Is fast food addicting?

We have Subway here and Quisnos and Subway is ok, Quisnos is way better even tho their soups are the same.
I think fast food can be addicting. It's too easy, when I worked midnights I ate a lot of fast food. Gained some weight. Once I realized it I took it off fast by cutting out the fast food and trying to eat better.

 

Whole foods fill you up and don't leave you hungry an hour later like processed foods. And unlike fast food, whole food hasn't been altered and had things added to it to make it taste better (and thus addicting). So I don't agree with the above implication that healthy food is as addicting as fast food. Anything can be addicting, it's the degree to which it's addicting and the number of people it's addicting to. In that context, fast food is far more addicting. Junk food in general, unlike whole food, is actually made to be addicting. Most of what people are tasting is not real food, but the result of laboratory chemistry. That alone creeps me out and keeps me from wanting to eat that kind of stuff.

 

It really makes me feel for all the morbidly obese people out there that eat fast food and can't stop. It's almost not their fault. You have to be really strong and well educated about food to resist.

So sad.

 

There is a book called Food and Mood. I forget who it is by, but so true. banana is happy food. Eating them makes one happier.....for instance. Fast food makes you depressed.

 

Why would food that makes you depressed be addicting?

 

In the long-term it makes you depressed. In the short-term it might make you feel good, but then you crash and feel like shit again an hour or two later. It's a vicious cycle, but ultimately eating shit food does in fact lead to depression. It throws off your omega 3 to 6 ratios, and because it's nutritionally-deficient and loaded with toxins, it leaves you devoid of energy and clarity of thought.

It's the same way drinking too much alcohol makes a person feel good short-term, but regular use often leads to or coincides with depression. It's not hard to grasp.

 

Thanks for answering PR. I could not have put is so succinctly.

 

Using most things as a crutch for temporary feel good feelings is likely to fail one eventually. I got this from a scientific study...

 

Right, but when most people are looking for a crutch to provide temporary relief, they don't often turn to things that are healthy. That's what separates a crutch from a healthy practice which might genuinely improve one's mood and general outlook on a long-term scale.

 

Bananas are notorious for being toxic. Everywhere they're grown (Dole) deep 6's them in DDT then wraps them in thick blue plastic to let them come to maturity during which time the toxins seep through the skin.

Bananas are one of the most toxic foods available. I'm serious. I've seen it.

 

A crutch is often the excess of an activity, that could even be otherwise healthy. Sex is an activity that can improve health, yet a sex addict takes that activity to an unhealthy level. Drinking a glass of wine can be healthy but binging on alcohol is using it as a crutch and can take that to an excessive unhealthy level.

I guess that raises the question for me is eating any fast food a healthy practice? I'd think based on some of the images I see of those starving people in certain parts of the world, that eating fast food is certainly a better option in contrast, surely there are better foods to eat out there though. Again I think it's some of those secondary variables such as affordability and convenience which make fast food more appealing for many.

 

Try spending your maximum food budget on healthy food. I usually spend so much every week on groceries that it would be extremely wasteful to go out to eat instead of cooking what I already have at home.

The same concept applies to addictive drugs. Drug addicts are not generally the happiest people. Anything that compromises your overall well being can lead to depression, even if it does provide a very temporary high.

 

I do think it is addictive. If not the food itself the convenience of it is.

 

Fast food,like porn and some drugs,is a form of instant gratification,that can be make you feel good in the short term,but probably worse in the longer term.Maybe just stop and count to ten before you get that McDonalds or whatever it is.It's okay to indulge occasionally,but you need to know where the brakes are.

 

I had no difficulties quitting fast food from chains like Burgerking, Mac and KFC at all. I still go to the chippies about once a week but I don't get cravings the other days like I would have if I'd quit coffee or even bread (the latter is not addictive but just so common in my diet it is harder to remove from it than fast food). Fried potatoes are just very good food :biggrin:

 

I was responding to a post which mentioned eating which I took to meant as the act of, not a longitudinal effect. I wouldn't rest my longitudinal happiness on eating bananas.

Perhaps I misunderstood, it wasn't really typed out properly.

 

I think one danger of fast food, is people lose the whole idea of patience. They have no idea how long it takes to really grow the ingredients for these foods (or I guess in this case the processing)

I don't like when people complain about not being able to get food at my store when it is out of season. Accept nature!

 

If you are a junkie and you stop for a while you would find eating it makes you feel kind of ill after. If I had to when on the road I would stop for a burger but I sure feel awful after. Now I try to pick a salad or something away from the sandwich thing if possible and many FF joints are offering more of the better stuff. Not saying their salads are the best for us but probably better then fake meat, or mystery meat as I have called it for many years. It sure has never looked like a burger made at home nor like the one in their ads.

 

no, people need to stop being weak

 

kill a craving with some hot sauce, mustard, salt, and honey..