Hedonic Hunger Could Make You A Food Addict
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.
Technorati Tags: overeating, obesity, obesity epidemic, hedonic hunger, food addiction
October 8th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Maybe I’m missing the point, but hedonic hunger sounds like a good old food trigger to me.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:57 am
Donuts get me every time.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
It’s really hard for me to eat without doing anything else cuz I’m just so busy all the time. But that’s probably why I eat too much cuz I don’t even realize how much I’m eating most of the time. It doesn’t have anything to do with the taste of the food.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:18 pm
I have to agree that fast food is a big part of weight gain. When I stopped cooking dinner every night, I gained a lot of weight because all I ate was fast food. I tend to overeat because I don’t want to waste it and it does have a lot of calories. But when you don’t have a family to cook for any longer, it seems silly to make an entire dinner for one person. I never thought of myself as hedonistic, just lazy.
October 8th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
You’re not lazy, Mary. It’s a change in lifestyle, that’s all. I don’t cook as much nowadays, either. I like the convenience of microwave food, but I don’t like the taste. I eat too much anyway. I think our lives are busier, but easier, if that makes any sense. I’m always looking for a way to get more time. If fast food helps me with that, I do it.
October 8th, 2007 at 7:17 pm
Too many researchers try to put fancy names to why people gain weight. They eat too much. How can you lose it? Eat less.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Whenever I’ve tried to get into the routine of setting the table and sitting down to eat with no distractions (except dinner conversation), I do eat less. But it’s hard to find the time to do that. Our lifestyles really have changed in a way that makes it too easy to overeat.
October 8th, 2007 at 9:42 pm
I can’t say I’ve ever had withdrawal symptoms, but I think the researchers are right that there’s so much food available to us today that it causes us to overeat. I can’t drive down the street without seeing a fast food restaurant or even a regular restaurant every couple of blocks.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:20 pm
Mindless eating hits the nail on the head for me. I eat when I read and watch TV, when I have to work on reports, it’s just too easy to keep eating without realizing what I’m doing. Also, I feel like I need to be doing something with my hands and not just sitting there. I used to be a smoker, maybe that’s part of the problem.