Food Addiction: How to Naturally Reduce Our Cravings for Unhealthy Foods
The most challenging aspect to abide by when it comes to optimum health is nutrition. Eating clean & healthy is more difficult in this era of over-indulgence than sleeping well, and working out. In part because of the super tempting nature of hyper-palatable foods. Salt, sugar, fat, and artificial flavors are ingredients abundant in these highly addictive foods. One could say, it’s mainly because of the convenience of saving time & money compared to shopping for “less filling” organic, premium foods at Whole Foods to making a quick pit stop by a McDonald’s drive-thru to pick up fast food for cheap.
But the reality is… that’s not why people regularly crave fast food. Convenience just makes it easy to get it often. The reason why they crave it so often is because fast food is engineered to be addictive. I personally have been a victim. Eating Chick-fil-A twice or thrice a week became alarming when I found out my beloved chicken sandwich — that I considered “gains” after a workout — contains monosodium glutamate (MSG) and sodium aluminum phosphate. In other words, flavor-enhancing food additives.
The issue of food addiction is a complex one. Unlike with gambling, drug abuse, porn, and other addictions, we have to eat. There’s growing evidence that binge eating problems might be linked to eating habits that resemble addiction. While the neuroscientific case is less wrong than incomplete. One can argue that studying the behavior of food corporations and their advertisers is just as critical as examining PET scans and naltrexone trials. These companies are key players in what David T. Courtwright calls “limbic capitalism” in his 2019 book The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business, the concept of limbic capitalism revolves around big corporations and how they design, produce, market, and globally distribute goods and services that initially trigger intense brain reward and cultivate destructive habits in consumers.
Big Food now resembles Big Tobacco, including off-the-record meetings of executives anxious that they would be sued over the health effects of their products.
In both the legal system and public opinion, the focus has been on convenience foods loaded with sugar, fat, and salt. Renowned chef Wolfgang Puck pointed out that these three ingredients are at the heart of overeating. Sugar, in particular, has a drug-like effect. When rats addicted to sugar were given naxolone, a drug that blocks opioids, they went into withdrawal symptoms. Our innate preference for sweets, potentially influenced by maternal diets and reinforced by early exposure to sugary products, further drives this addiction.
Fat complements the taste of sugar perfectly (hence why glazed donuts are hyper-platable) and helps mask the large amounts of fat content in these foods. Salt enhances sweetness and masks undesirable tastes like bitterness, also acting as a natural preservative. Artificial ingredients improve freshness, texture, color, and taste.
Food companies have elevated the science of blending ingredients to a corporate level, making it as systematic as their production, manufacturing, distribution, and marketing methods. Critics like David Kessler blamed these practices for global obesity, but industry insiders viewed them as necessary for market growth and corporate survival, as behemoths like Nestlé and Kraft devoured venerable confectioners.
David T. Courtwright has a strong argument that the real issue lies in the system — oligopolistic limbic capitalism — that promotes hyper-palatable foods rather than the engineers who design them. These engineers, versed in chemistry, biology, and mathematics, strive to improve products and solve problems. They use algorithms and mathematical models to determine the best ingredient combinations to achieve maximum palatability at minimal cost. What blows my mind is that by the 1980s, only one in ten experimental food products made it to the market, forget about Big Tobacco… Big Food is more like Big Pharma, coincidentally enough, the pharmaceutical industry had a similar rate.
The best example of how food scientists aim to make tasty foods even more appealing, cheaper, and faster, is the revolution of the potato, which changed from a homemade treat to a readily available, affordable snack due to post-war automation, large-scale potato farming, and time-saving conveniences like vending machines and fast-food franchises. Then potato chips even got commercialized as potato dust chips as is the case with Pringles.
Set and setting influence our perception of food-drugs, as coffee tastes more intense in white mugs and sodas are sweeter in red cans. These factors also play a role in product-line extensions tailored to specific cultures’ preferences.
Creating the right food formula doesn’t guarantee success; competition remains tough. Advertisers play a crucial role, using tactics like product placement and commercials to create food porn that triggers a neurological response similar to that of pornography. This approach is highly effective in our media-saturated world.
Professional food porn aimed at children is particularly controversial. Kids recognize logos and establish brand loyalty from early in life, with breakfast cereal makers spending more on advertising to children than on ingredients. This strategy was employed by the tobacco and alcohol industries as well, targeting young consumers and fostering loyalty.
American advertising tactics, including psychological profiling and consumer surveys, were exported worldwide. David T. Courtwright explains how post-war Europe saw the rise of snack bars and televisions, challenging traditional norms by serving American products like Coca-Cola and hamburgers. Advertising became a global force, with multinational food companies investing heavily in developing countries. Nestlé, for instance, utilized Brazilian vendors in the favelas to market its products.
Food marketers navigated religious and dietary differences in their global expansion efforts. McDonald’s, for example, adapted its menu in India to accommodate Hindu beliefs and vegetarian preferences. The adaptability of fast-food chains showcased the power of globalization.
However, this business rationality gave rise to social irrationality, leading to collective harms and costs borne by society. The concept of “McDonaldization” spread, transforming ordinary products and services into unhealthy habits. The fast-food industry, in particular, came under scrutiny for its contribution to diseases, environmental degradation, and animal suffering.
Compulsive overeating is prevalent, with studies using validated research instruments indicating that at least one in four obese adults meets the criteria for food addiction. This addiction has become a significant aspect of the human condition, affecting millions worldwide.
In conclusion, the issue of food addiction is not solely a matter of individual choices but is deeply intertwined with the practices of the food industry and advertising. Understanding and addressing this complex problem requires a comprehensive approach that considers both the neurological aspects and the systemic factors at play.
One of the physiological aspects at play is the function/dysfunction of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) as research shows how the endocannabinoid system (plays a role in various physiological processes related to obesity, including energy balance, metabolism, food intake, and fat accumulation. This scientific resource also highlights the potential link between ECS overactivity and obesity. Additionally, the article highlights the significance of investigating the effect of food additives on genetic factors and the urgent need for new targets and therapies to address obesity, and ECS modulation, a global issue affecting people of all ages.
It is my duty as a self-educated “endocannabinologist” (a term coined by Dr. Rachel Knox to refer to the students of this emerging science) to share with the world how one of these “urgent new targets and therapies to address obesity and food addiction/compulsive eating” is the incorporation of CBD (cannabidiol) and other non-psychotropic phytocannabinoids such as CBG and THCV that are powerful natural anti-inflammatory compounds that regulate blood sugar, increase metabolism and reduce anxiety by regulating our mood and hence why it reduces cravings. There is no doubt that Big Food is extremely correlated to Big Pharma. Dr. Rachel Knox acknowledges how the vicious cycle of unhealthy nutrition leads to getting sick, which leads to medication that further enhances the dependence of individuals on addictive compounds.
CBD, however, is not addictive and does not create any form of physiological or neurological dependence, unlike THC, another phytocannabinoid abundant in the plant of cannabis that actually stimulates ghrelin to make people intoxicated with this compound hungrier. Contrary to THC, CBD has proven to reduce food intake and also remedies the psychotropic effects of THC that often lead to impairment that induces panic in inexperienced consumers.
For more information about CBD, the endocannabinoid system, and other cannabinoids for weight loss, abstinence from addictive substances, such as fast food, drugs, and more. Visit https://medium.com/@maxgutcarr and read my other short stories to get a deeper understanding of endocannabinology. Feel free to email me for any questions and collaborations at max@greendrophealth.info
Last but not least, thank you for your interest in finding a solution to the growing issue of food addiction.