There is an abundance of addictive substances in every supermarket and most local shops. Not alcohol or cigarettes, although they are bad enough, but the actual 'food' we eat. Every bit of processed food contains substances to which we are addicted because of the way we evolved. Foods such as TV dinners, ready meals, canned foods, snacks, candy, ice-cream, fizzy drinks all contain this stuff. Sugar, artificial sweeteners, MSG - the list goes on. The processed food manufacturers feed our addiction and feed their bottom line. Recent scientific research has shown that the sweet taste of sugar and artificial sweeteners is actually more addictive than cocaine. Other tastes may soon be found to be just as addictive. The reason is in our genes. Our ancestors learned that sweet foods were a source of high energy, high flavor foods were the most nutritious and salt was scarce. We evolved pleasurable reactions to those tastes - reactions that give more pleasure than hard drugs. Processed food manufacturers know this and load their 'food' with sugar, salt and flavor enhancers to fool our bodies into thinking they are getting nutritional value. The multi-national food producers have grown fat in the last few decades - along with the population. Their in-house boffins have invented all kinds of chemicals to stabilise, preserve, color and enhance the taste of nutritionally valueless junk food. We are fooled by the look and taste into thinking it's nutritious and buy it in ever increasing amounts. By clever marketing, a bean once thought to be too poisonous to eat has now become the number one 'health' food, even though it is known to be carcinogenic. Cheaply produced emulsions of vegetable oils and water are sold as a healthy alternative to butter. If it's low-fat, low sugar, anti-cholesterol, etc, it's marketed as a healthy alternative. There's an unholy alliance between the the multi-national food producers and the drugs companies. The loose regulation of drugs is a scandal, where profit reigns and public safety is way down the list. If we get an adverse reaction to a foreign chemical in our food, there's always a convenient cure for the symptoms provided by a drug company. The fact that the 'cure' may give us worse symptoms is not accidental - it's no good for business if we're all healthy. The obesity epidemic we are now seeing is a direct result of the prevalence of processed food. The average American family spends 90% of their budget on it. Because our genes make us addicted to taste, we become easy targets for the food marketers. Unfortunately (fortunately for them), having eaten a calorie laden, tasty ready meal, we soon need another because the nutritional value is so low. The result is that we eat far more calories than we need. Just the same as Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is to recognise that you are addicted. Are there some foods you just can't resist? The fact is that we are all addicted to some degree - it's part of our make-up. The Caveman Diet is not just about losing weight - any diet can do that. It's about adopting a healthier lifestyle and choosing to eat naturally produced food and changing your lifestyle. This life is the only one you have - better make the most of it.
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