8 Signs of an Addiction to Harmful Foods

8 symptoms of food addiction have been identified.

Here they are, accompanied by a short description and some useful information.

1. A feeling of great appetite even though your stomach is full

Among the most common symptoms is the presence of a feeling of hunger, even after eating a nutritious meal shortly before. A typical example is a situation where you have just finished a portion of meat with vegetables and potatoes, but you still have a strong craving for chocolate ice cream.

As you can see, hunger and appetite are two completely different things. In this case, you have finished a nutritious meal, but you still think you are hungry because your brain wants something else.

In general, this is a fairly common occurrence and doesn’t necessarily mean you have a problem. It is a problem when you are simply unable to control these urges. This is a sign that something is really wrong.

To be clear about what is going on in your body, we will explain it like this: in this case, hunger is not for energy or nutrients, but simply a sign that the brain wants to produce dopamine by eating something that gives it pleasure.< /p>

2. You eat way more than you need

What’s wrong with eating a piece of chocolate cake? “A few bites won’t kill you.” or “Everything is acceptable in moderation”. The last two sentences are something we often hear when someone offers us harmful food in one way or another.

And indeed, there is some truth in these two sentences. A healthy person will hardly feel any harm from a small piece of chocolate cake. Yes, but how many people can limit themselves to one piece of chocolate cake or 1-2 bars of chocolate? Usually, the thin slice turns into half a cupcake, and the two bars of chocolate into whole chocolate.

This is the case with many kinds of addictions. In this case, the “all or nothing” phenomenon comes into play, the phrase “in moderation” somehow just doesn’t work. Telling a junk food addict to eat in moderation is like telling an alcoholic to have a glass of beer every now and then. It just can’t be done.

3. Need to eat until you feel full

Eat more and more and the treat is so delicious that you can’t seem to get enough! You want another bite, and then another.

You end up feeling satisfied with the delicious food and a moment later you feel really heavy because your body just didn’t need that much cake or whatever.

It is even worse if you eat like this not only when there is a treat, but every day. About 36% of people say that they do not like to get up from the table until they feel that ate to the limit of their capacity and felt that they had eaten very well.

4. You feel guilty after eating, but soon you overdo it again

You ate quite a lot and then you realize that it’s not good, that you overdid it, that you’ll gain weight, that it’s against your health, and the calories are so much.

And yet, soon after, you forget about the guilt you felt and go overboard again. Then you feel guilty again and the cycle repeats itself over and over again.

On the one hand, feeling bad is good because it’s a sign that you still realize you’re doing wrong and you care. On the other hand, why should you feel so uncomfortable? Wouldn’t it have been better just to eat in moderation and within reasonable limits?

5. You’re making excuses in your head

You’ve decided to abstain from unhealthy foods and you’ve set a day of the week to relax. Let’s say it’s Saturday. However, your brain is playing a tricky game with you, and its main goal is to get pleasure right now, in the middle of the week.

Thus, a battle starts in your head. On the one hand, your mind reminds you that you have decided to eat only healthy and diet foods that day, and on the other hand, your brain wants its own.

You get into a situation where the mind begins to gradually lose to the brain’s discouraging arguments that right now you need delicious muffins and chips. The brain starts frantically looking for a reason to eat the desired delicacy and in about 40% of cases it prevails over reason.

6. Repeated failures with self-imposed rules and limits

When people struggle with self-control, they quite often set rules for themselves and try to enforce them. A typical example of such rules is not to go to bed after 10 o’clock during the week, not to drink coffee after 2 in the afternoon, not to postpone chores and so on.

For many people, however, these rules almost always fail. Approximately 80% of people fail at least occasionally when they tell themselves they can only eat junk food once a week. Another 49% of all respondents say they fail every time!

7. Isolation from other people

One of the typical symptoms that a person has a junk food habituation problem is when they repeatedly fail to follow the rule of not eating junk food and subsequently start hiding when eating sweets , fried or fatty foods and the like.

Such people often eat when no one else is home, prefer to eat alone and often eat in the middle of the night when everyone is asleep.

Quite often such people hide the packaging of the goodies so that there is no evidence of their “transgressions”. About 26% of people say that it very often happens to them that they hide when they eat harmful foods, so as not to be perceived as weak people, and another 25% say that they have such periods.< /p>

8. They can’t stop even though they have health problems

There is no doubt that the food we eat has a huge effect on our health. In the short term, harmful or more popularly known as “junk food” leads to bad breath, excess weight, decayed teeth, fatigue, acne and the like.

If this way of eating persists over time, however, things can really get worse. Eating junk food can lead to type 2 diabetes, heart disease and even some cancers, and obesity is unlikely to go away. Brain functions can be impaired by diseases such as Alzheimer’s and dementia