There is a lot of blaming of food companies at the moment for adding sugar, salt, fat etc and the result being our spreading waistlines.
Generally speaking, I don’t think there’s an addiction as such. Our mouths get used to a flavour and then it has to be more intense.
Take spicy food for instance. When you first get into curries, you’ll probably have a gentle one then over time it loses its kick so you have to add more spices or order a stronger curry in a restaurant.
Salt – I’ve worked in a care home and the elderly residents (90s+) would ask for salt. You’re thinking “that food already has salt in it” (the chef would prepare exactly the same food for the staff so I know it’s got enough salt) so you pour a little bit and stop. They say, “Keep going!” so you pour it on like it is ketchup or gravy. (And these are people who were brought up during WW2 and the poverty that followed so didn’t eat really salty food such as microwave dinners or fast food.)
Sugar – similarly, it’s very easy to find that sugary food doesn’t taste as sweet so you end up buying more sugary foods. That is why you shouldn’t eat fruit after eating a sweet pudding – it just won’t taste as nice.
The hard truth is that we’re just eating too much. Time to stop blaming others and decide to make the right choices for ourselves.
And if you really do think you’re addicted to sugar, then I can guarantee that if you cut out this addiction, you’ll end up taking up something just as poisonous unless you deal with the root cause of your addiction by speaking to a qualified therapist.