. I have had the shakes every day since, and my cravings have not come back. The difference is amazing. Thank you!
LOVE THIS ARTICLE! So true!! Wake up People, we are not only being fed, poor food choices, but being lied to by these food manufacturers, for their profit, who in their right mind would spend their hard earned dollars on junk food that will eventually give them heart attacks, cancer and eventually destroy their own body, just for taste and addiction that they the person can not even control??? Is this mad science evils lashed out from corporations that have our grocery food isles filled with chemicals inserted into foods, just for their own greed, what happened to moral conscienceness???????????????????????????????????? Personally, I’m an organic vegan who once was addicted to, but juicing turned it all around for me, now no more cravings, no more junk food in house,,,,,,,back to self substance people, take your life back into your own hands please for you family’s sake and for the future, plant your own food!
UCTV had a great presentation on a food addiction rat study. Rats that had a “History of deprivation” (read DIET) coupled with stress caused binging behavior and obesity and affected all future food choices that rats made when given the opportunity … example placed in a food environment of potato chips and cookies along side healthy food choices….the HD and stressed rats 1. ate significantly more calories and 2. ate the potato chips and cookies even though more nutritious foods were available.
Perhaps it is why the only “scientific” statement we can make regarding diets is that they always result in: 1. the weight lost being gained back and 2. more weight gained back than lost in the first place
I have battled obesity all of my life. I would love to be in a program that would produce long term results. Everything you mention is true-industrial food is deliberately addictive. I find it hard to avoid nuts-I ratioanlize they are good for me. Yes, but not in the huge quantity that I eat them. I am addicted to the fat in them. As a young person, it was sweets and fats. You mention becoming a patient. That would probably do it. But I do believe that the cost would be pro-hibitive for me. I have seen a functional MD and she gaveme wonderful supplements. She recommended hypnosis to deal with my weight problem-but that required $2000 upfront with no guarantees! Have you any suggestions for me? perhaps taking the supplements you recommend but again it have to be under the guidance of your nutritionist.
Thank you, Gloria, for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. Your question and constellation of symptoms represents a complex medical condition. Questions regarding conditions like these cannot be answered in a responsible manner via the Internet.
If you would like information on becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center please see “How to Become a Patient” at http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com. That site is designed to give prospective patients a comprehensive source of information about The UltraWellness Center. You may also feel free to call The UltraWellness Center at (413) 637 9991.
Regardless of becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center, it sounds like you need to consult with a doctor. Please seek medical attention for the issues that you outlined in your message.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
I have actually accomplished 1 perfect day without cravings. I could look down the ice cream aisle and have no emotion to my own addictive substance. Atkins. Couldn’t keep it up. Habits well, you know. I already take omega 3′s for cholesterol. Just can’t stay in the habit of chomping on broccoli for snacks. Anything more tasty for my sweet tooth? Thanks so much Dr. Hyman for all you do. I do have the chronic fatigue. Normally I’m an up person, but do have sensitivity to stress. I also understand the drug analogy. I know I’m not to blame even though I’m being bombarded by society and at least one family member who says, “just don’t do it”. I don’t hold him responsible for that attitude. I just want to make the change. I’ve cholesterol issues, psych meds and realize I’m not doing it because I don’t want to give it up. There’s no easy way. If I could just stay on the Atkins, that seems biologically best for my system. People who want to help also have habits that don’t help me. I just sit and complain. I just want to do it without saying it and involving these people any more. Addiction is stronger than fear of death. Especially if it’s not immediate. I don’t want it to get that far. First step? Thanks!! Linda
I don’t agree that fats are addicting. Have you ever tried to eat a pint of lard or a pound of butter? SUGAR is adictive.
Great article. Too bad Congress wont even listen to any of this. Its all about the money, gotta follow the money right. Keep up the good work.
Excellent and concise article on food addiction. It is a difficult journey to acknowledge, confront and change one’s behavior when the media bombards us with food ads on radio, TV, online as banners, on social media sites to name just a few sources. Every time I see an ad for chocolate, my mouth waters, because I have this major addiction to luscious chocolate. Talk about the Pavlovian-type conditioning response in action! I can by-pass garbage foods like the burgers, tacos, etc. but when those delectable ads on seafood appear, I am sooo gone.
It is definitely a struggle and it won’t get any better with a weak “inner governor” that seems to despise the word “NO!”. Still, addictions can be dealt with, the question is whether or not the struggle can be mastered.
This is a great message! It’s true! You don’t binge on Apples, salad green, ect you go crazy over the cookies, chips , ect–the junk that is pure sugar! Oh but chips aren’t sugar ! But it is a pure refined starch that your body converts to sugar. I gave up alcohol over 30 years ago, now it’s time to give up those refined sugars and starches! Hope I’m up to the task!
Dr. Hyman you are so great! Thanks for the enlightening article.
Glucomannan fiber is very helpful to reduce the spikes in sugar and insulin that drive cravings and hunger.
Love this article. Processed foods are highly addictive.
The 2 year old obese child can’t be blamed but the person feeding the child can be blamed for feeding highly addictive foods.
But…I am the person who can binge on broccoli, apples, spinach etc. Addiction and binging is simple yet complex. There are many reasons I can binge on high quality food. I think some of it is obsessive compulsive behaviour. Sometimes it is just looking for something to soothe the addictive behaviour and viola! Out comes some beautiful fresh and steamed broccoli, expensive chedder cheese, a little bit of high quality cream, seasonings and then a huge casserole dish of broccoli and chedder. I could substitute spinach but spinach by itself is good too. I can binge on wonderfully “healthy” foods as well as processed foods.
Food addictions and obsessive compulsive eating can walk hand in hand or seperately. Simple but complex. Certainly not completely understood.
Great advice, Dr. Hyman! I’m already cutting down my sugar intake to almost zero (tough to do!) and I can feel the improvement.
Once again Dr. Hyman, thank you for your intelligent voice in the cacophony of misinformation and unthoughtful noise that dominates our cultural landscape. Handing an obese person a generic list of exercises to do and some foods to avoid is NOT helping them overcome their problem but is the typical response of the medical industry to this serious disability. So much of medicine in the USA is now structured inside a generic response that taking the time to really help a person understand their illness then define and maintain a pathway towards health is completely out of fashion and rarely seen. The health industry is not helping people often but harming them with the illusion that a quick fix is possible. I’ve been the victim of this paradigm and I know many others have too.
Just want to say, Goooooooooooooooooood job!
I think you are REALLY wrong when you say that people are not responsible for getting fat. You cited a two year old getting fat is not to be blamed and you are correct, but how about the person feeding the the junk? I believe that obesity can happen in 2 ways 1. socially and 2. through chemical imbalance in people who have other deformities and their medications given them by doctors.
If this the case then how do you account for those who just get fat because all they eat is fast food, processed food and they overeat on top of that? I am sure you are good doctor but YOU are WRONG when it comes to this. You just want to tickle people’s ears to sell your stuff.
You also keep contradicting yourself when it comes to whether humans evolved or designed by a highly intelligent being. We either evolved by chance or were created. I get confused when the types of you talk about the complexity of the human body and at the same time believe in the haphazard theory of evolution.
NOTICE: In everyday life the most simplest of devices are created by somebody. Take a watch for example, just take all the parts out and disassemble it and put them in a can and shake them to see whether they will come together and form a watch?
You and your colleague’s myopic view when it comes to the human body sad and dangerous and that’s why MANY in the world today are dying because you and your so called scientists refuse to accept the fact that you are accountable to a higher being.
There are many things about the human body that all of you scientists have missed because you keep advocating self healing when you don’t even belief that there is a creator. ACCEPT that the human body is wonderfully and complexly made..for example explain why a haphazard evolved body can contain trillions of living organisms, cells that renew and repair themselves, a brain that is more powerful than any super-computer ever created, a network of veins and arteries that pump blood to keep our organ alive…PLEASE OPEN YOUR EYES AND SEE THE REAL WORLD. EVOLUTION IS DEAD and if you are true to yourself you would not use evolution and complex in the same paragraph when writing about the human body because EVOLUTION=HAPHAZARD and CREATION=intelligent design (Notice one of the most scientific theories CAUSE and EFFECT) so what caused Evolution to take place? If you can answer this question let me know
Thank you for writing about food addictions.
sulphoiric amino acid creates havoc in my boy. I’m sad because it was my main food for a long time. It is which is contained most healthy foods like rice, fish, oranges, lemons, sun flower seeds, peppers, etc. I have been told to eat meat 2 times a day (4oz), but I think fish is helathier.
It was diagnosed by looking at my blood. I’m taking L-serine 3x a day and it helps to keep my stool a little soft. I have dry eyes and dry skin and problem with keeping water where I need it
What could be the cause? What would I have to do to find out?
I am a physician in Los Angeles and want to get involved with the school system, teaching kids and their parents how to make healthier food choices, especially in poorer neighborhoods. Even with knowledge and a passion to make change, having access to the system can be difficult.
Dr. Hyman,
Great article on the “real” cause of the obesity epidemic. As a nutrition and integrative health coach, I find the most difficult hurdle to helping people lose weight and maintain a healthy weight is food addiction. I wrote an article about food addiction 8 years ago, before the science really was unfolding. And I included something you don’t really discuss in your article- artificial food additives. We know that excessive sugar, fat and salt are problematic, but I think the biggest change in the food supply that is creating more health and weight issues, is the addition of artificial food additives. Chemicals such as MSG, artificial sweeteners, trans fats, and HFCS are the real culprits behind our recent weight gain. If we could cleanse our palates of these concentrated flavors, it could go a long way in reprogramming our appetite and reward centers.
I am also the president of a group called MOMS-INC, moms improving nutrition for children. We work with local schools to educate them and help them improve their food programs. We created a term called the “Fake 5″ which includes these artificial additives. We found this very helpful rather than demonize any real food, we explain how we need to eliminate these additives and use more natural, wholesome foods. It really helps.
We would love to have someone like yourself represent us or back our efforts. Please let me know if you would be interested in talking to us about what we do and what ideas you have to help further our efforts. Thanks for providing all the wonderful and honest information you consistently present.
Be Well,
Robin Ingersoll
Thank you so much for this so valuable information.
Kind Regards,
Valentina
Love to eat sweet food, high quantity of heat, so the things that bring about get fat rate increases, and the life of ease, a large quantity of beer, it is the reason that cause get fat!!!!!
Suggestions, exercise more, eat less high quantity of heat, and something sweet things.
In here, I wish you all good health!
Thanks for posting this..i really love this
For anyone who is SUGAR ADDICTED, try what I did. It is working for me. http://www.foodaddicts.org/
Ps. Excellent article!!!
Thanks for the very interesting article. I definitely agree that a main cause of American’s health problems is our addiction to food, especially sugar. I can say from painful personal experience how alike an eating disorder and alcoholism really are. I am a recovering compulsive eater and dieter, as well as an alcoholic, and the only thing that helped me was actually treating this disease like the addiction it is. I tried addressing it through psychotherapy, diets, the entire Geneen Roth canon, hypnotherapy, etc, but the only thing that has worked for me is Overeaters Anonymous. This is an amazing 12-step program that functions like AA for people with food addiction, body image issues, and diet or exercise obsessions. I have regularly met people in meetings who have lost over 100 lbs by working the OA program or are recovering from serious anorexia and/or bulimia. I can’t recommend this program enough. I am now at a healthy weight that I maintain consistently and without effort, and I have a lot of relief from obsession with food and my body. I find in the program the support that I need to use food as fuel rather than a drug. I have also been to FA, as an earlier contributor suggested, which also seems like it would be helpful, but I personally prefer OA, as it is a very gentle and flexible program and members can create more of an individualized plan.
http://www.oa.org/meetings/find-a-meeting.php
Some time ago I was listening to a podcast about Obesity and it mentioned that the only example of any social or government program being successful in reducing obesity was the case of some government in one of the Scandinavian countries where they instituted a program which would reward food producers who produced healthy foods. This was several decades ago and it only lasted for about a decade or so if I recall correctly. Anyway significant, clearly measurable reductions in obesity resulted. Does anyone know which country this was and when it was done?
Today there’s a big hue and cry about “getting government off our backs” but to me it’s quite clear that government must intervene here. The producers of food are motivated by profit and the fact of the matter is that in a free market there’s more money to be made producing food that is higher in fat, sodium and sugar and lower in protein and fiber …a perfect prescription for obesity. Government can and government must intervene if we are ever to get out of this cycle. Government must reward producers of quality food (and possibly penalize the producers of junk food) because the “free market” clearly does not work when it comes to food.
Even if it is addictive, it is still up to the individual to use some sort of self control. People beat their addictions all the time, drinking smoking etc. No one forces people to eat food, if you have a problem and would like to quit, swap certain foods for a healthy alternative, and build up from there.
I’ve never heard of anyone blaming a 2-year-old for being fat. A 2-year-old has no choice, but his mother and his father do and they certainly aren’t dealing with an addiction if they are feeding the food to someone else (the child). Those parents are making choices about what they feed their child. Addiction isn’t the cause. It may be a factor, but it is nothing compared to lack of proper food education, conflicting guidelines, artificially cheap food due to irresponsible government subsidies, lack of media literacy with regard to food advertising and product labels, and so much more.
Thank you. I have long known my response to food was similar to that of an alcoholics response to alcohol and your article helped me understand why. It was a voice in the crowd telling me that it is NOT all in my head, while everyone else is shouting that it is. You are doing good work. Again, thank you.