| Is fast food addictive? Yes, it is addictive. Do | | | | nearly the recommended daily calorie and fat |
| your children enjoy your Happy Meal? Well if they | | | | intake in one meal. As people put on weight, they |
| do, you'd better be worried. Scientists claim that | | | | become more resistant to the hormone leptin, |
| that Hamburgers and French fries can be as | | | | which is strongly linked to weight and appetite, |
| addictive as heroin. Researchers in the US have | | | | and a brain peptide called galanin that stimulates |
| found evidence to suggest people can become | | | | eating. |
| overly dependent on the sugar and fat in fast | | | | 3. Feeling Happy After Your Happy Meal Ah, the |
| food. | | | | wonderful Happy Meal which brings smiles to the |
| 1. You Crave For Sweet and Oily Food. Sugar is | | | | millions of children. Ever wondered why Happy |
| addictive in all ways; it triggers reactions in our | | | | Meals and other fast food in general never fail to |
| bodies that make us feel very 'high' due to the | | | | bring a smile to your child's face? That's because |
| insulin spike in our body. Combined with the fats | | | | fast food can stimulate as much pleasure as |
| which you get from fast food, they form the | | | | heroin can! Ann Kelley, a neuroscientist at the |
| perfect combination that is almost as addictive as | | | | University of Wisconsin Medical School, the |
| heroin. Bart G. Hoebel, a neuroscientist from | | | | behavior of rats after the were given sweet, |
| Princeton University led a similar study into sugar | | | | salty and fatty foods. She found a link between |
| addiction, which was published in the journal | | | | the brain's pleasure chemicals and a craving for |
| Obesity Research in June 2002. Rats were used | | | | this type of food. She stimulated the rats' brains |
| and were gradually fed a diet with increasing | | | | with a synthetic version of the natural opioid |
| amounts of sugar. The more sugar given, the | | | | enkephalin. This caused rats to eat up to six times |
| quicker the rats ate it and when it was suddenly | | | | their normal intake of fat. In addition, Dr Kelley |
| withdrawn from their food, they experienced | | | | identified long-lasting changes in rats' brain |
| "addiction-type" reactions, such as chattering | | | | chemistry - similar to those caused by extended |
| teeth, anxiety and shaking. | | | | use of morphine or heroin. |
| 2. You Feel Weak and Shaky Without Fast Food | | | | How to Rid Your Addiction Of Fast Food [ |
| When you start feeling weak and shaky after a | | | | 4. Having Fast Food More Than Once a Day |
| few days without fast food, it will signify the start | | | | Eating fast food once a day is already bad |
| of your fast food addiction. Very soon, you'll start | | | | enough, and if you're eating two fast meals a day |
| to think that the universal solution for all your | | | | or you find yourself craving for the second meal, |
| problems is a Bic Mac. Evidence: Researchers who | | | | think again. This is another tell-tale sign of |
| have been studying the biological effects of fast | | | | addiction. Dr Jeane Randolph, from the University |
| foods are discovering that they can trigger | | | | of Toronto said that fast food causes blood sugar |
| hormonal changes in the body which can make it | | | | to peak and then plunge, creating a natural desire |
| difficult to control eating. Fast food meals deliver | | | | for another snack to achieve the same effect. |