Pieces of milk and wheat proteins can act like the body's own narcotics, the endorphins. Other food proteins product agents, so-called exophins, have narcotic-like activity. Effects produced on the brain by exorphines may contribute to the mental disturbance and appetite disorders. A number of researches were carried out on rats. During one of them, rats were fed with gradually increasing amounts of sugar. The more sugar they were given, the faster they ate it. And when they were suddenly left without sugar in their food, they had addiction-type reactions including anxiety, shaking, and chattering teeth.
Chocolate, coffee, and tea are considered to be the most popular addictive foods. Chocolate candies are based on various combinations of cocoa powder, cocoa butter, sugar, milk, and other ingredients. People who love chocolate often admit that they are addicted to it, and sometimes binge with unpleasant consequences. Post-chocolate symptoms are migraine headaches, joint and abdominal pains, mental agitation, and depression.
If you drink more than 2 cups of coffee per day, it may mean that you experience unpleasant withdrawal when you stop doing it. Irritability, fatigue, and headache are minimal sufferings. The widespread idea is that the effects of coffee are caused by one chemical, caffeine, which is misleading. There are more than 500 chemicals in coffee, and many of them are neurotoxic and produce drug-like effects on users.
Black tea and coffee have a lot in common, despite the fact that they are originated from different plants growing in different zones. Daily coffee consumption includes cyclic disturbance. You get up in the morning feeling irritability, clumsiness, forgetfulness, and you find it difficult to concentrate. After several cups of coffee you feel much better, but further collapse is inevitable. Angry outbursts, pleasure-loss, or absence of good-feelings can be results of a long time spent without addictive foods.
Unlike a problem with drugs, smoking, or alcohol, in which a part of the treatment means avoiding the substances, people still have to eat. So the main aim of treatment is to teach people to stay in healthy relations with food (especially with addictive foods). A group of different specialists often work together to help people with binge eating and addiction to some food. Dietitians try to help people learn healthy eating behaviors, portion sizes, exercise, and metabolism. They can also help to make up a plan for monitoring their progress.
Psychologists can help sufferers from binge eating disorders to realize connections between emotions, thoughts, and eating habits. They can also teach people healthy ways of reacting to stress and other negative emotions. Cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, treatment with medications, and self-help groups are different methods used for curing problems with binge eating and addictive foods.