I Need a Category Called “Duh”
Can you eat just one?
In today’s food headlines was another big piece of news that falls under the category of “duh”. Scientists report that food can be as addictive as heroin based on a study of lab rats that revealed they would suffer painful shocks to get at high caloric snacks. And worse, once they tasted the junk food, they’d rather starve than eat the healthy stuff.
Do we really need scientists to tell us this? How many of us try to resist the junk food to fit into that slinky dress for the high school reunion but never succeed? How about those kids on the “Jamie Oliver Food Revolution” who chose the junk food over the healthy choices. And how many decades ago did we learn that with Lays Potato Chips “you can never eat just one”?
What we really need from scientists is research that shows us how to break that addiction. That would be something worth reporting in the science journals.
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5 Responses to “I Need a Category Called “Duh””
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You have to first find out something is addictive before you can figure out how to break the addiction. The pity is that unlike other drugs that you can stop taking, you have to eat food to live.
Well, true. But saying that salty food, sugary food, or other high fat food is addictive is hardly a revelation to anyone that has binged on the substance. I think less time should be spent on the discovery of the obvious, and more on helping us find a good way to overcome it.
We all seem to be drawn to the stories of “important new information” from this study or that. There is no integrity in many scientific studies. These “scientists” think up hypotheses that they know will get them meda coverage and then “program” their study to prove their commercially viable premise.
The fact that this particular conclusion does not require a study to substantiate it is just an additional insult to the intelligence of the public.
The thing about food addictions is that it’s usually a single food or type of food, not food in general – thank goodness because you DO eat food to live. I can’t eat just one potato chip, Lays or otherwise, so I rarely put them in the house. And as for chocolate if I start I’ll eat until it’s finished. And put salty and sweet together into one irrisistable package like chocolate covered prezels and I’m in big trouble! However these are not food- in- general addictions, but specific weaknesses of mine. The key for me is to avoid the temptation. If I didn’t I could easily slip from being a little overweight to outright overweight in a very short time. Does this mean I’m weak and maybe prone to other addictions? I don’t know but I’m glad I never tried drugs. Any studies out there checking this out?
I believe there are studies that show a proclivity. Even this study shows that the same addictive areas of the brain are affected as with drugs like heroin. So lay off the heavy stuff!