nutrition facts

Most of us are fond of at least one product that has the effect of a stimulant and that eventually becomes an addiction. These products include exercise stimulant drinks (they come in cans and look like cola)
fizzy aerated drinks
tobacco
betel nut
betel leaf
strong coffee
strong tea
mahuang (an ephedrine-like compound consumed in china)
and alcohol.

Before I tell you why we shouldn’t consume these products
I’d like to deal with the question of why we do consume them in the first place.

There’s no one who doesn’t know that products like these
consumed in excess
can severely harm our bodies. Yet
we still find them hard to resist. The need to eat stimulant food is a simple human weakness that has existed for ages: humans (and many animals) have always indulged in foods that give a sort of emotional high. In clinical terms
this means rapid heart beat
a little sweating
dilation or constriction of the pupils of the eye
a warm flush on the face
and a sense of greater sensitivity
concentration and perception.

These sensations of ‘high’ die down within a few hours
and we are left feeling listless and low. This leads to a craving for that food again
to experience the high one more time. And there we are going round and round in a vicious circle.

The physiology of addictions is as follows:

When you eat an addictive food
it stimulates the hormone like substances found at the end of your nerves
which triggers an avalanche of similar stimulatory substances and you experiences a high. As the substances near the nerves are depleted
you get into the low phase
which leads you to crave that food again. This yo-yo phase of nerve stimulation and depletion leads to a pattern of addiction.

Consuming addictive foods is one of the oldest unhealthy food practices and
despite a revolution in health consciousness; it shows no signs of dying out.

Below are some side effects of certain addictive foods.

Alcohol Addiction: Erosion of stomach and intestinal lining
liver damage
nutritional deficiency.

Tobacco: Erosion of gum and tongue can lead to cancer of the buccal mucosa.

Betel nut: Leads to the discoloration of teeth
erosion of the lining of the mouth
and cancer of the mouth and upper tract. It also leads to heart problems among people who already have a weak heart.

Ma huang: It contains ephedrine and leads to heart problems.

Aerated drinks: High doses of caffeine.

Caffeine and xanthine: Found in tea
coffee. These become harmful only in very high doses; don’t consume more than five cups a day.

Mixed drug reactions: People who consume medications for the heart
hypertension and asthma have to be very careful about the interactions of the drugs with stimulant foods
as mixing the two can be fatal. After years of experience
all doctors know how difficult it is to break the food addictions of their patients. So like them
I can only advise a good compromise. If you can’t break the addiction
then at least you should practice moderation.