One of the things I like to keep my readers up to date on is what diet research is showing. Well, this past week I was perusing Dr. Oz’s site and he had an article on the four most addictive foods. I figured sugar would be there, but the other three surprised me. The dastardly four are sugar (no surprise), chocolate (a little surprise), meat (big surprise), and cheese (the biggest surprise).

Cheese

Was shocked to find that cheese is one of the most addictive foods.

What research is showing is that these four foods either directly have dopamine in them or they combine with chemicals in your body to create dopamine. Dopamine is a highly addictive drug. I can now have a little more empathy for people who say they absolutely cannot imagine becoming a vegetarian. They’ve become addicted to meat. I myself was addicted to sugar, but went on a 21-day sugar fast and that has totally cleared up. I can eat something with sugar or not. Makes no difference to me. I do eat some chocolate, but again not on a regular basis, and cheese I like and eat about twice a week, but was a vegan for nearly 3 years.

So now not only do we have high fructose corn syrup sucker punching our liver to create fat and making us feel like we’ve not eaten enough, so we overeat. We have toxins that are polluting our bodies and making us hold onto fat to keep ourselves from poisoning ourselves with the toxins. Now we have to look at whether we’re actually addicted to foods that have been touted as necessities for life (there are healthy, vibrant societies that don’t eat any of the dastardly four).

It also helps me to understand when someone tries to become a vegetarian and they say that they just felt horrible about three days in. They were having withdrawal symptoms. I was fortunate I didn’t have any of that with any of the dietary changes I made. I made them because I was ready for a new level of health and understood that the changes would help me reach that.

So, remember, what’s in your cupboard or fridge can hurt you. It’s time to arm yourself with knowledge of how to care for your body. We tend to pay more attention to our car than our own personal vehicle, the miraculous body. So, maybe you ought to take a peek under the hood and see how your “engine” is running.