What Causes Food Addiction ?

Most addictions normally have some root cause there is a possibility that some emotional trauma, could food addictiontrigger it off or in some respects you could say it’s self punishment to a certain extent.

What Happens ?

So how does this all come about what is the process in our brains that makes us act this way, when you are motivated to do anything in life, there has to be a certain amount of good feeling with what you’re doing. In the human brain we have a chemical known as dopamine which is a motivational chemical this is what drives us to do things, and if there is a lack of it then not to do things.

Studies have been done on rats, that when stimulated with dopamine in their brain’s they will perform the same task over and over when given a dopamine fix, and a association that went with it. In the study done on the rats they were trained to press a switch and then given the dopamine fix.

When this happened the rats would continually press the button everytime they were given the dopamine fix until they couldn’t do it any more and were exhausted. So as we can see from this particular study when you do something that causes you to stimulate the dopamine receptors in your mind it is going to be very hard to stop this behaviour from happening.

This in a nutshell is how we become addicted to various substances, whether it be alcohol, smoking, shopping or any other addictive behavior. This is why it can be very hard to break addictive behaviour by willpower alone because this is all happening in the primitive part of your brain.

Are We Programmed This Way ?

It would seem we are some recent research that was done on people, revolved round using one particular sugary food dough-nuts, participants were shown a picture of a dough nut or a screwdriver, when they were shown a picture of the dough-nut, their brains electronic waveform activity went haywire but not when shown the screwdriver.

After the test subjects had eaten and quite a lot of dough nuts eight to be exact, their brain scans were totally different this time. When shown the same pictures again there was hardly any brain activity at all.

The test subjects were then tested after eight hour fast, to see what the results would be this time on this particular occasion to parts of the brain were stimulated, one part being limbic region which is otherwise known as the lizard brain, so it was saying here is food not only am I hungry, and making a decision between the screwdriver and the dough-nut.

The part of the brain that is called spatial reasoning decided that at the present time the dough nut, was far more important than the screwdriver was at the time. There probably wouldn’t even be any conscious thought during this process, so as we can see from this it’s very easy to understand what happens when we see food before us.

In a nutshell it’s all about needs at a certain time so if you’re walking down a dark alley your senses will be very highly attuned just in case you might think something is going to happen so on that particular scenario you’re less likely to be thinking about food.

And more what to do if someone tries to attack you. so in conclusion it’s probably best to make yourself aware and when you want to eat that sugary snack or doughnut, think consciously more do I really need to eat it or not.

And eat something in its place instead that isn’t so loaded with sugar.

Source : Daily Mail

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About Mark

Mark is the founder and editor of losethattyre You can read more about me here. Follow me on twitter @markcoruk

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  • http://mrsbeasely,blogspot.com Christine

    I didn’t know about the dopamine factor. It does explain a lot. Our brains are so complicated and when you factor in all the other things that research is turning up, it makes you wonder if there is any hope. The thing is that knowledge can empower. It is easier to fight what you know about than what you don’t understand in other words know the enemy. BTW…the doughnuts were tempting. Good thing I have nothing like that in my house.

  • http://mrsbeasely.blogspot.com Christine

    I didn’t know about the dopamine factor. It does explain a lot. Our brains are so complicated and when you factor in all the other things that research is turning up, it makes you wonder if there is any hope. The thing is that knowledge can empower. It is easier to fight what you know about than what you don’t understand in other words know the enemy. BTW…the doughnuts were tempting. Good thing I have nothing like that in my house.

    Christines last blog post..Que The Dreamy Music

  • http://mrsbeasely.blogspot.com/ Christine

    I didn’t know about the dopamine factor. That explains a lot. Brain chemistry is a complicated thing. Add all the other new things that research is finding and shedding pounds seem almost impossible except for the fact knowledge can empower me to reach my goals if I apply it. It is a good thing to know your enemy. BTW…it is a good thing that I don’t have any doughnuts around the house. I am sure that if you would have ran me through a MRI, there would have been some brightly colored spots on my brain.

    Christines last blog post..Que The Dreamy Music

  • http://www.TrueDietReviews.com True Diet Reviews

    See, it was my brain causing me to eat all that food, not my stomach …

  • http://www.benaturallywell.com shelley

    Dopamine is an interesting chemical. Many people who have a cigarette addiction have also been shown to have a history of depression. Depression just happens to be related to dopamine. Nicotine just happens to simulate dopamine in the brain. That’s why it’s hard to give up, and also explains why so many people gain weight when they quit smoking! Thanks for bringing this great article to our attention!

    I have really enjoyed some of the other posts on your blog as well, and I am sure my readers would too. Would you consider adding your blog to the Be Naturally well community so more health conscious bloggers and readers can find you easily? Here’s the link http://www.benaturallywell.com/blog/add-your-blog/

    Many blessings, and thanks for the inspiration!
    Shelley

    shelleys last blog post..Fat Loss Day 11

  • http://www.dietreviewzone.com Rosie

    I didn’t know about dopamine either, now I do it certainly explains a lot. Great article I am not a big reader but I have to say I enjoyed reading this, made a lot of sense.

    Rosies last blog post..Customer Support at Proactol

  • http://strongbodies.net mike

    Excellent post. The brain really is very powerful. It certainly is hard to break the habit of eating comfort foods, especially at night. It’s possible but takes quite a bit of effort, as you mentioned. I also find it helpful to stay busy when I get the most cravings, which is at night for me.

    mikes last blog post..Brain Plays A Part In Appetite by Regulating Free Radicals

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