What is an addiction many people don’t realize they have?

You're not supposed to eat any of those things on any regular basis. Those are def cheat meals to eat sparingly when you've planned to go a little crazy with your diet

Add in processed wheat flour and processed fats

All known as 'White Death' .... foods we are all easily addicted to and have little to no nutritional value.

That isn't addiction though, that's lack of options. If you cut out sugar or sodium from your diet you probably aren't going to go through withdrawal. Unless you're meaning more of a psychological addiction.

I'm a filthy vegan and former tobacco smoker that doesn't indulge in sweets. I'm scared to actually calculate my salt intake as I over season everything I eat. For a while I thought I was being healthy not using table salt on anything, until I realized hot sauce and tamari are essentially liquid sodium.

Reminds me of my favorite food, the KFC Double Down. That bad boy had so much sodium they had to take it off the permanent menu (much to my salt-loving dismay) due to the number of warnings about its salt and fat content.

Still pissed that my local KFC shut down and that I missed the month that it was brought back for (only saw the commercial for it 3 days before it ended when the nearest KFC was like an hour or so away).

2500mg is also just not a lot of sodium. 2000 calories is also a recommended daily amount but it's far too low for a lot of people.

I've lost over 150lbs, and can easily say sugar intake is closely tied to metabolism and brain activity. The habits formed around sugar intake are the hardest to control. It can be a major tax on mental agility and sharpness if a person is in the habit of using sugar to supplement their diet constantly. They can really struggle to find a different balance with healthy foods. There are a range of other factors that come into play that make it difficult. Chiefly, American budget food is typically very low quality, and most people have several minor food allergies. This makes people rely on junk food, likely unaware of issues like lactose intolerance that makes them unable to access healthy calories. Dairy is in EVERYTHING in American food. Like stupid stuff too. There is milk in most chips now. Like who the F puts milk in chips. It took me nearly a decade to fix how I eat, and realize we were all pretty much raised to be stupid consumers of whatever garbage is placed in front of us as Americans. Fixing the sugar addiction usually means fixing a bunch of other problems too.

Spice can be a addiction? Keralities/indians be like💀

Everything nice

I threw up on an international flight because I didn't have caffeine

Do you mind sharing why you went back?

@Thorny_Thicket @qooqie
I could be wrong but this sounds surprisingly like the "I don't actually need it, I can quit at any time, I just don't want to" trope.
Just put of curiosity if you switched to decaff for a month or something would you notice or feel any difference?

I'm not a coffee drinker so I don't really know what it's like. (I'll do tea every now and again but nothing daily or multiple times a day)

I had that as well. Didn't feel any real benefits/effects from it and also no abstinence symptoms but drank coffee occasionally because of taste.

Then my high blood pressure was discovered, I was put on medication and since then I feel the rush of caffeine and unfortunately the headache after withdrawal as well.

Same for me. Had to quit cold turkey because of gastritis and later an operation and it was fine. Headache for a day and obviously the ritual of morning coffee was gone, but that's it.

I can stop whenever I want!

I haven't found enough content on Lemmy to keep me interested daily...

I don't know if you are using the web UI or an app, but I found that if you use a mobile app it gets even more addictive. I had to delete Connect from my phone because it made it easier to just sit and scroll. Now I'm doing that on the web anyway, argh...

I haven't yet become addicted to Lemmy. Still relapsing from a decade of Reddit. I barely remember how to live without it.

My take: If you are at a low point in life, have a mental disorder or are depressed, your chances of getting addicted over time is greatly increased and you probably shouldn't consume without medical supervision (even then, THC-less weed might be better for you). It's really hard to get out of the habit once smoking weed slowly becomes the only thing that can give you joy/relaxation, and your mental situation worsens long-term.

In most other cases your risks are very small and you definitely should try it sometime. Every person reacts a little differently, hence the many opinions out there. I say just try it, see how it makes you feel and if you decide to consume regularly, try to be mindful of any negative habitual/bodily changes that long-term use may cause.

As the other person pointed out, weed is not physically addictive. But almost anything can be mentally addictive

Its not particularly dangerous when compared to alcohol, but its definitely not harmless. It isn't addictive in the sense that it causes a chemical dependency, but its very easy to over rely on because its simply a cheap easy way to feel good. There was a period in my life where I would say I was addicted to it. Any other pleasure in my life wasn't relevant unless I was combining it with marijuana, and despite what I believed at the time it didn't make me creative or productive. I was a walking stereotype of a lazy stoner. I only quit because I was forced to after losing my job for a surprisingly unrelated reason. I felt like garbage for days on end after stopping and only then did I realize it was a problem. At this point I have a much healthier relationship with the drug, I usually only partake in social situations with some rare exceptions. How bad the drug is really just depends on who's using it and how they're using it.

I'd say you should take what people tell you at face value unless they're a close friend. There was a commenter here who said they had to stop reading book because it was addictive to them. Anything can mess up someone's day. Weed makes some people not feel okay. It makes some people want to smoke it (or eat gummies or whatever) way too often. Plenty of other people have totally fine relationships with it.

Unless you really have a view into someone's life I wouldn't worry about trying to decide if they're lying and if something like an intervention is necessary.

How wholesome ♥️

kratoz29 is our friend now ☭

There is lemmynade enough for all

You don't want to lose the only people who care for you, right?

I fucking don't.

Definitely agree with you on how Reddit and forums are different, but they can still be pretty addictive. I just love reading discussions about stuff, and it really scratches an itch that is not satisfied by social media that is centered around personalities. I hate all the self promotion on sites like Twitter and Instagram anyway, as despite there being a lot of cool stuff, there are so many "influencers" and grifters out there it's honestly a massive turnoff to use the sites.

Add in that you can just check how the algorithm that sorts your posts works. Social media like Facebook have always felt like 100% ads with how content is sorted. If not for anotherproduct, an ad for Facebook itself.

Work Yes. But as a former workaholic there is that time where you do it like an addict. You sacrifice health, relationships, and joy. It winds up consuming you like any other addiction.

Right. I don't work because I'm addicted to it lmao

I don't mean work in general. I mean when it becomes like the normal addictions we think of and it consumed you.

I believe it is the inclusion of HFCS in just about everything which is known to be addictive.

...said the codependent :P

I click on titles I find interesting, but I'm personally not a scroller. But I have friends that do go down that rabbit hole for large chunks of time at a time.

Short form content can be scarily addicting.

Well at least your data is not going to the Chinese governments.

Came here to say sugar. It's a motherfucker

What, you don't say‽

Of course. In fact, the most addictive kind is sparkling water

You joke but eating to mask feelings is common and food is the worst addiction to have because you can't just not have it like with drugs or alcohol. You can't avoid food when you need it to survive so maintaining recovery is extremely difficult.