In the same vein, salt.
Try to stay under the daily recommended amount of 2500mg of sodium and see how limited your food options are.
Everything is loaded with salt now. Especially fast food. For example, my previous go-to meal at Zaxby's (the boneless wings and things plate) is over 4000mg of sodium for one meal. Add on a 1300mg sausage, egg, and cheese mcgriddle and a fried rice with soy sauce for dinner and I had several days worth of sodium without totally blowing my calorie budget.
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
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.
That's a fair point. But there is definitely a "tolerance" you build up and can be reset. After being on a low sodium diet, anything like what I mentioned before is almost inedibly salty.
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.
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.
Yep. My favorite hot sauce has 1200mg of sodium per two tablespoons... And I would drench my food in that shit.
Same with soy sauce. Each of those little packets you get from your favorite Chinese place is probably at least 300mg of sodium.
Yeah I got through a... whatever, a giant jug of Frank's hot sauce, I guess half a gallon. Every time I used it I'd visibly bloat up from the sodium, but was probably using a quarter cup minimum every time.
Tried my best to use USA measurements for American people's benefit. The jug was >2 litres and we're talking 60ml a pop, absolute minimum. Apparently that's five grams of salt, nearly 2000mg sodium. Wow.
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.
2000 Cal is probably within 30% of what most people should have daily. But your typical American food is going to be 100-200% higher than the daily recommended amount. A Panera Bread French Onion soup in a bread bowl is literally 90% of the daily sodium, but not even half of the daily calories. Remove the bread bowl and it's still more than 1200mg of sodium for less than 400 calories.
The biggest thing I look at now when picking out meals is the sodium to calorie ratio. Anything over 1.2 is probably not good.
Canned soup is especially bad about sodium, and they're sneaky about it. They'll say that each can has two servings and each serving is like 800mg of 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).
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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.
Yeah, I hear you - I have an intense sugar addiction, and eat an absolutely disgusting amount of chocolate (see username). At least otherwise I eat pretty healthy.
By the way, the reason milk is in so much is because of how much cheese we eat. When they make cheese, they separate out the whey, which they used to throw away, but now they use in stuff. It has a lot of names: whey, lactose, milk solids, and others. If you're lactose intolerant, you have to watch for that for the same reason you don't have to worry much about hard cheeses: the lactose is mostly in the whey, which comes out of the cheese.
This is why I've started limiting my sugar to once a week. It's working pretty well. The cravings dropped decently after a few days.
Caffeine, people think they aren’t addicted to caffeine and can stop any time but watch them be miserable and go right back when they try. And in the same vein adderall for those college kids who are cramming before tests
I have adhd. Caffeine I definitely feel the symptoms when I stop. My adhd drug (Focalin, not aderall) I just feel the ADHD symptoms more but no headaches and such.
Headaches?! Yes, the first evening, after that, nothing. No flu like symptoms, no nothing. It's just a habit for me but doesn't fuck me up if I don't do it.
I'll happiely drink 4-6 red bull a day and another 1-4 coffee on top, but I don't care if there is none.
Weeks of headaches? Flu like symptoms? You guys sure you don't just have a placebo effect when quitting?
I began to say that there is no way you drink 4 to 6 Red Bull energy drinks and then top it with 1 to 4 coffee drinks on top.
Doing the math at the smallest amount (4 8-oz cans of Red Bull @ 80 mg of caffeine each puts you at 320 mg of caffeine. That is only a bit more than 1 Rockstar (300 mg).
If you really take in that much caffeine, then I would believe that you likely haven't abstained from caffeine for long enough.
Give it a try. Go caffeine-free for 1 weekend. I dare you. Stop taking in caffeine of any sort on Friday afternoon. You will likely call in sick to whatever you have planned on Monday.
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Everyone’s body is different, but when the pandemic hit and my partner and I became NEETs, I went from 8-10 cups of coffee per day (and often a sugar free energy drink on top) to zero. Cold turkey.
I gave up soda about 15 years ago. We’d have chamomile tea but that definitely doesn’t have caffeine in it.
Zero effects on either of us. We would have been lethargic probably, if we had to do anything. But we just slept until noon every day and lazed around/played games/watched stuff/cleaned until bed.
No headaches, no fluey stuff, nothing. Could be my brain chemistry, but I have no idea. I had been drinking 8+ cups every day for a decade (as long as I was at my last job.)
I did it last year for a week. As I said, first day I git a headache in the evening but that was it.
I'm calling bullshit that you get minimal effects going from regular (the most important part is regular) over 400mg (and upwards of 1000mg) caffeine in a day to zero.
Unless you're just a natural freak who doesn't become dependent on stimulants, you absolutely should feel like crap for at least a day or two.
Nope, no freak here, I got other substances that I can't quit as easily but coffee wasn't a problem at all.
Congratulations on your resistance to chemical addiction then. I still seriously doubt your claims though.
it sounds like you are angry at me for not getting side effects when stopping caffeine
placebo effect works in both directions. i just wanted to share my experience, that i don't suffer any side effects aside of some headaches. i wonder how many people feel bad because they believe they have too
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I've had to quit temporarily due to an injury and while it does suck at first, it's not as hard as something like nicotine. Doable if you have the motivation to quit but I eventually went back to drinking a few cups a day because the pros outweigh the cons for me.
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Well, I was still using nicotine at the time and coffee and smoking/vaping is just a powerful combination that made it harder to quit either. Despite quitting the former because nicotine addiction and putting stuff in your lungs is not good in general, I still like the buzz of coffee. Also, being able to power through a workday on very little sleep comes in handy a lot for me.
I drink several cups a day but even if I don't I still feel the same. I'm not one of those "don't talk to me before I've had my coffee" -guys. I just drink it out of habit and because I like the taste. I don't feel like it effects me in almost any way. I can even drink a cup few hours before sleep. I guess you could say it's an addiction since I do it every day and don't want to stop but I'd still rather just consider it a habit in my case.
@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 have the same coffee drinking habits, and someone challenged me to give it up for a week to prove I'm not addicted. I didn't have any symptoms but I was surprised to find I genuinely craved a hot drink several times a day. Hot water with lemon filled the gap until the week was over.
In my case I simply don't see the need to quit. I don't see it having a negative effect on my life and I don't believe it to be particulary unhealthy either.
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.
I tried cutting it out for a while to see if it was causing some anxiety (it wasn’t, it was just the world and lockdowns) but went from 2-3 large cups of chemex a day to 0 for about 8 weeks and it was frankly…. fine? I didn’t even get headaches. I count myself lucky, esp so since I am back to drinking coffee haha
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.
The odd thing is I didn’t even have headache first day, though I have experienced that another time (like when travelling and not having coffee). But this time I was having no caffeine (no tea, soda, etc either) and I did t experience any change. It gave me quite a surprise
Oh man. I get to experience all the addict tropes with caffeine. Slurping spilled coffee from the kitchen counter (less hygienic than vodka), panic-crying when were out of beans, snarling at my love ones until they take me to Peets or Starbucks.
Every once in a while (like every 18 months) I'll taper back down to sobriety (16 oz a day for two days, then 8 ozs then 4 or zero) and wow there's a level of giving zero fucks even below the iceberg. Maybe it's negative fucks or microfractional fuck-giving. But when I'm drying out, no goth, no cynic, no edge lord can stand a chance matching the degree of fuck non-giving I manage.
I legitimately thought I was coming down with a cold when I accidentally didn't get any caffeine for a day, lol
I need to, ironically, pick up some caffeine pills so I can quit. Last time I quit I waited until I started feeling like shit then took part of a caffeine pill, since I couldn't find smaller ones. Only had to take the one dose and I was good.
Algorithmic Addiction from Social Media consumption. An analogy would be Caffeine addiction from coffee consumption.
Most people who use smartphones are addicts and are far from being aware of it.
I will show you, I will close the app right know!
edit: I'm back. See? I told you I could do it.
Yeah I'm feeling that. I thought I had kicked up, but Lemmy is getting too good lately...
And Lemmy isn't even intentionally employing dark patterns to drive up my engagement.
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.
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I’m surprised not to see “Weed” here.
I don’t smoke anymore, cuz awesome anxiety. But I was hella addicted when I was younger. I’ve got a few friends who HAVE to smoke every day, or when they go out, or when they play video games, or when they wake up…
It’s not physically addictive, but damn can it ever be mentally.
Never tried weed myself, so I can’t speak from experience. However, I’ve heard all sorts of things about it. Some people say it isn’t addictive. Some say it’s totally harmless. Some say it’s not as bad as beer, but it does have some downsides. And then there are people who say they’ve decided to quit because of some negative effects it has. Who should I believe?
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.
Pot makes it easy to tolerate boredom, and as a result be boring.
I suppose one could say this about most drugs.
I keep trying edibles from time to time and I just don't get it. It just feels like I took a sleeping pill. I don't generally have problems falling asleep so this is undesirable. I don't feel any fun effects with it like I do with alcohol.
Is that just how some people respond to weed??? I don't get why people enjoy it. Maybe smoking it is different?
I've tried pot several times and at this point I'm fully ready to say it's just not for me. It definitely gets me high, but I find it extremely unpleasant. My point just being that yes, people will respond to it various ways and it depends on the individual.
It's not a cult. We're a tight knit community. Don't leave though, you won't like it if you leave. The world isn't great outside. You should stay. If you leave you won't be accepted anymore. We are your friends. You don't want to lose the only people who care for you, right?
With so many states (US) legalizing weed, people are quickly forgetting that yes, pot is a drug and yes, it is addivitve.
Cite your assertions:
Roughly 1 out of 10 people who use cannabis will develop a cannabis addiction. This number rises to up to 1 out of 2 people among individuals who use cannabis daily or near-daily. While males have higher rates of cannabis addiction, females typically progress more quickly to cannabis addiction than males. A number of factors can increase the likelihood of developing a Cannabis Use Disorder or addiction including: trauma, a personal or family history of alcohol or drug problems, lower income level, genetic factors, being male, persistent anti-social behaviours, persistent cigarette smoking, and positive response to cannabis at first use.
I've always referred to Reddit and other forum type sites as "anti-social media".
Nobody's here to gain clout. Nobody's here to get more followers. Nobody's here to try and be famous.
We're here because it's anonymous (if you want it to be), and because it's fundamentally different from mainstream social networking sites.
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.
It's different, in my opinion. You're not trying to expose yourself, you're not gonna change yourself so the others can think you're something you're not.
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.
I don't mean work in general. I mean when it becomes like the normal addictions we think of and it consumed you.
For profit social media as of now. I assuming but I may be wrong, that Lemmy has difference (lack of algo likely better for mental health?).
Btw, lemmydotworld users can make an alt for their country, interests or another generic instance to connect to all spaces (lemm.ee), use browse.feddit.de to find one.
An interesting book can put me in a similar situations to drug addiction. My wife had to put her foot down on my reading issues, and now I avoid books unless necessary. People are always confused when I explain it to them.
Omg finally another person! Sometimes I just can’t stop reading and I’ll stay up all night reading. During some specific sequences when I am reading a new book I experience euphoria. At one point I needed to stop myself from buying more books because it can get expensive when you are buying a new book every couple of days. One thing that helped, at least with the money issue, was discovering free web serials. Few are literary masterpieces, but there is enough to read that I can get my fix.
Many places have a classic resource that is full of free books that are funded by the government called libraries. You should check them out.
it can get expensive when you are buying a new book every couple of days
I mean, no offence but, what about libraries?
Not sure where OP is from, but libraries are far from common where I live. The last time I was in one was in college
If you're reading to the exclusion of all other things that's unhealthy but the idea you stopped reading is equally unhealthy. It would be better to continue reading with boundaries than to give up the betterment that reading brings.
You don't understand. There is no setting boundaries. It is a compulsion that can't be stopped.
Ditto. And it doesn't even need to be a very good book. I might quit after half the book but still, it got me for half a book.
And reading is so morbid (staring at a screen too, anyway). I mean, you sit like a corpse, staring. The action is all in your personal dreamworld. Divorced from the world. Very similar to a corpse.
I'm working on it.
Yeah man this is one I can admit.
The food is not even that good, but my body craves it. That's classic addiction right there.
I believe it is the inclusion of HFCS in just about everything which is known to be addictive.
Fast food is basically food-drugs. Gets you high via tongue and belly. Everybody must get high.
Music.
Some people won't drive without it. Or can't study, etc.
Obviously not a harmful addiction, or even undesirable in most cases - but generally unacknowledged.
I like most music, but it doesn't occur to me to go out of my way to play it for myself.
I have ADHD, so music helps me maintain focus when I'm (usually) unmedicated. That being said, I do have a very strong media dependency, so I get where you're coming from.
Omg finally someone like me. I only Listen to music when it's already playing or someone gives me an earworm or something like that. But usually i just don't open spotify unprompted.
I'm not codependent. I've literally never been in a relationship and I'm nearing 30. I agree with the above user that it's lonely and boring though.
Following sports. Being a die hard sports fan is time consuming and stressful. Obviously betting on sports is an addiction people talk about now, but even tipping comps and fantasy football type leagues are things that rob you of time and energy.
