Episode 005: I recently saw a meme created by Dr Mark Hyman that said “sugar is 8 times more addictive than cocaine”.

It made me remember a scene from the documentary Food Matters. One of the interviewees was talking about how addictive sugar is. She made a comment along the lines of “giving kids sugar is like rolling up their sleeve and injecting them with heroin”.

This way of talking about food, particularly sugar and processed food, is becoming more common place. But is it true? Is sugar so addictive that when you have it you become powerless to its pull? Does eating fast food get you hooked like a heroin addict?

This week’s podcast is all about cravings and food addiction. It’s a topic I’m very passionate about because I think there are a lot of misconceptions around the idea. And not just with food addiction, but with drug addiction as well.

Here’s what I talk about in this podcast episode:

1:50 Why do we get cravings?

4:20 Why around a woman’s cycle cravings can intensify

5:05 The emotional side to cravings

9:30 Two ways to conceptualise food issues and behaviours

16:00 Understanding drug addiction and the war on drugs

17:05 How addictive are drugs?

22:00 How do environmental factors affect addiction?

24:15 What things light up the pleasure centres in the brain apart from drugs?

29:55 Why people use food to deal with their problems

People and things mentioned in this show:

TED talk by Carl Hart

Your Brain on Porn

Dr Gabor Mate

Geneen Roth

Thanks for Listening!

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Thanks for joining me on this episode. Here is a link to see the other shows. Until next time!

The post Rebroadcast: Cravings and Food Addiction appeared first on Seven Health: Eating Disorder Recovery and Anti Diet Nutritionist.