Addictive foods: why you can’t stop eating them

Addictive foods

• Pizza
• Hamburger
• French fries and in bag
• Fried chicken
• Biscuits and Sweets
• Ice-cream
• Gummy candies
• Chocolate

Pizza: ingredients are addictive

Pizza is one of the most addictive foods. We are not talking about healthy products, with raw materials selected and prepared by the leavening pizza maker, but about packaged and industrial products, where the presence of quality ingredients is almost non-existent. Industrial ready-made pizzas often contain ultra-refined flours , additives that force leavening and preservatives .

Better to opt for artisanal pizza prepared with wholemeal flour and durum wheat , therefore with lower glycemic indexes , mother yeast and fresh and genuine toppings .

Dark chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most addictive foods ever.

The higher the sugar, fat and powdered milk content , the greater the doping power and the lower the health benefits that, for example, dark chocolate boasts , rich in antioxidants that reduce oxidative stress . The ideal is to consume dark chocolate, with cocoa content exceeding 70%, in small daily doses of a maximum of a couple of squares, as recommended by nutrition experts.

Cookies and breakfast cereals

Even breakfast , if prepared with packaged and industrial products, can prove to be a particularly insidious meal. Think, for example, of biscuits, rich in preservatives, sugar, salt, additives and fats. One leads to another and, moreover, their consumption takes place very quickly and therefore we tend to overeat.

Better to prepare them at home, or check the ingredients on the label very carefully . Similarly breakfast cereals contain high levels of salt, sugar and fat. In this case it is better to prefer natural raw cereal flakes and mix them at home, with the addition of dried fruit , seeds and fresh fruit to create a healthy  muesli .

French fries

Salt and fat. Mainly responsible for french fries addiction. The rest is an almost non-existent nutritional framework: foods without great nutritional values ​​and which, despite being eaten in quantity, are not even filling.

Better to prepare them at home, with good oil for frying, with a little salt but aromatic herbs , and perhaps, even better, in the oven.

Ice Cream and Sweets

Ice cream is another addictive food, although healthy alternatives do exist. The packaged, and therefore industrial, one is mostly produced with fats and sugars in very high percentages. By choosing an artisanal product, prepared with quality ingredients, and consuming it instead of a meal, and not as a dessert, the damage caused by addiction is limited.

Similarly, cakes and snacks represent a notable pitfall for the temptation of adults and children. The simultaneous presence of salt, sugar and fat is harmful. In this case it is better to limit industrial sweets and make them at home, reducing butter and sugars, thus also lowering glycemic levels .

Fast food food

It’s called junk food , or junk food, and is often associated with that served in fast food restaurants: eating quickly, often of poor quality, fried and over-seasoned with salt, sauces, and therefore rich in saturated fat and salt.

In this case, the health risks of excessive and continued consumption of foods of this kind are more concrete than ever and have to do with colorectal cancer , obesity, type 2 diabetes , renal failure , hypercholesterolemia , and heart problems. Better to cook a healthy hamburger at home, limiting the fillings (perhaps not adding bacon or cheddar in quantity, but preferring fresh ingredients such as vegetables ).

The same addiction is also created by fried chicken nuggets or wings: the crunchy and tasty breading (thanks to the abundant use of salt and spice mixtures) accompanied by sauces of all kinds. Also in this case, it is better to opt for homemade breadcrumbs and fried foods, no more than twice a month, as experts suggest, or, even better, cook the chicken in the oven.