How many of us joke about the ‘food we can’t give up?’
Now, how many of us actually can’t give up certain foods?
I’ll tell you: approximately one in five people.
And if that’s you, I want you to know it isn’t your fault.
This is food addiction propagated by giant food corporations.
But is food addiction real?
The answer is yes.
Although you won’t receive a formal diagnosis.
The medical field doesn’t consider food addiction a form of clinical substance abuse, but mounting evidence suggests this is an under simplification — because ultra-processed foods are very much ‘substances.’
Let’s look at the facts:
- Ultra-processed foods have three basic components: vegetable or seed oils, sugar, and/or refined carbohydrates. They’re also unhealthy additives such as food dyes, fake sugars, and artificial flavors.
- The high carb count of processed food will spike your glucose and increase insulin resistance. This leads to inflammation and eventual crashes, which makes you hungry again a few hours after you eat.
- This traps you in a vicious cycle of snacking on foods that make you more addicted. You literally can’t stop eating — and if you do, you’ll experience physical side effects. Headaches, irritability, and an inability to concentrate are a few of the most common.
Food addiction is more common than you’d think.
A meta-analysis estimated that 20% of the world struggles with food addiction. I’m willing to bet this is a low number.
The younger you are, the worse it gets. If you’re an American over the age of 50, there’s a 12.5% chance you’re struggling with a food addiction. In contrast, 23% of children under 18 are addicted to some kind of food.
Of course, not everyone is willing to admit the facts. Some people say you can’t get addicted to food since it’s a basic substance necessary for survival. But processed foods aren’t necessary for any diet.
And as research shows, the foods people are most likely to be addicted to are ultra-processed foods.
The most common of these include:
- Cake
- Cheeseburgers
- Chips
- Chocolate
- Cookies
- French fries
- Ice creams
- Pizza
Foods like this are high in unhealthy fats and carbohydrates, which are difficult to find in nature. But they’re incredibly easy to find on our grocery store shelves — and they’re scientifically associated with parts of the brain that are activated by addictive drugs.
Interestingly, people with binge eating disorders exclusively eat processed foods. It’s fairly unlikely you’ll find someone binging kale, for example.
The rabbit hole goes deeper. Recent studies have alarming evidence showing just how much processed foods resemble addictive drugs.
Rats, for example, will choose sugar over cocaine when given the option. They’ll voluntarily administer an electric shock to themselves for a taste.
For humans, snacking on processed food throughout the day rewires reward and pleasure centers. Some scientists have gone as far as to classify highly processed foods as addictive substances.
To summarize all this: being addicted to food is a very real thing.
And recognizing your behavior as food addiction is the first step toward treating it.
Are you addicted to food?
Admitting to having an addiction is hard — especially when giant food conglomerates are fighting to deny its existence.
But even if you don’t think you’re struggling with addiction, it would benefit you to look closer.
You may be addicted to food if:
- You experience mood or behavioral changes when skipping a food or routine (like eating ice cream before bed).
- You obsess over eating specific foods. By obsession, I mean thinking about it to the point of neglecting other duties, even work.
- Emotional swings make you crave certain foods. Strong feelings like anger, sadness, or guilt may get you searching for a snack.
- You tend to eat certain foods in secret. I’m not talking about hiding your favorite chocolates from the kids — this is a food you can’t moderate or share with others.
You should know that obesity is not a factor in food addiction. Most people struggling with food addiction maintain a healthy weight, so you can’t look at your BMI as an indicator of addiction.
FoodAddicts.org has an online quiz you can use to self-evaluate your condition.
But again, this only works if you’re honest with yourself.
If you have an unhealthy relationship with food, you likely have a food addiction.
How to beat a food addiction
I was a food addict in every sense of the word.
Back in 2014, you would catch me sneaking my drug of choice: carbohydrates (like the fair food I was caught eating here):
If I can beat food addiction, you can too.
Here’s what I did to reclaim my agency.
Eat whole, real food
These are foods that come from the ground or eat things that grow on the ground.
I’m willing to bet you won’t have ‘withdrawals’ from boiled eggs, or have a severe craving for carrots and celery. Maybe you would if you were metabolically healthy, but even then, you’re unlikely to have addictive cravings for whole, real food.
By the way: you don’t have to go cold turkey on processed foods. This approach doesn’t work for everyone, and in some cases, can make things worse.
You can continue eating the foods you crave for a time — just make a point to eat less every day/week/month.
Some people find success by not eating past a certain time. Others consume one fewer drink or serving of food per day.
If you can’t do this, cold turkey may be an option. Just be sure to avoid your trigger foods.
Avoid trigger food
A trigger food is any item or flavor profile that triggers addictive behaviors. This could be chocolate, or candy, or Doritos. Anything that causes you to lose control.
The specific food depends on your preferences, but do your best to avoid commonly addictive foods. Get those sugary chocolates out of your pantry and stop buying frozen pizzas and ice cream.
If possible, you should take an additive rather than subtractive approach. Eating a slab of beef instead of a cupcake will help you feel less deprived during the transition.
And be on the lookout for addiction transference: this happens when you give up one addiction and it transfers to another substance. Cutting processed foods may help your addiction for a time, but it may create an addiction to a similarly processed alternative like alcohol (which yes, classifies as an ultra-processed food).
Working with a doctor who gets it would be helpful here.
Find community
There is quite a bit of sponsored research proposing that food addiction isn’t real. With so many conflicts of interest out there, it’s hard to know who (or what) to trust.
That’s why I encourage clients to connect with a community. It doesn’t just provide motivation and encouragement — it’s clinically proven to help with addiction recovery.
If you’re looking for this kind of community, my Elite Coaching Membership is a great place to start. This is a group of like-minded individuals who can help on your journey to better metabolic health.