Food Addiction
Food Addiction is only recognized as a “concept” in the medical world. It is not recognized as an eating disorder (ED), and is not even mentioned in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders version 5 (DSM-5), or the International Classification of Disease (ICD-11). Meanwhile, there are highly paid food scientists whose number one job is to create the ultimate “bliss point” between sugar, fat, and salt—knowing that it lights up your brain’s reward centers like a Christmas tree. In essence, it’s their job to make ultra-processed foods as addictive as possible. Habitual consumption of these same foods are the main drivers of Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes. These are the foods that are also priced the cheapest, and placed at eye level in your local supermarket—a tool called “nudging” in the food industry—with many of them available for a quick impulse grab right at checkout. What a set up!
A Telling Tale of Food Industry Giants
As reported in the New York Times in 2013, on the evening of April 8, 1999, a long line of Town Cars and taxis pulled up to the Minneapolis headquarters of Pillsbury—delivering CEOs and company presidents from America’s largest food companies: Nestlé, Kraft, Nabisco, General Mills, Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Mars. The idea of the meeting was to set aside fierce rivalries to discuss the worldwide obesity epidemic, and to decide if these corporate giants shared a responsibility for this disaster—and even if they should do something to try to help the situation.
This meeting was the brainchild of James Behnke, a 55-year-old executive at Pillsbury, a chemist by training with a doctoral degree in food science. Behnke became Pillsbury’s chief technical officer in 1979 and was instrumental in creating a long line of hit junk food products, but he had grown troubled in recent years as he witnessed more and more obese children suffering from Type 2 Diabetes and the earliest signs of hypertension and heart disease. In the months leading up to the big meeting, he had many conversations with food-science experts who were painting an increasingly grim picture of the public’s ability to cope with the industry’s addictive formulations—from the body’s biochemical reactions to overeating ultra-processed foods, to the by-design element of these foods to make people feel even hungrier after eating them.
After a presentation, the food giants voted on whether they had any responsibility to do something about the obesity, Type 2 Diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease epidemics they helped create.
Can you guess? Yeah—they voted “no,” it’s not their responsibility. It’s freedom of choice, after all.
F*ck “The Man”
So the food industry is doing everything they can to get you addicted to the most unhealthy foods there are, supermarkets are “nudging” these foods at you by putting them at eye level on their shelves at the cheapest prices, and the medical community doesn’t even recognize food addiction as an official disorder or disease. They want you to get addicted to these foods, and they don’t care how sick you get in the process. Go to your local supermarket at the hour when schools let out, and you will see lines of kids buying what can only be described as “Type 2 Diabetes Starter Packs” for afterschool snacks—endless varieties of the fat+sugar+salt combo. Isn’t it time we all stood up and said, “F*ck The Man?”
What to do
Food addiction is real, and like any addiction process—it is difficult to break free. Here are some suggestions:
Get angry. These corporate giants don’t care that their foods make you sick. Use that as motivation to not buy their stuff.
Seek help and support from other food addicts. There is a common theme in all addiction recovery circles: All medical and/or psychological interventions pale in comparison to the simple formula of one addict helping another. Team up with a friend, join an overeating 12-Step group, or seek out an online peer support group.
Take a look at the underlying emotional issues that are at the heart of food addiction. We recommend Nicole LePera’s book, How to do the Work (Recognize your Patterns, Heal from your Past, and Create Your Self).
Lastly, reach out to us for help. We would be glad to help or advise you in any way we can.
Until next time,
Scott and Lennart