How to Eliminate Junk Food Cravings for Good

Someone dies every 62 minutes from today’s topic!

The current stats are scary:

Many people are food addicts. If you are overweight, the odds are, you are a food addict and there are serious consequences. Someone dies every 62 minutes from an eating disorder.

Food addiction is a real problem in America. It is largely driven by our reliance on processed foods, fast foods and snacks.  These foods have skyrocketed the obesity and disease rates. We all have food that can get us in trouble, Kevin was no exception.

Kevin had a food addiction problem that led to him becoming morbidly obese and needing to lose 170 pounds. After joining the 7 Systems Plan he recognized that french fries were his trigger food. After consuming them, he lost control and ate other foods that were not healthy.

Breaking his food addiction was one of the keys to helping him lose 170 pounds.

Food addiction problems are a serious issue, but they can be resolved.

Want to know if you are a food addict? Take our simple test.

FOOD ADDICTION TEST

In 2022 Americans spent a staggering 100 billion on snack foods and another 200 billion on fast foods!

Don’t think this is by accident. The food industry spends millions and millions of dollars every year to design these foods to make them addictive. They have taken the flavor science to an extraordinary level, creating an artificial ingredient that stimulates the bliss point in your mouth, to make you crave these sweet and salty foods. Consuming these foods damages your metabolism and the Systems of your body.

For example, non-calorie sweeteners destroy your metabolic response to real sugar, increasing your risk for obesity and diabetes. Your mouth senses the sweetness coming in and stimulates the release of insulin to deal with the sugar, but there is no sugar to metabolize. If that wasn’t enough, they also destroy your good gut bacteria, making weight loss much more difficult.

If you follow the 7 Systems Plan, you know that sugar can be more addictive than cocaine, but sugar is not the only culprit. Salt, fat, and dairy can also be highly addictive.

As described by investigative reporter Michael Moss, author of the 2013 book, “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us,” food manufacturers go to great lengths to find the perfect blend of salt, sugar, fat and additional flavorings to excite your brain’s reward center, thereby assuring you will be back for more. In addition to those basics, the food industry also employs other strategies to increase their products’ addictive nature. This includes:

• Dynamic contrast — This is when a combination of contrasting sensations produces pleasurable sensations, such as biting through a crunchy chocolate shell, followed by a soft, creamy center filling

• Salivation response, which boosts taste and feelings of pleasure. Examples of foods and/or ingredients that promote salivation include butter, chocolate, ice cream and mayonnaise.

• Rapid food meltdown and vanishing caloric density —foods that quickly melt in your mouth trick your brain into thinking you are not eating as much food as you really are, despite the fact you are stuffing in plenty of calories. A prime example of a snack food that has perfected this is Cheetos.

• Sensory specific response — Repetitive flavors, or flavor overload, tend to lead to decreased sensations of pleasure. In short, you “get tired” of eating the same flavor again and again. Your palate can even tire of a flavor within minutes.

Processed food manufacturers circumvent this by creating more complex flavor and sensory profiles. The greatest successes, whether beverages or foods, owe their “craveability” to formulas that pique your taste buds just enough without overwhelming them, thereby overriding your brain’s inclination to say “enough”.

• Calorie density —Junk foods are designed to convince your brain that it is getting nutrition, but to not fill you up. This is accomplished by combining the ideal ratio of calories to prevent satiety signals from going off.

So how can you get yourself out of the trap set up by junk food manufacturers?

We go through this in much more detail in the Course (see lesson four of the Structural System), but let me give you 3 steps:

Find three things to break your addiction to food.

Find the Food

Almost everyone has a food they cannot control themselves with. What food is it that you need to not have around that could get you in trouble?

See if you are a food addict with this test. If you score greater than 14 you have a problem that needs to be addressed.

FOOD ADDICTION TEST

Find the Emotion

Is there an emotion that is driving you to eat: stress, loneliness, anger…

Emotional eating and food addiction are very real problems. If you find yourself reaching for comfort foods on a regular basis, it can lead to significant problems, both physically and psychologically.

Physically, emotional eating can lead to obesity and related health problems. Psychologically, it may delay or prevent you from addressing your true emotions and sources of stress.

Your emotions and food intake result in a cascade of biochemical reactions, and these chemicals can have a potent effect.

Find an Alternative

What is a healthy alternative to eating comfort foods? If you are stressed, going for a walk can be a great outlet. If you are lonely, connect with a group at church or work to meet your social needs. Or even adopt a pet.

Want to learn more? Check out the 7 Systems Plan Course. In the addiction lesson you will learn:

• Food addictions are real

• How to know if you are addicted

• The most addictive foods

• What causes addictions

• How addictions are bad for your physical and emotional health

• The gut’s role in addiction

• How to rewire your brain to correct addictions

• 7 steps to breaking food addictions that really work

Video for the Week

Introducing Neuro Balance

If you have food addictions and struggle with carvings check this very helpful product.

PRODUCT INFO SHEET

NutriDyn’s Neuro Balance is a comprehensive formula that contains bioactive forms of key vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and plant extracts; due to their role in neurotransmitter production, these nutrients support healthy appetite, cognition, and mood.

Neuro Balance works by supporting healthy levels of key appetite-regulating neurotransmitters—particularly dopamine and serotonin.

Appetite is largely a brain-related effect, thanks in part to a peptide called neuropeptide Y (NPY). Expression of NPY stimulates the mesolimbic reward center that is responsible for the pleasurable feelings during eating and other activities (mostly due to the increase of dopamine and serotonin in the brain).

Neuro Balance contains key ingredients that support healthy levels of dopamine and serotonin, which in turn emulates the feelings of pleasure and reward that NPY typically creates.* Therefore, Neuro Balance helps support healthy appetite and feelings of well-being.*

Vitamins and minerals in Neuro Balance, such as chromium and pyridoxine, assist in the production of dopamine and catecholamines through a variety of pathways.* Moreover, Neuro Balance contains potent herbal extracts, such as 5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) and Rhodiola rosea. These ingredients support the proper synthesis and transport of serotonin, an appetite-regulating neurotransmitter.

Rounding out the Neuro Balance formula are amino acids such as L-tyrosine, L-glutamine, and DL-phenylalanine, which have been shown in research to support healthy appetite and mood.*

Research cited herein suggests that the nutrients contained in Neuro Balance can support healthy appetite, mood, and neurotransmitter production.* Moreover, these nutrients work in concert to support energy production and blood flow to the brain.*

Neuro Balance benefits may include:

• Supports healthy mood*

• Supports healthy appetite*

• Supports blood and oxygen flow to the brain*

• Supports neurotransmitter production and neural tissue*

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.