Objectives:

1. Students will understand the attributes that characterize a food addict

2. Students will breakdown the different causes and theories of food addiction

3. Students will identify the differences between obesity and food addiction

 

Lesson:

Demonstrating the Drive of Food Addicts (Interactive Hook) - 5 min

• Ask students if they want to play a game where they do not know the action they have to do, but the reward will be a full size bag of candy

• After three students do an odd activity and receive their award, explain how the activity resembles the drive that food addicts have to eat food

 

Describe Food Addiction (Introduction); Source: Varies - 1 min

• Q: What do you think food addiction is?

• Define Food Addiction:

• “an addiction to highly processed foods that are typically high in added sugar, fat, and salt” (Gearhardt et al.).

• “If food addiction has the same internal dysfunction as an addiction, the internal dysfunction would be the compulsive relationship between eating (the behavior) and addictive foods (the substance)” (Lemeshow).

 

The Difference Between Food Addiction and Obesity (Lecture); Source: Varies - 2 min

• The definition of obesity is an abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health or a BMI over 30 (Karson)

• Only 41.5% of obese patients in this study with BED [binge eating disorder] met the food addiction threshold (Gearhardt et al.)

• There is a strong association between BED and food addiction but there are also indications that show that not everybody that has BED also has food addiction

 

The Social Media Connection (Lecture); Source: (Yildirim et al.) - 2 min

• Study revealed the relationship between the Internet and food addiction

• People feel safe online and lack that confidence in real life which increases the probability of forming an addiction

• The access to social media were people make their lives flashy lowers others self esteem

 

The Definite Characteristics of Food Addiction (Lecture); Source: Varies - 3 min

• Increased binge eating during childhood tends to last the rest of people’s lives (Gearhardt et al.)

• Symptoms to watch for include failure to complete major obligations at work, continuing to eat mass amounts of unhealthy food knowing the effects, and consistently having strong cravings (Lemeshow 11).

• Low self esteem has a factor in food addiction and compulsive eating (Yildirim et al.)

• The constant desire for food is driven by the rewarding neurological properties (Volkow et al. 3191)

• Food accessibility increases the likelihood of eating constantly (Volkow et al. 3194)

 

The Worldwide Food Addiction Statistics (Conclusion); Source: (Karson) - 2 min

• 97% of people on a diet regain all of their weight they lose within three years

• 671 million people in the world are considered obese

• 50% live in only ten countries: the US, China, India, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, and Pakistan

• 16.9% of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 are considered obese

 

Materials:

• Candy for activity

• Pictures of statistical graphs

• Various photos of unhealthy foods

• Handout of the statistics