The science of food addiction is very real, if so far understudied.
We pretty much have these 6 foods on our favourite top 10 list.
Well, lets break it down for you because you just might have a rethink after this.
What
we do know is that some people’s brains chemically react to certain
foods in the same way a crack addict’s lights up when he or she sees
their favourite addiction.
“It’s been demonstrated
that the reward centers of the brain get activated in response to the
anticipation of eating a highly rewarding food,” says Jenny Arussi, MS, RD, an expert in unhealthy eating habits.
“And
when the food is actually consumed, different parts of the brain are
not optimally activated, causing a difficulty feeling satiated and a
loss of control over eating.”
For some people, there may also a psychological element; what’s known as emotional eating.
“Consuming
certain ‘comfort’ food triggers the release of the hormone serotonin,
which creates a happy feeling, and a part of you becomes conditioned to
linking eating with happiness,” says clinical psychologist Karin Schwartz, PsyD.
“As
you rely on eating to dispel negative emotions and induce positive
ones, you become dependent on food to make you feel happy.”
The
most addictive foods, listed next, have a couple things in common: They
tend to contain refined carbohydrates like white sugar and white flour
and fat.
Just as not everyone who tries heroin will become a junkie, some people can control themselves around an unattended sheet cake.
“It
may be that individuals who consume food in an addictive manner find
the blood sugar spike from the refined carbs more rewarding than those
who don't report addictive-like eating,” says Erica M. Schulte, M.S., a doctoral student at the University of Michigan and lead author of a recent study on food addiction.
Without further ado, find the most irresistible edibles in gallery.
Think you're addicted yet?
See more below....