Obesity- is it disease or addiction?

Many many discussions on this topic in the last week, with the AMA announcement of Obesity as a disease.
So, one discussion led to the comment that obesity is a result of addiction to food.
Because every time I talk to others about this topic, I always leave with my mind going on overdrive.

SO, can food be an addiction? Of course it can. We are all "addicted" to food. We require it, for survival. Our bodies do crave food. Just like the thirst mechanism, the hunger mechanism is an innate occurrence.
It's how we were made.
So, if someone obese says they are addicted to food, I would have to ask what kind? What if you were addicted to vegetables? What would be the likelihood of being overweight? One would have to eat a truckload of veggies to gain a large amount of weight.
So, the key to being addicted to food, would be clarified to high calorie/high fat food.

Which is also true. People who eat fast food a lot, do crave more, because there are so many empty calories. The high number of calories and fat lack the essential nutrients that our bodies need. Vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein. Not only that, the trans-fats, the high fructose corn syrup, the white refined flour, is also feeding our body things it doesn't recognize, thus causing one to crave more of it.

I recently watch a movie on how Hot Dogs were made, and I don't think I could ever eat another hot dog. It was all that "goop" in a big vat, where they poured in 50 lb bags of salt, and spices and then squirted corn syrup into it. It didn't look like meat. The amount of meat was such a small percentage.

So, do you really know what you are putting in your body?? Do you read the labels? And further more, do you know what it means??
Did you know that Trans-fats can be labeled at "partially hydrogenated"...?
Did you know that MSG comes in 6-7 different terms? Think about when you bake something at home, from scratch. A couple of days, it starts to go bad. Not processed food, like twinkies, boxed dinners.

Processed Cheese can last 3-4 weeks in the fridge, where as a hard cheese will start to mold or spoil within about a week. Think of bread, made with yeast, will start to mold very quick if it's whole grain, vs white bread, (refined and processed) that can last a lot longer.
I can go on and on, about the negatives of fast food, processed food, boxed meals, but I won't bore you with the details.

Eating this type of food, is addicting, because it doesn't have what your body needs, or wants, and because of it, your body wants more and more, and doesn't recognize it, thus you can end up overeating, and with that , the waist line gets bigger....

So, the answer is yes, eating processed/ fast good is likely somewhat of an addiction, and does cause obesity. But it still goes back to personal choice. You can choose this type of diet or you can choose real food. But the kicker is, you have to fire up the oven and cook it.
Obesity is a result of eating this type of diet, not the root cause.
If you go back to the source and change it...your body will change too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y0QQrUvCjU

IN health...
Barb