Is fast food addictive?

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by Janet Farricelli CPDT-KA

Created on: June 12, 2009 Last Updated: June 20, 2009

While addiction is a pretty strong word which depicts a compulsion, obsession, or simply a dependence on a specific substance or behavior, when it comes to eating fast food, people perhaps feel better compelled to call it simply ''a bad habit''. Unless you have to desperatly go get your ''hamburger fix'' at midinight and nobody can stop you, it is quite difficult to imagine somebody suffering from fast food withdrawal symptoms. Therefore, eating fast food can be a bit a far off from being perceived as addictive as substances such as nicotine or alcohol. Yet, people crave fast food and eat it, regardless of well known health concerns deriving from its routine consumption. So there ultimately must be some mild level of addiction after all.

So what causes people to crave fast food so badly, that they care less about the fat, calories and the significant threats to their waist line? It must be a combination of flavors, textures, effective marketing strategies and convenience. All these qualities combined seem to effectively cancel out the negative effects and create a recipe for full blown fast food cravings at any time of the day.

In order to better understand how relevant fast food craving are, let's imagine for a minute that all fast food chain restaurants halted to exist. Yes, that includes your local Wendy's, that Subway on Main street, and all the happy yellow arches around town. How would human kind survive without any fast food restaurants should they suddenly vanish from earth?

Very likely children would be disappointed, crying for their happy meals. Working adults may be craving juicy burgers for their lunch break. Fast food fans may mourn the loss having a hard time accepting the disappearance of their favorite meals. Moms and dads may miss the convenience of not cooking for half a day and keeping their kids entertained for a few hours. Yet, the human population would ultimately get over it. Or at worse, they may attempt to recreate healthier favorite fast food dishes at home. Sorry Ronald McDonal, but at this point, your happy face could turn to a frown.

So is fast food really addictive? Not really. Would people be able to live without it? Certainly. There is a saying that where their is a will, there is power. It really depends on each person if fast food is a simple craving or a potential recipe for addiction. Let's take a closer look into what makes fast food so tempting and hard to live without.