Chocolate vs. Cocaine: Can Foods Really Be Addictive?
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Can food actually be addictive, similar to drugs? Uwe Knop, evidence-focused nutritionist, answers this question. He explains the difference between the enjoyment of food and the effect of drugs on our brain and psyche.
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Can food actually be addictive, similar to drugs like cocaine or heroin?
Absolutely clear: no. There is a huge difference whether we are talking about food, i.e. the means of life, or about psychotropic substances, i.e. drugs that have a direct effect on our brain and primarily on the psyche. Foods and individual nutrients such as sugar, salt or fat are neither individually nor in mixed form nutrients with addictive potential.
Foods that are high in fat and sugar taste particularly delicious because they provide vital energy. Therefore, they are often preferred. But this is in no way an addiction like real psychotropic drugs.
Anyone who claims that “food is addictive like drugs” can simply voluntarily undergo a personal comparison test (of course only at their own risk, this is not a request): Chocolate vs. cocaine. Hot fries vs. heroin, Kristallzucker vs. Crystal Meth – and then please give an honest opinion again as to whether he sticks to his claim, because there are no real, reliable comparative studies to date. And there never will be. Nobody needs them either.
About the expert Uwe Knop
Uwe Knop, born in 1972, is a qualified nutritionist, author, and speaker for lectures at professional associations, companies and at medical training courses. His book “Successfully lose weight and stay slim” was published by Springer-Verlag.
Which foods have the highest “addictive potential” and why?
Basically and in terms of evolutionary biology, the foods that produce the greatest desire are those that taste best when you are really hungry and that you tolerate very well. And that’s exactly what you should eat. Only such a “native-organic food addiction” – in the broadest metaphorical sense – enables a healthy diet for a healthy life.
Because: Only what you really like and what your digestive tract can process really well, which means you can tolerate it wonderfully, is only healthy food for the individual.
Book recommendation (advertisement)
“Successfully lose weight and stay slim” by Uwe Knop
Are there effective strategies to combat addiction to certain foods?
If you develop the feeling that you are eating too much of certain foods, feel increasingly uncomfortable or even sick and have physical problems, then you should find out the reason for this excessive overeating: Is it hunger-free eating for emotional reasons, to feed the soul and to comfort, for example to “appease” sadness, fear or boredom?
This emotional eating can contribute to obesity and illness over time. So if you feel uncomfortable, you should take action. Occasional “emotional eating”, on the other hand, certainly doesn’t require any “intervention”, it always happens.
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How is “addiction” to food different from addiction to drugs like cocaine or heroin?
There is no real addiction to food. Hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin, on the other hand, can be not only psychologically but also physically addictive – it often requires withdrawal to get rid of them. But this real addiction is always individual and depends on numerous factors.
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