It is a well-known fact that people like food. In fact, most people not only like food, they love food. They go living day by day just for that particular sweet taste of a certain food they like. Foods contain certain nutrients and hormones that assist the body with growth and development. Some foods assist in creating chemicals that help keep you healthy. Foods that are high in sugar and fat tend to turn that chemical around; making foods that are not good for you, the food you feel you need the most. It can get to the point where these people become addicted to food. Food contains chemicals that can transmit certain reactions to the brain. Such reactions can be the urge to eat more foods with a higher fat and sugar content. Because of this, it turns eating into an addiction. Some individuals carry a certain gene that makes them more susceptible to being an over eater. Some people carry a similar gene that makes them less susceptible to being an over eater. People who carry the gene that makes them want to overeat, crave the foods they want and in turn eat those foods creating a downward spiral. This in turn creates the addiction to eating certain foods.

Dr. Pawel Olszewski from Waikato University in New Zealand has discovered a pattern that describes the addictive behavior. He has found that foods that are higher in sugar and fat content contain a chemical that produces changes in the brain that resembles addictive behavior. Dr. Olszewski has conducted several tests and experiments to prove this theory on rodents. His findings were astronomical.

Dr. Olszewski claims that foods that are more delicious to individuals with a high sugar and fat content, have the same chemical compound for addiction as morphine or nicotine. Because of this, it makes those types of foods more addictive. It has been discovered that when eating foods that are higher in sugar and fat content, individuals tend to eat more until they are too full. This is because these types of foods have empty calories that cause the body not to feel as full. The chemicals that control the full feeling are stomped down with the sugar and fat content of the foods the individual is eating. Because of this, individuals eat more and more every day, creating an obesity crisis in the world. Foods that are high in sugar and fat content cause overeating and eventually can cause individuals to become overweight or obese.

Individuals are more susceptible to becoming overweight or obese because there are so many different sugary or fatty foods available on the market. When subjected to these foods, individuals tend to eat more of them than the healthier foods. It becomes very difficult to break the habit of eating the foods higher in sugar or fat content. This in turn causes many problems in humans today.
Problems that could arise:

• They could become overweight or obese
• They could have high cholesterol
• They could contract diabetes
• They could die

Individuals carry certain addictive tendencies. Individuals naturally have genes that can cause them to be addicted to many different things. When certain individuals eat a high sugar and fatty diet, the brain gets a signal from the chemicals that this is something the body needs.

Dr. Olszewski discovered that if you inject a patient with a drug that suppresses the addiction gene into rodents that have been on a sugar and fat diet, they begin to go through withdrawals from eating those types of foods. The drugs release a hormone to the brain that helps it to respond to the food addiction. This in turn helps the individual to stop wanting to eat the sugary or fatty foods available to them.

This in turn helps the individual to take better steps to eating healthier foods that keep their bodies in check. Baking foods in the oven or grilling foods on BBQ grills are just a few choices to help make better decisions about eating healthier. By making, the decision to eat foods that have a lower sugar and fatty amount in them, individuals will not be as overweight as those who are addicted to those fatty and sugary foods.

Because of his research, Dr. Olszewski is confident that someday it could help other physicians to diagnose these addictive behaviors in patients. This in turn can help patients, who are more susceptible to obesity, control it with a personalized therapy. By creating this type of therapy, it will assist the patients to become more in control over their body and addictions.

Dr. Olszewski has not achieved this goal yet. However, he is working on a way to fight the addiction to the higher sugar and fatty foods. By achieving this, he will be helping many individuals around the world to become healthier, thinner individuals.

Food addiction is one of the most hidden addictions in American today.  Even most morbidly obese individuals will not admit that they are food addicts, and for those who are willing to admit it, they are usually not willing to admit that it is a serious problem.

But it is a serious problem.  Food addiction leads to obesity which opens the door to a whole host of health problems.  The Center for Disease Control has determined that approximately 60 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.  That is a national tragedy.  The Center for Disease Control has even found that approximately 17 percent of America's children are overweight, and that number continues to climb.

Obesity is no laughing matter.  In fact, those who are obese are at a much greater risk of developing the following.....

-Diabetes
-Cancer
-Hypertension
-Heart disease
-Joint pain
-High cholesterol

The IHRSA/ASD obesity/weight control report has revealed that obesity is absolutely exploding in the United States.  3.8 million people are over 300 pounds, over 400,000 people now weigh over 400 pounds.  The average adult female in the U.S. now weighs an unprecedented 163 pounds.

According to the U.S. Surgeon General report, obesity is responsible for 300,000 deaths every year.  These are all deaths that are preventable through treatment, recovery and proper diet.

So how do you know if you are addicted to food? The following are some of the common symptoms of food addiction:

-The feeling that you can’t get through the day without large amounts of food.

-You are not able to control your eating. In other words, one chip is never enough.  In fact, one bag of chips may not be enough.

-You find yourself constantly thinking about food.

-You experience repeated failure when you try to go on a diet.

-You hide your eating from your family and friends.

-When you are deprived of food, you may experience increased outbursts of irritability and anger, and you may find yourself resorting to violence much more easily.

-You use food as a way to deal with your problems.

-You sleep way too much and you feel sluggish most of the time.

-You may have many unexplained absences from work and have difficulty sleeping.

-If you still have doubts about whether you are a food addict, just look at your waist. If you are overweight there is a really good chance that you are a food addict.

So how can you overcome food addiction?

There are basically four key steps that you need to take.

#1) Admit You Have A Problem

Most addicts refuse to admit that they are addicts. They ignore the problem and so they never get any treatment for it. If you are going to beat this, then at some point the first step is to admit to yourself and others that you do indeed have a problem.

#2) Decide That You Want To Change

Many addicts are perfectly content to stay in their addicted state. It is comfortable for many of them. But in order to change you have to decide that is what you want, and you aren’t going to accept the pain and suffering that your addiction is causing you any longer.

#3) Reach Out For Help

Talk to someone that you trust and ask for help. This involves swallowing your pride. Often a good first step is to reach out to a trusted family member. After that, reaching out to a professional who works in the field of your addiction or reaching out to a spiritual advisor can be extremely helpful. You are likely to need help in overcoming your addiction, and family, friends and licensed professionals are there to be that help.

#4) Turn To God

Ultimately this is the most important step. Many have found that they did not have the power in themselves to beat an addiction, but that when they turned to God they found all the power that they ever needed. The truth is that we all need God whether we are addicts or not. We are all messed up in some way and we have all sinned. But the good news is that Jesus Christ came to this earth to die for our sins on the cross. We urge you to invite Jesus Christ into your life today, because He will not only help you overcome your addiction - He will forgive your sins and give you eternal life, and nothing is more important than that.

To learn more about how you can become a Christian, we would encourage you to read this…..

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1049/1049_01.asp