America’s Food Addiction

December 05, 2008

by Tom Robinson, MD

American processed food is among the tastiest and most comforting foods, created by one of the most sophisticated food chemistry industries, in the world.  Despite this level of knowledge, Americans are among the fattest human beings on Earth. Why has this happened? America is getting fatter, because America has a food addiction.

American foods are specifically designed to sell and to keep the customer coming back. Nutritional value is not a consideration, unless a nutritional claim is part of that product’s marketing strategy or unless an FDA minimum nutrition requirement is involved.

Simply put, American processed food is “food crack.” Crack cocaine is an extremely concentrated form of cocaine that is designed to get the user addicted on the first use. American food chemistry has made processed food taste so intense, the user will be tempted to overeat themselves into poor health and even death.

American food chemistry is made worse by the fact that many nutritional elements of food (vitamins, minerals, fiber, etc) are removed in the processing. We eat food that tastes great but is high in calories and provides little use as the fuel our bodies need to make us healthy people. As a result, we spend much of our time fatigued, depressed, in pain, and gaining weight.

Americans can take control of their food intake by cutting back on the “food crack” - specifically, high fructose corn syrup (a type of simple carbohydrate sugar) and saturated fat, and instead substitute delicious foods that are also rich in healthy nutrients (vitamins, minerals, and fiber). No food is absolutely good or bad, but saturated fat and simple carbohydrates are the “bad” part of the foods we eat.

High fructose corn syrup combines the very sweet sugar fructose with the pure sugar glucose. The high concentration of glucose causes the negative effects, while the sweetness of the fructose keeps the user coming back for more. This combination of food chemistry slows the body’s metabolism and decreases the ability for the body to burn fat. Fructose, eaten in its natural state as part of whole fruits and vegetables, is not only very healthy, it is delicious. But eaten in large amounts, in the form of high fructose corn syrup, it leads to poor health, obesity, and eventual death.

Saturated fat also has a dark side. It adds the creamy texture and richness to foods that make them difficult to resist, but it also raises cholesterol, hardens arteries, and leads to heart attacks and stroke. In fact, restaurants often cover their steaks with butter (both full of saturated fat) to intensify the succulent taste. Most saturated fats are often hard at room temperature, while unsaturated fats are more likely to be oils (such as flaxseed and olive oil). Unlike saturated fats, unsaturated fats are more easily burned and tend to clean arteries out, making them excellent nutritional choices that can break the saturated fat addiction.

Simple carbohydrates and saturated fats are each difficult to resist, but when combined, we not only crave them, we can form a lifelong addiction.

There are no foods that need to be entirely eliminated in order to lose weight and remain healthy, but with control of the types and amounts of food we choose, we can all eat the foods we love and become fit for a lifetime.

Dr. Robinson is a family practitioner specializing in weight loss.