The Snack Food Trap

The snack-food trap When it comes to fatty foods such as chips or cookies, most people have a tendency to choose those foods because of their addiction to them. Foods high in fat or high in calorie have a drug like affect to those addicted to eating them. In addition, obesity has become a great deal because of all the consumption of these fatty foods. It not only affects a person’s health but has also affected their brain chemistry. In her article, The snack-food trap, Laura Beil discussed about how the obese response to fatty foods similar to those who respond to drugs; obesity research on overeating and how the brain chemistry is affected by the addiction to fatty foods. When it comes to obesity, fatty foods are like drugs to them. Their brains respond to the fatty foods almost like it has control over it. The fatty foods have an appeal to their craving and it becomes very hard for an obese person to resist. Beil quotes from Kay Sheppard who discussed about her food addiction to fatty foods. “ ‘Some people become obese because food has a druglike power over them…if you had control-if you weren’t out of control- wouldn’t you go on a diet and lose some weight?’ “(1). Not only does the fatty foods have a druglike effect, but the overeating becomes an issue. Obesity researches on overeating have been done on animals to test out the causes on eating too much. Researchers found that the animals that were fed tasty foods produced a chemical response in their brain. Beil quotes from Sarah Leibowitz who talks about the effects of palatable foods. “ ‘The more you eat, the more you want’ “(2). In the experiments that the researchers did on animals they also found out that the brain seems to attract us to high-calorie and low-nutrient foods. Beil also quotes from Mark Gold who discussed about tobacco addicts that led to obesity. “…eating may satisfy the same brain cravings that drive a person to addictive tobacco, alcohol, and drug use.”(2). Although the researches

Cited: BEIL, LAURA. “The Snack-Food Trap.” Newsweek 160.19 (2012):44-47. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Feb. 2013