What Feels Good Now Can Hurt Us Later: A Real Talk on Food Addiction

Today, let’s have a real conversation—one rooted in love, concern, and honesty. This isn’t about judgment or perfection. This is about help, healing, and choosing life. Our goal is simple: to help one another live our best lives and not allow food addiction to quietly rob us—or our children—of health, energy, and longevity.

Let’s talk about comfort food, and more importantly, the connection between comfort food and food addiction. Just like drugs, alcohol, or any other form of abuse, anything that makes us feel good in the moment triggers something in the brain. Food is no different. Foods that are high in sugar, fat, and salt stimulate the brain’s reward system, releasing dopamine—the same chemical associated with pleasure and reinforcement. The brain receives the message: this feels good, do it again. When those foods are cheap, convenient, and easily accessible, the cycle becomes even harder to break.

Now let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture. The market knows exactly which foods are addictive, and those are often the foods made most affordable and most accessible. If you see “deals” where you can feed a family for under ten dollars, chances are those meals are loaded with sugar, salt, unhealthy fats, and preservatives.

Sugar, in particular, is one of the most addictive substances to break—sometimes more difficult than drugs. Think about it: drive-throughs open 24 hours a day, no different from liquor stores with drive-through windows. Easy access to addictive substances keeps people coming back, and food has been placed right into that same system.

Consider something as simple as French fries. At their core, fries are just potatoes sliced up. But when you go grocery shopping, do you feel an uncontrollable urge over a bag of potatoes? Of course not. So what makes fries so addictive? It’s the combination—the salt, the oils, and then the sweetness of ketchup layered on top. That salty-sweet mix hits the brain just right. It’s marketing, chemistry, and conditioning all working together, no different from how certain drugs are mixed to heighten their effects.

Now let’s look at our children. Why do kids love certain cereals so much? Why are they drawn to ice cream, candy, and chips? It’s not accidental. These foods are designed to trigger pleasure. And many of us, without realizing it, reward our children with junk food. Over time, their taste buds adapt to artificial flavors. Then when we offer fruits and vegetables, they push them away. It’s not because healthy food tastes bad—it’s because their bodies have been trained to crave chemicals, dyes, and excessive sugar. In trying to comfort or reward them, we may actually be doing more harm than good.

This is part of why we see such high rates of obesity, especially among children and young adults. And if we’re honest with ourselves, many of us feel a strong emotional reaction when someone tells us that weight loss requires giving up chips, ice cream, or junk food. That frustration isn’t random—it’s withdrawal. The brain wants ease and comfort, not discipline. It will always choose what brings pleasure now over what brings health later, unless we consciously retrain it.

Food addiction is real, and it plays a major role in obesity and chronic illness. But the good news is that it can be addressed. We don’t have to do this alone. We need circles of support—family, friends, accountability partners—people who are serious about eating better and living longer. We also need discipline at the grocery store, because what we don’t buy, we don’t have to fight at home. Artificial cakes, chips, and heavily processed snacks are not rewards. If we want something sweet, fruit is a better option. Frozen blueberries, smoothies, and whole foods nourish the body instead of harming it.

We also have to be honest about the consequences of our choices. Many of us are pre-diabetic or living with type 2 diabetes because of what we eat daily. Type 1 diabetes is genetic, but type 2 diabetes is largely driven by lifestyle and diet—and it’s rising fast. This is why we’re bringing this conversation to the forefront. Food addiction doesn’t make someone weak. It makes them human. But ignoring it puts lives at risk.

Belly fat, in particular, is one of the most dangerous fats to carry on the body. It’s linked to heart disease, diabetes, and inflammation. We want people to live. And living starts with awareness. If you find it hard to put certain foods down, or you feel out of control around eating, there’s a strong chance addiction is involved—and that’s not something to be ashamed of. It’s something to address.

Seek help. Talk to a credible doctor. Work with a medical dietitian. Build support around you. Do it for yourself. Do it for your children. Do it for the future you deserve. Recognizing the problem is not failure—it’s the first step toward freedom.

Let’s choose life. Let’s choose health. And let’s walk this journey together. Peace.