Junk Food Addiction and Weight Gain

Foods that are high in fat and sugar causes a sudden sugar rush, releasing feel good hormones in our body and making us feel energetic. This effect quickly wears off and we end up in a sugar low, craving more food to maintain that sugar high. Another consequence of junk food is the “empty calorie” effect. It fills us up only for a short period of time, and then we feel hungry again. Our body will crave more food in order to seek out vital nutrients.

It is easy to become addicted to eating, when we eat junk food. The effects of eating junk food are:

• Malnutrition
• Fast weight gain
• Cardiovascular problems, such as arterial plaque
• Tiredness and lack of concentration
• Depression (or mood swings)
• Skin problems
• Tooth decay
• Increased risk of developing diabetes and heart disease
• Liver disease

Why Junk Food is Bad

The term “junk food” refers to any food that is high in calories and saturated fat, salt or sugar with little nutritional value. It is also usually loaded with unhealthy food additives like monosodium glutamate (MSG). Junk food causes obesity for these reasons.

Unfortunately, this food is usually convenient, cheap, tasty, and extremely addictive. Examples are:

• Potato chips
• French fries
• Soda
• Hamburgers
• Hot dogs
• Pork rashers
• Chocolate with little cocao content
• Cookies
• Cakes
• Candy
• Ice cream

Fat and Obesity

Fat and obesity normally stems from childhood habits. Addiction to junk food begins at a young age. Children who become addicted to junk food actually stop eating the nutritious food they need to grow up healthy. Kids that live on fats and sugars have shorter attention spans, growth problems, and suffer from tooth decay and weak bone structure early in life. If habits are not changed at that point, it is difficult to change later in life.

When children with junk food addition become adults and metabolism slows down, it is less able to cope with junk food and suffer from all kinds of terminal ailments. In fact, almost twice as many people die each year of heart disease caused by diet-related obesity and cardiovascular problems, than of cancer. That's why it is so important to teach your kids how to eat healthy.

If you are overweight or obese, the best thing you can do for yourself is to cut out junk food completely. This will help break the sugar high and low cycle, where your body craves more food because it is lacking in nutrition.