Does the delicious smell of a bakery force you to stop and have some doughnuts?

Does the sight of dessert spark an irresistible desire to eat even when you’re already stuffed from dinner?

If you think about food all the time and feel the urge to eat constantly…

If you can’t say no, even when you want to…

If you suffer actual withdrawal symptoms when you try to change your eating habits…

Then you may be experiencing “hedonic hunger.”

According to Drexel University researchers, hedonic hunger is eating for pleasure in the absence of physical need.

They agree with previous researchers that this is contributing to the obesity epidemic.

But They Go One Step Further…

They suggest that your food environment can cause you to crave food and the pleasure of eating like a drug addict or a compulsive gambler.

What they mean by food environment is that delicious food creates a strong, almost irresistible motive to eat in an addictive manner.

So when food is always available as it is in affluent countries like the U.S., the motive to continually eat will be there even when you’re not near food.

The Drexel researchers believe that overeating is more than an indulgence or a response to stress or boredom.

They believe it’s an evolutionary behavior that helped humans survive during periods of food scarcity in the distant past.

Their theory is that the constant availability of delicious food, a tendency toward overeating, and deliberate attempts to avoid overeating will cause more frequent episodes of hedonic hunger.

And all of that explains the obesity epidemic.

I Have Mixed Emotions About This Theory

First, I believe food was much tastier before fast food joints sprang up on every corner and before all the bans on saturated and trans fats took place.

So why were we thinner as a society back then?

Well, the type of food we eat is more caloric these days. Have you ever looked at how many calories are in fast food chicken versus chicken you prepare yourself?

Then there’s the issue of addiction explaining the obesity epidemic.

While there are true food addicts who may experience withdrawal symptoms…

Are The Researchers Overlooking The Obvious?

Lifestyle.

Beyond lack of exercise, hardly anyone cooks any longer. We grab fast food even in the grocery store. Everything’s already prepared or you just throw it in the microwave.

It’s easy, it’s fast, and it’s mindless. But more than that, it’s part of today’s multitasking.

Try this.

Restrict yourself to eating only when you do nothing else. Actually set out a plate, glass and utensils. Sit down and eat.

No TV. No reading. No studying. No work. No driving.

Just eat.

Do that for a week. Doesn’t that feel foreign – even uncomfortable – to you? Don’t you feel like you should be doing something else in addition to eating?

Maybe that’s a cause of the obesity epidemic.