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Food Addiction: Myth Or Fact?

Posted: 7/6/2011

Modern, overprocessed foods are designed to excite the taste buds and promote food addiction, say the authors of a fascinating new book.

(NAPSI)—When people complain that certain foods are addictive or that they are “hooked” on them, they are usually joking—but there may be some truth to the claim.

According to a new study in Archives of General Psychiatry, a research team led by Ashley Gerhardt, M.S., MPhil., of Yale University examined links between food addiction symptoms and brain activity in 48 young women ranging from lean to obese. They found that persons with an addictivelike eating behavior seem to have greater activity in brain regions similar to those related to substance dependence. The study concluded that addictive processes may prompt eating patterns that lead to obesity.

“We have no doubt that certain foods are addictive,” says Dian Griesel, Ph.D. “The real question is, ‘What is it that makes these foods so addictive?’”

Increasingly, the scientific literature suggests that sugar consumption may be the culprit. Yet in the book “TurboCharged: Accelerate Your Fat Burning Metabolism, Get Lean Fast and Leave Diet and Exercise Rules in the Dust” (BSH, 2011), Dian and her brother, co-author Tom Griesel, point out that the human body is perfectly capable of consuming, processing and thriving on “natural” foods. It is the totally unnatural man-made products that are causing the problems.

“The rise of obesity and other modern diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, high triglycerides and hypoglycemia, to name a few—along with so-called ‘food addiction’—are all the end result of consuming too many of these ‘engineered’ modern foods in our daily diets,” say Dian and Tom.

Tom adds, “These modern foods are deliberately designed to stimulate and excite our taste buds and brains. They all contain refined carbohydrates, which, after becoming nutritionally neutered via processing, are often produced with refined sweeteners both real and artificial, fats and problematic trans-fats, unnaturally high amounts of dietary omega-6 fatty acids from vegetable and manufactured oils, salt, a cornucopia of artificial chemicals, dyes and additives that make these packaged items lethal to our health and addictive to many.”

“Processed-food manufacturers know this and create their formulas and recipes with this in mind. They hope you will become addicted to their product,” says Dian.

To buy “TurboCharged,” visit www.amazon.com/dp/1936705001.

For more information, visit www.turbocharged.us.com.

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