YOU May Be an Addict

You say, "What, me? I don’t use drugs," but FOOD be just as addictive, and people DO get "hooked" on certain foods. Psychiatrist Ashley Gerhardt examined the links between food addiction symptoms and neural activation in 48 young women ranging from lean to obese. He found that persons with an addictive-like eating behavior seem to have greater neural activity in brain regions similar to substance dependence.
Researchers Dian Grieseland and Tom Griesel ask this question: “Why do some people react with addictive tendencies when seeing or tasting a milkshake, candy bar or bag of chips yet not have a comparable reaction with a carbohydrate like fresh fruit, for example? Does a juicy steak produce addictive tendencies?” They decided that hese addictive reactions are most likely the result of the plethora of refined foods, modern packaged foods and un-natural combinations of foods we have been increasingly exposed to over the last 40 years. Dian says, "We have no doubt that certain foods are addictive. The real question is, ‘What is it that makes these foods so addictive?’" Tom says, "These modern foods are deliberately designed to stimulate and excite our taste buds and brains. They all contain refined carbohydrates which, after becoming nutritionally neutered via processing, are often produced with refined sweeteners–both real and artificial, fats and problematic trans-fats, unnaturally high amounts of dietary omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable and manufactured oils, salt, a cornucopia of artificial chemicals, dyes and additives that make these packaged items lethal to our health and addictive to many."

"Processed food manufacturers know this and create their formulas and recipes with this in mind. They hope you will become addicted to their product. Packaged food items are the highest-profit items in a grocery store; consequently, they are allotted the most space. It is profits, not health, that drive these products, advertising and sales," says Dian. Tom adds, "Manufacturers would like us to believe that if it tastes good, it can’t be that bad. They often use marketing tricks or artificial food dyes to fool consumers into thinking that this stuff is healthier than it is."

Stick to blueberries–they actually inhibit the development of fat cells. In the meantime, your best bet for losing the fat cells you already have is Anne Strieber’s famous diet book "What I Learned from the Fat Years," now available as a download! One of the subjects she tackles in it is sweet, and after three years of diet and exercise, she managed to lose 100 pounds–and YOU can too! And switch your addiction from food, drugs or cigarettes to unknowncountry.com! It’s a bargain you can’t beat: $3.95 gets you a one-month subscription (less than a latte a WEEK!), and if you subscribe today you’ll get to hear all our great interviews just for YOU.