Remember when the standard diet advice was a simple equation about calories in and calories out? In fact the equation was simplified down to eating less and exercising more. When I was writing my book, Is Your Lifestyle Killing You?, I received some “advice” that talking about food addiction and emotional eating was not part of the obesity solution since all calories are equal. I disagree!
Here is the bottom line –
The food industry is a multi billion dollar industry and they intentionally hook us (and our children) on addictive, hyper-processed, hyper-palatable “food-like” substances that have hijacked our taste buds, hormones, brain chemistry and metabolism. Sugar calories act differently than fat or protein calories in the body. Sugar calories drive food addiction, storage of belly fat, inflammation, fatty liver (which has now replaced hepatitis as the number one reason for liver transplant). They also disrupt appetite control, increasing hunger and promoting overeating, and are biologically addictive.
The scientific verdict is in:
Sugar, flour and processed foods are highly biologically addictive. In fact, sugar has proven to be eight times more addictive than cocaine.
