Episode 5: Food Addiction Is Real

May 05, 2024

Welcome to Episode 5 of The Road to Carnivore Podcast!

In this 18-minute episode we learn about food addiction, and how understanding this is the baseline for changing your eating successfully long term. 

Most of the foods we are surrounded by are hyperpalatable foods, meaning they are carefully crafted and designed combinations of carbs, sugar, fat, and salt. These foods are excessively pleasing to our tastebuds and the reward systems in our brain. Think things like brownies, potato chips, fast food, or anything you have a hard time controlling yourself around.

If you do start getting closer to a carnivore way of eating, you’re generally not going to be eating sugar and carbs, so understanding these addictive and hyperpalatable foods is key. A lot of people limit these foods in the beginning using willpower, but that doesn’t last over the long term.

In the episode, I discuss the two main solutions to overcoming food addiction, and which method I have found to work best in my own experience.

 

Where to Listen:

Show Links and Resources:

Food addiction: A common neurobiological mechanism with drug abuse

Images of desire: food-craving activation during fMRI

Intense Sweetness Surpasses Cocaine Reward

Understanding Carb Addiction Part 1 – by Dr. Robert Cywes

Understanding Carb Addiction Part 2 – by Dr. Robert Cywes

Carbohydrate Addiction – This is the holy grail – by Robert Cywes

Gillian Riley’s Eating Less Online Course

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) from the American Psychiatric Association

DSM 5 Criteria for Substance Use Disorders