Rodin clinic, 85 Monash Avenue, Nedlands (2025)

19/12/2021

10 Proven Ways To Stop Feeling Hungry All The Time When Dieting
Thanks to the great Homer Simpson I think we can all relate to fearing the word diet more than the word die.
Successful long term dieting is one of the hardest things we will face in this life.

Adherence is key. We are told this often enough but rarely is it explained to us in a way we can understand.

What really is diet adherence?

In my opinion it is eating in a way that is specific to your goal (body composition, sporting, health etc), that is not too far removed from your current way of eating.

Sounds straight forward in theory, but in practise it really is not.

A study in the Journal of Nutrition stated that;

Dietary intervention success requires strong participant adherence.

So what can be do to help ourselves keep on track?

We know extreme hunger on a diet can suck balls.
And the balls you will be sucking will no doubt be deep fried and wolfed down with minimal guilt. It will of course be a case of your diet has failed you and no way could you of failed your diet.
Hunger will drive you to over eat. That will hamper your fat loss loss efforts.

Whats more, feeling like you are struggling to stick to your diet will hamper your ability to adhere to your diet.

Nobody wants to feel like a failure!

So how do we figure out how to stuff ourselves with lovely food, that does not blow our calories, and leaves us feeling like we are winning the fat-loss fight.

Understanding that certain foods fill you up more than others is a key place to start!

THE SATIETY INDEX
The satiety index is an index made in dietary heave that will give you a frame work to figure out why 500 calories of your favour cereal does not have the same effect on you as 500 calories of brussel sprouts. The science is quite equivocal on the fact that while a calorie is a calorie, the Journal of the American Dietetic Association say that:
.foods, and more specifically macronutrients, with the same caloric content exert different effects on satiation and satiety independent of their caloric value.

Ok so that is the ground bases of the ground done. In no uncertain terms different foods will do different things to you and how you chose these foods will ultimately determine your ability to adhere to any form of eating.

Armed with this basic knowledge will hopefully leave you ready to march into no mans land start battling this dreaded hunger demon. Let’s get to it – how can you stop feeling hungry?

TOP 10 WAYS TO DEFEAT THE HUNGER DEMONS & STOP FEELING HUNGRY
1. EAT MORE FIBROUS FOODS
That in normal speak is foods high in fibre.

Fibre is insoluble in the body so it must pass through you and reach its final watery destination. Fibre is generally found in most fruits and vegetables. Beans can help bolster your fibre intake also and even some protein bars boast generous amounts in the last few years.

Check labels and google foods if in doubt to which option is the fibre win.

2. EAT MORE PROTEIN RICH FOODS
Filling, predominantly lower in calories in comparison to carb and fat rich foods, protein is a dieters choice. Usually not that hyper palatable also (you don’t usually lose the head and binge on boiled chicken breasts or tins of tuna).

Need some high protein meal inspiration? Go here: High Protein Recipes

You even burn up to 25% of the calories contained in the source as you digest it so you are helping your calorie deficit without hurting your intake. Hunger can be kept that bay while simultaneously creating the building blocks for a body worthy of a nudie beach.
3. EAT HIGH VOLUME/LOW CALORIE FOODS
Your stomach needs filling. It usually tells your brain to put the oven on and get working on a feast worthy of a king. When its full it sends on a message to ease off and start settling into the Netflix of the day.

That signalling is very important to reduce the volume of the hunger demons screaming out for more. Literally filling the stomach up with big foods that don’t contain a huge amount of calories really helps here. I am not suggesting ingesting a good whack of no more nails filler to get the job done.
I am talking about salads, stir fry’s, fruits, sugar free jellies. Think of the size of 100 calories of butter compared to 100 calories of cauliflower. A thumb versus a bucket. Fill your stomach with voluminous foods and hear the hunger demon no more.

4. HAVE YOUR EMERGENCY FOODS READY
If the demon takes over and you must have something now, something sugar filled, fat laden and salt infused what do you do?

This scenario is not avoidable. Life gets in the way and things will happen you cannot prepare for. Looking for the number of the local Chinese take away is not the answer.

Having some simple, easy to stock pile and easy to store snacks is key to a last ditch effort against the demon.

Things like tins of fruit, sugar free mints, protein bars and cans of your favourite diet drink (no, diet coke is not bad for you) are all just enough to keep you from imploding if you are tittering on the edge of dieting destruction

5. CHOSE CAFFEINE FOR THE WIN
Whether it be coffee, green tea or delicious diet drinks this in theory is a simple one. Caffeine is a stimulant. Hungry while being an unpleasant feeling, can also leave some feeling lethargic and crying for some energy.
Chose caffeine in coffee form and you will also get some stomach fill due to the volume of water required to make your cup of Joe (espresso need not apply).

6. ENGINEER A SLEEP ROUTINE
This one is huge. Let me say it again. This one is huge. We know from the research a lack of sleep can lead to your finely tuned “eat good food, not s**t food” habits going clean out the window .

Do what you can with the environment you live in to promote a sleep routine that gives you on average 7-8 hours most nights of the week. Yes I know shift work will make this impossible. Yes I know small children shockingly don’t care about your bikini body efforts.

Do what you can with what you have. Even 10-15 minutes extra a few nights a week can be enough to get the ball rolling and you snoring for longer.
7. BECOME AWARE OF THE OFFICE DANGER ZONES
Mary from accounting has gotten engaged. Isn’t that lovely and oh would you look at that, she has brought in cupcakes for everyone to celebrate with.

Dan from marketing is leaving to finally peruse his dream of opening a coconut water café. Everyone is meeting him this Friday for farewell drinks and pizza.

Joan from the cubicle beside you doesn’t like week days so brings in a corner shops worth of jelly’s with her everyday to ease the day. Joan’s mindless eating is only rivalled by her desire to share.

The office environment is anti good food choices and anti diet. Add stress to any situation and the whole “I am working so hard, I deserve this cake/bar/pizza” comes to a head.

Nudge economics tells us external influences can trigger positive and negative behaviours in those who come into contact with them. One of the most famous studies in this realm by Mindless Eating expert Prof Brian Wansink looked at how the visibility and proximity of Hersheys Kisses affected their consumption among a group of females.

When they were within reach more were eaten. And when they were visible, more where eaten. When they were visible and within reach, well I need not paint you a picture but the kisses were no more.
Make sure as much as possible the sweets and celebratory snacks around the office are at the very least out of sight and out of reach.

Prep Like A Boss
Another useful strategy in your dieting efforts in the workout is to prep. Invest in Tuppware and online protein bar deals. Having fail safes ready to hand when Mary decides to once again tie the knot could be enough for you to maybe just sample her oh so unkind treats.

The difference between a genuine small sliver of cake (100-200 calories) and a “real slice” could be the making or breaking of your diet right there. Even if you feel cheated on the sweet front, have a stash of your favourite chocolaty protein bar and maybe even some super sweet fruit such as mangos at hand.

If in an office dieting emergency, break glass, unwrap the bar and consume as quick as possible.

The office danger zones will always exist so accepting that adding hunger to a stressful work environment will lead to poor choices now and again. Just make sure one bad moment doesn’t lead to a week of excess and overload.

8. CHOICE ARCHITECTURE
Similar to the office dynamic of the visibility and proximity of foods and your ability to resist temptation, the same will apply to your home stead.

When dieting your preoccupation with food and the amount you are consuming will increase. This is normal and something that you must take into account when doing your food shop and how you set up your kitchen for dieting success.

A simple analogy of how choice architecture can affect you would be to think about how likely are you to eat a freshly baked brownie that is sitting on your kitchen table, lovingly made by your significant other and smelling sweeter than an Irish soccer victory.

On the other hind how likely are you to eat a bag of pears that are hidden somewhere in the back of one of your cupboards. You are also starving as you worked through lunch to meet a deadline. Its also a Friday and you are zapped. It will probably be long after your finish your take away kindly brought to you by Deliveroo that you even remember you thought about eating the pears in a moment of madness.

In this incidence your choice architecture was not ideal for offsetting ravenous hunger.

Setting obstacles in your way when these occasions come up is key. Train or exercise after work for the physical and mental unwinding.

Have you emergency prepared meals at hand to offset any ravenous behaviour. Even researching all the the take aways in your locality to source a relativity lower calorie option could be a great fail safe if you really need it.

9. ENERGY SAVING DECISION MAKING
Making decisions about not eating this, not drinking that and what exercise or training you will do each day will cost you energy. Energy you need to stave off the hungry while on a diet.

The weekly food shop can be the make or break of your good decision making for the following week. Gather yourself for the hour or so you will be walking the isles and fill that trolley with high protein foods, veg, fruit and low calorie versions of all the foods you love to eat. The decisions you make during this time will determine if the hunger demon catches you later in the week or not.

10. YOU WILL BE HUNGRY SOMETIMES AND THAT IS OK
Hunger defined:

A feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled with the desire to eat

A feeling and a desire. Discomfort and weakness. That is what hungry is defined as.

However those feelings are the short lived and may not last if you can just hold out. Accept that those feelings may not be real and something else could be triggering them is important. They may be being triggered by your environment or how you are reacting to a perceived stressor.

You are on a diet for a reason. Weather it is for purely health reasons or for a beach body worthy of the sandy shores of Majorca, focusing on the positive outcomes may be your ultimate tool in fighting the hunger demon into submission.

A bit like Dracula, while the demon can be beaten in the moment, he will never truly go away.

Recognise the times he rises up most and have your preparations in place.

He may win the odd battle but understanding the war is long will ensure you prevail in the end.

19/12/2021

Veganism: The Miracle Weight Loss Diet?
Hemp-wearing, dreadlocked, armpit-hair-growing hippies who undoubtedly blurt, “I’m a vegan,” before you ever ask; this is the stereotype that, for years, followed vegans around everywhere. But this image is out-dated.
The average vegan may even be your next-door neighbour. There are famous vegans. An increasing number of celebrities are ‘coming out’ as vegans. Celebs like F1 racing champ Lewis Hamilton, Made in Chelsea star Lucy Watson and Instagram fitness influencers Zanna van Dijk and Grace Beverley.

As a result, the diet’s image is beginning to change. In 2018, being a vegan is hip.

This year,167,000 people signed up for Veganuary – a month-long abstinence of animal-related products – over 100,000 more than in 2017.

If you haven’t heard of it, or don’t know anyone that took part in it, well, maybe you live under a rock. But if you were to ask any of these 167,000 participants their reasoning for signing up, you’d get a variety of responses. And I can bet that some of those include factors about being healthier and losing weight.

So let’s have a look at those arguments.

IS IT HEALTHY TO BE VEGAN?
It’s no secret that, when meat options are lacking, the food plate is filled with vegetables and legumes. Very rarely do restaurants venture into the field of tofu or other meat alternatives.

Sometimes you’re lucky if they do something fancy with vegetables.

All you have to do is look at the vegetarian option on the menu and you’ll probably get some kind of risotto, rarely vegan due to the mountain of parmesan on top, or a concoction of vegetables under the guise of a ‘salad’.

But there might actually be a benefit to all of this veg.
The vegan diet is high in fibre as a result of its high dependence on fruit and vegetables. It’s been related to a number of positive health effects:

Fibre-rich diets may protect against colorectal cancer
Studies have shown that the likelihood of getting colorectal cancer is reduced with a diet high in fibre. Therefore, vegans – with their diet based on fruit and vegetables, a high source of fibre – are at a lower risk of colorectal cancer.

Reduced LDL cholesterol
Low-density lipoproteins (or LDL) are often called the ‘bad’ cholesterol. Put simply, they contribute to the build up of fat in arteries, causing them to narrow and raising the risk of coronary heart disease. Vegan diets have been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol and the build-up of fatty plaque in the arteries as a result.

This explains the…

Lower incidences of coronary heart disease
A reduction in LDL cholesterol in the blood has been related the reduced risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, these results may also be conflicted by the fact that a diet high in fibre, such as a vegan one, is often also low in fat. But given that a vegan diet can be both high in fibre and low in fat, it’s understandable that the incidence of CHD among vegans is lower.

But fibre isn’t the be-all-and-end-all superhero of the vegan diet.

Leaving out some of the things found in an omnivorous diet is may also be good for health. In 2015, bacon-lovers nationwide were left sobbing. Research found a connection between bacon (and other processed meats), and cancer. And the Beeb ran an article proclaiming “processed meats do cause cancer,” causing floods of bacon-flavoured tears across the country.

Studies found that eating 50g of processed meat a day increased your chance of developing colorectal cancer by 18%. And, yes, bacon is a processed meat!

Given that these processed meats don’t form part of the vegan diet, vegans are at a reduced risk in comparison to their omnivorous friends. No more go-to hangover bacon butties?

WHAT ABOUT VEGAN WEIGHT LOSS?
There seems to be a large amount of evidence suggesting that Veganism – a diet high in fibre and low in fat – can be used as a weight loss diet.

Hold-up.

The thing is, it can be very easy to choose high-fat options when it comes to vegan diets. I mean: peanut butter, avocado, vegan cheese – all the noms. Unfortunately, they’re not exactly low in fat. At the same time, high-sugar foods are also all too readily available in vegan alternatives.

That said, what you eat is up to you.

As long as your diet is high in fibre and low in fat, from all that juicy veg, Veganism can aid weight loss. In fact, in a comparison of vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, and meat-eaters, BMI (although now known to not be the most accurate measurement of health but a good one for comparison) was found to be lowest in vegans for both men and women of all ages.

What’s also interesting is a study comparing a vegan diet and a controlled diet. Energy intake (kcals) and portion sizes were unrestricted in the vegan group, meaning that participants were able to eat until they were full. That sounds brilliant to me. In the controlled diet group, energy intake was restricted by creating a daily deficit of ~500 kcal per day, sustained over 74 weeks.

There was no difference in caloric intake between the vegan and controlled diet conditions – both were reduced by ~430 kcals and 420 kcals respectively. This means that the vegan group consumed less calories than they needed per day (the good old calorie deficit) without even trying. They also eat 13% less fat than the controlled dieters, and 18.5% more carbs. Dietary protein was 4.3% lower in the vegan diet than the controlled.

This study isn’t alone, several others have shown vegan diets can aid weight loss, even when participants are allowed to eat unrestricted amounts. So, obviously, there’s something else going on.

SO, WHAT GIVES?
Why is it that, even when told they could eat as much as they wanted, those on a vegan diet maintained a strong calorific deficit?

Think about your most basic vegan foods. The lego bricks to your hip, vegan house, if you like.

Fruit, vegetables and legumes. Here’s the thing: these foods are notorious for being high in fibre. When they’re the foundation of every meal, they create a diet which is less energy dense but higher in volume and more filling. And the volume is the thing which keeps people both sustained and sane.

If you’re someone who struggles to look at a plate which is essentially half empty – which is most of us – volume eating may be your solution. That’s not an excuse to binge eat a bag of Minstrels. Rather, filling the other half of the plate with vegetables can be the psychological validation you need to stick to a diet in the long run.

And following a vegan diet means that you can feast yourself silly on all this nutrient dense food for a fraction of the calories your meat-eating counterpart is eating.

Every. Single. Meal.

So, in support of that time-old debate about dietary composition and energy balance, these results show that the 4kg reduction in body weight over the 74 week study was likely to be as a result of the caloric deficit created in both conditions, NOT the difference in macronutrient composition.
HOW TO BE VEGAN – WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK
“But I’m not a millionaire,” I hear you say.

“Being vegan is expensive.”

Well, let’s return to our lego blocks; fruit, veg, and legumes. How about protein sources? A kilo of chick peas? £5.23. Five portions at £1.05 per portion. A kilo of chicken breast? £6.16. 6 portions at £1.03 per portion. The difference is negligible.
Ultimately, being vegan is affordable. Unless you feel like venturing out to the Insta-worthy, gourmet vegan cafes every lunch break, you won’t be breaking the bank.

So, problem solved and what a revelation.

BUT HERE’S THE DEAL
There’s no magical ingredient which leads to weight loss when following a vegan diet. It’s just an elaborate way of creating the good old calorific deficit (eat less calories than you burn).

Intermittent fasting, paleo, tracking macros, intuitive eating and the 5:2 diet, to name a few approaches are some of many which can lead to weight loss too. And the principle behind them all? Creating a caloric deficit. Shock.

So rather than exclude entire food groups from your diet, perhaps you could take the best of veganism (eating lots of fruits and veg) and tweak your current diet accordingly.

Or why not have a look at MyFitnessPal? See where you can change your diet without analysing the back of every product packet. Or accept that it’ll just take you a little longer to decide what you’re going to eat each day.

The bottom line is that there are obviously other benefits to turning vegan which are beyond this blog post, and it’s a lifestyle that you have to be willing to adopt. If you’re not prepared for that, and weight loss is your primary goal, there are plenty of other ways to create a calorific deficit.

19/12/2021

10 Reasons You Don’t Have A Food Addiction, Backed By Science
Food addiction is a phrase that has become more common in recent years.

This is, in part, because our understanding of addiction has got better, from both a behavioural and neural perspective.

That’s on top of the startling increase in obesity in recent decades.

In 1960, 1 in 7 US adults were obese.

By 2010, that number had increased to 1 in 3. Not good. At. All.

In an attempt to understand the causes of obesity, some scientists are now investigating whether we’re getting addicted to certain foods available on supermarket shelves.

But are we really addicted to food?

1. THERE’S NO UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED DEFINITION OF WHAT FOOD ADDICTION IS, OR HOW WE MEASURE IT
Before we delve into the research on whether food addiction is a legitimate phenomenon, we need to establish what food addiction actually is.

Food addiction is a term first used in the 1960s, and it was suggested that foods like milk, eggs and potatoes may have ‘addictive properties’.

More recently, researchers have investigated the similarities between how we eat (and the reward we feel when we eat) and drug addiction.

Drug addiction is defined as a disorder with symptoms including drug-seeking behaviour, loss of control to limit intake and a negative emotional state (like anxiety or irritability) when the drug is taken away.

One study found that changes in central nervous system signalling occur and involve chemicals with rewarding properties when it comes to addiction. These chemicals can be released by external substances (such as drugs) but also by our own behaviour (such as gambling).

As some (mostly tasty) foods can make the food reward parts of the brain light up like a Christmas tree, it’s an attractive hypothesis to say this is a sign of addiction.

But, in reality, it’s not obviously clear that we can be addicted to certain foods just because we enjoy eating them.

Also, measuring food addiction isn’t that clear.

The Yale Food Addiction Scale is used to assess food addiction, based on criteria for other substance dependence, such as drug addiction. It uses 25 questions to assess eating habits over a year, and lists tasty foods like ice cream, chocolate, doughnuts, sweets, fizzy pop etc.

In other words, the tasty stuff.

But, although they all have this in common, the differences between them could make the diagnosis of ‘food addiction’ slightly trickier…

2. WE DON’T KNOW WHAT FOODS WE COULD BE ADDICTED TO
When people discuss food addiction, they generally focus on the idea that we’re addicted to a substance in foods.

Some people focus on sugar. People are adamant that we’re addicted to sugar, and that sugar is the cause of obesity.

Other people think we’re addicted to fat, and use mouse studies to back it up.

There’s even a (fairly limited) argument for salt addiction, in some cases.

And this is probably where the Yale Addiction Food Scale I mentioned earlier falls down slightly – it doesn’t help us identify which substances we might be addicted to.

For example, one poll showed that only 20% of the British public eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day.

Clearly we’re not addicted to ALL food.

The question is, what are the substances in certain foods that we might be addicted to?

Sugar? Fat?

Are there other reasons that these are the foods we want to eat?

3. WE ARE HARDWIRED TO LOOK FOR FOOD
This is quite a big consideration for the food addiction argument. Humans, like other animals, are hardwired to seek certain things.

Like the need to reproduce, a place that makes us feel safe or physical comfort. Along with these things, we need food and water for basic survival.

More specifically, the body has innate preferences for sweet, salty and ‘meaty’ flavours – mighty meaty Dominos anyone?

Seriously though, all of those things tell the brain they are valuable foods, high in calories. This was crucial for our ancestors survival.

Some research suggests that even after we feel full eating one type of food, we can still seek other types of foods – come on, we’ve all been stuffed after dinner but then found room for dessert!

This is known as sensory-specific-satiety; feeling full but only to foods that have the same properties (like salty foods).

Likewise, some biologists believe we seek food that’s as high in calories but doesn’t take much effort to find (er, back to that Dominos?) – a concept called the optimal foraging theory.

For our ancestors, this likely helped them decide whether the calories they would spend hunting for an animal would be worth the calories they’d gain from eating it.

Therefore, it’s unlikely food addiction is the issue but the evolutionary drive to seek out food to avoid starving.

The only difference is that, in the today’s world, we often have easy access to the food we want, without having to expend many calories to get it.

4. YOUR CRAVINGS DISAPPEAR WHEN YOU HAVE ACCESS TO FOOD (AND EAT IT)

Research has shown that when rodents are deprived of sugar and then given access to it, they show ‘addiction-like behaviours’.

This is seen as ‘evidence’ that food addiction may exist in humans too.

However, it’s worth noting that when the rats are given ad libitum access to sugar (the freedom to eat as much as they desire, much like us humans have), they don’t show addictive behaviour.

Interestingly, when rats are given their normal meals (chow) alongside intermittent sugar feedings, they eat less chow to compensate for their sugar intake – this helps to stop weight gain.

If we limit nice foods, it’s generally only a matter of time before we announce that we ‘crave’ the food that we’re restricting and must, MUST have it.

Think of all the people that you know who said they’d give up chocolate – and how it lasted about two days.

We often think we might be ‘addicted’ to a certain food, based on our cravings for it.

We also often restrict eating nice foods to try and control our weight and health. This makes that sexy bar of fruit and nut even more appealing, and it pre-occupies more of our thoughts.

But, the thing is, food cravings differ dramatically to drug cravings.

Importantly, the duration, intensity and frequency of food cravings are all completely different.

Food cravings don’t last long, and often cease after a few hours or if we can distract ourselves. This isn’t true with drug cravings – they increase in intensity, duration and frequency if the user goes cold turkey.

5. SOMETHING CALLED ‘FOOD DEVALUATION’
Food devaluation involves the addition of a substance that will induce sickness, to see whether it is still sought out.

For example, when rats are given addictive drugs that are laced with something that makes them nauseous, they will continue to seek out the drugs, despite being sick.

However, if you do the same with food, rats will stop eating.

This does indicate that if we’re able to develop an addiction to food, it’s very likely that it isn’t a particular substance in food that we’re addicted to.

6. YOU DON’T SELL YOUR POSSESSIONS TO BUY FOOD
On a more practical note, let’s think about comparisons between addictive drugs and ‘addictive’ food substances, like sugar.

It is not uncommon to hear stories in the media of strange and terrible things that people will do to facilitate their drug dependencies.

People sell their bodies, steal money from friends and family and rack up large amounts of debt.

The estimated cost of crime related to drug addiction is £13.9 billion.

The average he**in user spends £1,400 per month on drugs – more than 2.5 times the average mortgage.

All in all, it’s clear that people will go to great lengths to get access to the drugs they are addicted to.

The question is – how many people do you see doing that for a bag of Tate and Lyle?

How many people are selling their possessions, running up debts, wasting savings?

Throwing it all at sweets and cans of coke?

Nobody.

Because we’re not addicted to substances in food.

7. YOU’RE NOT A RAT
D’uh.

My point? Even after ALL of the arguments I’ve presented to you for food addiction, it may not matter or apply to you anyway.

Because, if you’re reading this, then I’m going to take a giant leap and presume that you’re not a rat.

That might be dangerous territory in the social media age (there’s probably someone, somewhere, going absolutely mad that I’m depriving them of their right to self-identify as a rodent, and who am I to assume their species, etc etc.) but, when it comes to food addiction, the most convincing research we have is in rat models.

And even that research isn’t the most convincing.

A lot of the research on rats showing addiction-like behaviour only does so because of the specific study environment – if you deprive rats of sugar intermittently, they’ll eat more when they have access to it.

8. EVEN IF YOU WERE A RAT, THE EVIDENCE IN RATS ISN’T COMPLETELY CONVINCING
Just for arguments sake, let’s say you’re a rat.

EVEN THEN you’re not likely to be addicted to food.

There is no overwhelming research that shows rats are addicted to food. In fact, there’s a fair amount of research which shows that they might not be.

As I mentioned earlier, one area of research against food addiction is the devaluation of food.

Another study shows that when you put sugar in water, rats will drink more – but only up to a point.

When sugar concentration gets beyond a certain point, they will actually drink more plain water than sugared. If sugar was addictive, then rats would continue to drink more of the sugar water, even if the concentration is increased.

9. WHAT BENEFIT WOULD WE GAIN FROM BRANDING PEOPLE AS HAVING A FOOD ADDICTION?

If we were to establish a definition for food addiction, would it be helpful?

Unlikely.

For one, researchers suggest that if we were addicted to food, it wouldn’t really change much in terms of health policy.

We’d still recommend regular exercise, eating enough fruit and vegetables.

Eating more calories than you expend would still cause obesity.

A further argument would be that it will leave people feeling powerless when trying to limit energy intake, lose weight or prevent weight gain.

One researcher summarised:

‘Believing that one’s impulse to eat, for example, ice cream or cake, is due to food addiction, implies that the impulse is uncontrollable, making it less likely that the ice cream or cake can be resisted.’

The research on food addiction is currently very limited – it’s unlikely it’ll be helpful to start describing, diagnosing and treating food addiction until there is a clearer picture of exactly how (or whether) food addiction may occur.

10. ‘EATING ADDICTION’ MIGHT BE MORE ACCURATE
A behavioural addiction is much more likely than a particular food substance addiction.

There’s a fairly convincing case that it’s unlikely we’re addicted to particular substances in food, and that ‘food addiction’ is probably not an accurate description.

However, an argument for ‘eating addiction’ has been made.

If we look at the rise of obesity over the past few decades, many people will point out that sugar intake has increased.

But if we look at other data, so has our fat intake.

It’s clear that we’re not just addicted to eating one particular food source.

We overeat the nicest tasting food – the foods that have the right combination of sugar, fat and salt.

Eating addiction may be a better fit as it avoids a focus on individual substances and recognises the difference between behavioural and substance addiction.

Although eating addiction emphasises the behavioural aspect of food addiction, it’s important to stress that there’s also very limited evidence that eating addiction exists, and more research is needed.

So there it is.

There isn’t really enough research to suggest that we’re addicted to certain types of food, or eating in general.

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