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Category: Food

  • Obesity, drug addiction, and dopamine

    Eating junk-food can be addictive, and apparently, it causes brain changes that look eerily similar to drug addiction. That’s the message not only from the rapidly fattening waistlines of Americans everywhere, but also from the Johnson and Kenny labs at the Scripps Institute. Food and drug addiction The idea that obesity is caused by a…

  • Triggers and relapse, a craving connection for addicts

    I’ve already written about one reason why cravings make quitting difficult (find it here). However, cravings and triggers are not just abstract concepts; they are well known, important players in addiction research and I think they deserve some more attention. What are triggers? A trigger can be thought of as anything that brings back thoughts,…

  • How does it all start? My thoughts on addiction causes and substance abuse

    I was talking with a friend the other night, and he asked me my opinion about the line between addiction and normal behavior. He was wondering whether I think that everyone who looks at porn is a sex addict. I don’t. (see some of our posts on sex addiction here) Still, the conversation made me…

  • How can I overcome all this sugar??? The dilemma of food addiction

    I’ve been asked by several people about the impact of sugar addiction and the possible ways for overcoming it. The dilema of food addiction Food addiction is especially difficult to fight because unlike drug addiction, you can’t simply stop eating, regardless of your willpower. This means that a person addicted to highly sweetened foods needs…

  • Addiction causes – Learned self regulation and its possible benefits for drug use problems

    In the first part of this little series on addiction cause and self-regulation I talked about some of the genetic influence on impulsivity that have been shown to also be related to drug use. In this next part, I want to drive home some recent ideas regarding learning related to self-regulation. It’s no secret that…

  • Addiction causes – Genetic variability related to attention, impulsivity, and drug use.

    It will probably come as no surprise to at least most of you that addiction is closely linked to problems of self-regulation (like ADD and ADHD). This is one of the main reasons that professionals view addiction as a disease, and not a choice. This post is pretty advanced, but it should leave you knowing…

  • About addiction: Exercise, stigma, marijuana, and friendhip.

    Here we are again. I’ve been slacking on this, but check out the new crop of great articles about addiction. As usual, if you press the title of this post, you’ll be rewarded with our relevant posts!!! MSNBC: Exercise may help prevent substance abuse – Here’s an article that reports on some of the findings…

  • Drug abuse statistics: American drug abuse and addiction

    In looking up some numbers for a recent post I put up on TakePart, I uncovered some amazing addiction and drug abuse statistics (most from 2007, so they’re probably higher by now). Addiction statistics highlights: Slightly more than half of Americans surveyed indicated that they are current drinkers (I thought it’d be higher) – Meaning…

  • More CPDD Addiction research: Addiction, exercise, recovery!

    Okay, this is probably the last addiction research update I will give focusing on the Reno conference. The rest of the stuff I learned will be incorporated into future posts. I’ve written before about the relationship between exercise and recovery (see here) and I will surely write more since for me, it was a big…

  • Emotional eating: A possible connection for food addicts

    Co authored by: Jamie Felzer Do you ever stuff yourself beyond capacity because you are depressed, feeling inadequate or self conscious? Are you a perfectionist with difficulty expressing and realizing your feelings, instead turning to food to take out your frustrations? If so, you may be linking strong emotions and eating- taking your inability to…