Health: Addicted…to Bad Habits?

“The rate of obesity in the U.S. has more than doubled since the 1970s; two-thirds of U.S. adults are overweight or obese; research also shows that the heaviest Americans have become even heavier the past decade; 31.8% of children and adolescents are considered overweight or obese; 30.4% of low-income preschoolers are overweight or obese.”

I took those statistics from this article. I’ve read before that studies have shown that eating a high refined carbohydrate diet stimulates the same areas of the brain linked to substance abuse and dependence. In fact, I wrote a post about a finding that Oreos are as addictive as cocaine not that long ago.

You can read the article – the researchers conclude that restricting fast digesting, high glycemic carbs could help people reduce cravings and avoid overeating. I just wonder how many people would know what specific foods to eliminate, what to replace them with and be willing to do that. Very often people will use genetics as their excuse. Their whole family has always been overweight, so they are doomed. It’s been proven numerous times that we are much more influenced by epigenetics than we are by our own genes. Epigenetics is the science of how environmental factors influence your genes to express normally or abnormally, which results in health or disease.

I am not disputing the fact that you could be born with certain inherited genes that could cause health problems. Research shows, however, that your environment, lifestyle and habits – what you eat, drink, do, think, believe and are exposed to – is much more likely to affect your genes and your health!

So, yes, I believe certain processed, refined foods could cause you to crave and become addicted to them. In fact, I know they are created to do just that! I think the more important factor is to acknowledge that rather than feeling trapped by “bad genes” we need to acknowledge we have inherited some unhealthy habits and focus on changing them, since we can.

Do you believe most people are victims of bad genes or bad habits they’ve grown up with?

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