Why the Diet Industry Wants to Keep You Addicted

There is an abundance of addictive substances in every supermarket and most local shops. Not alcohol or cigarettes, although they are bad enough, but the actual 'food' we eat. Every bit of processed food contains substances to which we are addicted because of the way we evolved. Foods such as TV dinners, ready meals, canned foods, snacks, candy, ice-cream, fizzy drinks all contain this stuff. Sugar, artificial sweeteners, MSG - the list goes on. The processed food manufacturers feed our addiction and feed their bottom line.

French scientist have recently discovered that the sweet taste of sugar and artificial sweeteners is more addictive than cocaine. Further research may prove that other flavors are just as addictive. Why should this be? The clue is in our genes. To our ancestors a sweet food such as honey was a high energy source and much sought after. High nutritional value was to be found in foods with a high flavor. Salt was scarce, but essential to life. Pleasurable reactions evolved, which ensured that we always found the best nutrition in our surroundings. Those reactions are so strong because they were vital to life, but are used against by food manufacturers toady. Those manufacturers load their 'foods' with sweet taste, salt and flavor enhancers to make us eat more.

In recent years massive industries have grown up around the hype of low fat, anti-cholesterol, low sugar and so on. In the quest for profit, inadequately tested chemicals are now used as additives in our food to make unpalatable rubbish taste good. A bean, previously rejected as a food because it is poisonous, is now the number one 'health' food - even though it is recognised to be carcinogenic and the processing cannot remove all the poison. Margarine, more akin to plastic than real food, has been hyped and marketed as a healthy alternative to butter - the profit margins make that easy.

The major food companies work hand in hand with the drug companies, whose products are just as loosely regulated and where safety comes a poor second to profit. If we get fat or ill from eating something our bodies were never built to tackle, the drugs companies step in with a 'cure' for the symptoms that is likely to make us even worse. It's bad for business if we're not ill.

The obesity epidemic we are now seeing is a direct result of the prevalence of processed food. The average American family spends 90% of their budget on it. Because our genes make us addicted to taste, we become easy targets for the food marketers. Unfortunately (fortunately for them), having eaten a calorie laden, tasty ready meal, we soon need another because the nutritional value is so low. The result is that we eat far more calories than we need.

Just the same as Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is to recognise that you are addicted. Are there some foods you just can't resist? The fact is that we are all addicted to some degree - it's part of our make-up. The Caveman Diet is not just about losing weight - any diet can do that. It's about adopting a healthier lifestyle and choosing to eat naturally produced food and changing your lifestyle. This life is the only one you have - better make the most of it.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Are there some things you are addicted to? Do you have an issue around food? The Caveman Diet can solve your diet addiction. Stuart Hill is the author of the Caveman Diet and other lifestyle websites. He lives in Shetland, UK.

Please Rate this Article

5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5 

Not yet Rated