How Metabolic Disorders and Fast Food Addiction Are Connected... and Why It Matters
Obesity is often, but not always a problem in fast food addiction. Not everyone who eats fast food becomes obese, however, people who are addicted to fast food tend to all have a metabolic disorder or be on the verge of developing a metabolic disorder of some kind. Obesity is sometimes a part of the symptom picture, and sometimes not.
Iodine / Iodide Deficiency and Fast Food Addiction
Insulin resistance is a problem that has been slowly becoming more and more common over the past 30 years. Fast food consumption plays a huge role in causing insulin resistance as well as obesity issues in populations across the world. Fast food, after all, is “obesigenic”. It’s the ideal food item for causing extreme weight gain. And the high sugar content of fast food and soda in combination easily provokes insulin resistance. But in addition to the high calories and high refined sugar content, certain fast food ingredients also impact energy metabolism and our body’s ability to regulate appetite. The lack of iodine in the food supply in general causes the thyroid gland to become sick and functionally imbalanced. The thyroid is the main gland in the body that regulates metabolism and weight. When this gland is ailing due to iodine deficiency and bromide / fluoride toxicity, people gain weight quickly. Click here to read more about how to use Lugol’s iodine to lose weight.Click here to read more about bromide / fluoride toxicity and how it affects thyroid gland functioning.
As a vital nutrient, iodine was removed as a fortifying agent in bread products in the 1980s when the obesity epidemic began. It was replaced with bromide. Around the same time, mass fluoridation of the water supply worked to create further thyroid disruptions. Bromide and fluoride are two non-nutritive minerals that mimic iodine / iodide in the body because they look chemically similar to the iodine receptors. However, bromide and fluoride are very different from iodine / iodide so they cause disruptions in the physiology of the body when we’re exposed to a large quantity of these things during iodine deficiency. If other nutrient deficiencies are present too due to fast food addiction or poor diet, taking just a Lugol’s iodine supplement by itself won’t work. You’ll need to also take other nutrients that the body needs to break down the Lugol’s into its usable parts. Click here to read more about the Lugol’s iodine protocol for healing.
The AlivenHealthy Iodine Bible - Everything you need to know to get started taking iodine and more!
In addition to the importance of proper functioning of the thyroid gland, pancreatic function plays a huge role in fast food addiction. The pancreas relies on the thyroid gland to function properly. Thyroid hormones, after all, trigger certain pancreatic functions to occur. A thyroid gland that’s malfunctioning will lead to a pancreas that’s also malfunctioning. A thyroid gland that’s deficient in iodine can’t produce thyroid hormones as thyroid hormones are made with two main ingredients: iodine and L-tyrosine (see this article on fast food nutrient supplementation). If you’re deficient in iodine, your thyroid gland won’t be able to produce thyroid hormones. The lack of iodine fortification in food is a major reason why thyroid disease has become so common today. Below we’ll explain how thyroid issues can lead to fast food addiction through its impact on pancreatic functioning and dopamine levels.
Click here to read more about how iodine deficiency negatively impacts pancreatic health.
Insulin Resistance and Fast Food Addiction
While most people think of diabetes when they think of insulin, in fact, insulin plays a huge role in metabolic disorders through its role in the central nervous system. Scientists have shown that frequent consumption of fast food can cause central nervous system insulin resistance as well as leptin resistance. This, in turn, can lead to an addictive response to food.The pancreas is the organ that produces insulin in the body. But the pancreas is not just an organ of digestion. The pancreas has a noteworthy, structural relationship with the central nervous system. Throughout life, the pancreas is also wired into the central nervous system functionally. The amino acid, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is made alongside insulin in the beta cells of the pancreas. This amino acid, GABA, regulates the relationship between pancreatic enzyme release and insulin release. Of course, the pancreatic enzymes help the body digest food which is then absorbed into the bloodstream. In the bloodstream, absorption of nutrients depends on insulin levels.
But this vital relationship between a healthy pancreas and a healthy central nervous system relates to the fact that the brain uses a lot of energy for thinking. The frontal lobe, in particular requires a huge quantity of calories for thinking. When the frontal lobe is very active, the exocrine pancreas (which produces GABA and insulin) is also very active. When the pancreas is successful at its job, it leads the body into the production of neurotransmitters, particularly dopamine.
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Dopamine, Fast Food Addiction, and the Pancreas
Thyroid dysfunction and thyroid hormone imbalances lead to pancreatic dysfunction and issues related to insulin secretion. A person who is addicted to fast food is extremely likely to have either a severe iodine deficiency or a deficiency of one of the nutrients involved in metabolizing iodine into usable parts. Iodine deficiency causes thyroid problems which in turn cause pancreatic problems which lead to insulin resistance and a general inability of cells to be able to heal themselves. And if that isn’t bad enough, pancreatic dysfunction causes a lack of dopamine in neurons. This lack of dopamine causes addictive behaviors.Lugol’s iodine supplementation promotes weight loss naturally, it stabilizes heart function by improving heart rhythm, lowering blood pressure, lowering cholesterol, and safely thinning the blood. Iodine, when there is plenty of it present in the body, attaches to insulin receptors to improve blood sugar metabolism. That being said, for those with thyroid disease who are deficient in iodine, it’s vital to start the Lugol’s iodine protocol by taking the supportive nutrients first for at least 2 months. These nutrients promote proper utilization of iodine in the body and they can prime the thyroid gland to balance its activities before iodine is reintroduced into the body. Click here to learn more about how to supplement with iodine if you have a thyroid disease.
Addiction and dopamine deficiency go together. Pancreatic dysfunction and dopamine deficiency are also related problems. This is why we recommend doing Enzyme Therapy for fast food addiction to support the pancreas, liver, and gallbladder as well as the rest of the digestive system and promote proper breakdown and absorption of food and nutritional supplements. Essentially, when you take nutritional supplements such as the ones we recommend here, or if you follow the Lugol’s iodine protocol of nutritional supplementation and also take amino acid supplements for addiction, you’re optimizing your digestive system to be able to break down food and nutritional supplements into the parts and pieces necessary for your body to use them. Once your body recognizes that the necessary nutrients are available, the body will detoxify and remove all of the makeshift materials it’s been using to keep you alive. Detoxification strategies will help you get through this process more quickly. Meanwhile, the body will rebuild with the fresh, new nutrient materials that you’re providing.
Metabolic disorders that are rooted in thyroid dysfunction and pancreatic dysfunction specifically, originate from amino acid deficiency, iodine deficiency, and a lack of nutrients to support iodine metabolism. In turn, these issues lead to dopamine deficiency which maintains the fast food addiction. As you treat a metabolic disorder to overcome fast food addiction, you’ll naturally get healthier overall. Your mental health and energy levels will also improve dramatically.
Characteristics of Fast Food That Cause Metabolic Disorder
Fast food is high in fat, high in calories, poor in micronutrients, and low in fiber. This is the ideal configuration for a food that would cause obesity. The combination of a sedentary lifestyle and the consumption of food that leads to nutritional deficiencies and too many calories can lead to a variety of metabolic disorders.Insulin is a central player in fast food addiction as well as the development of metabolic disorders and obesity due to fast food addiction. Scientists have found that the consumption of fast food impacts insulin balance in the body which creates all kinds of serious health issues. It impacts the neuro-endocrine regulation of energy and calories. While insulin definitely plays an important role in sugar metabolism at the cellular level, it does so much more.
Role of Insulin in Fast Food Addiction
Fast food addiction, like alcoholism, another addictive disorder, is strongly correlated with insulin resistance. Click here to read more about how alcohol addiction and insulin resistance are correlated. When insulin levels are poorly regulated or if cells become resistant to insulin, a wide variety of different disease states can develop. Insulin, like other hormones and neurotransmitters, is made up of amino acids like the amino acids that we recommend that people supplement with to overcome fast food addiction. In other words, both insulin and dopamine are made with amino acids as their essential building blocks. If you lack the proper number of amino acids in your diet, you won’t be able to produce insulin or dopamine at the proper levels. This can lead to an intense addictive cycle that may seem insurmountable. In reality, if you feed your body the proper nutrients and enzymes though, you’ll become strong enough to stop eating fast food forever.Insulin is a hormone secreted by the beta-cells of the pancreas, but as it turns out, insulin is also produced in low concentrations in the neurons in the nervous system. This is a fairly recent discovery. Insulin’s most famous function is to coordinate with glucagon to regulate blood sugar levels. Glucagon inhibits the exocrine pancreas (insulin and GABA). Insulin functions to regulate blood sugar levels and ensure that sugars are stored in the liver, fat cells, and muscle tissues if blood sugar is too high. As such, insulin plays a huge role in weight gain and weight loss and the type of disease state that develops as a result of prolonged hyperglycemia.
Insulin plays a role in a number of other physiological processes in the body too. These are less well known, but still important. Insulin regulates blood sugar levels, but it does so, in part, by sending excess sugars in the blood to the liver. In the liver, glucose (blood sugar) is stored as glycogen. As such, insulin plays a role in liver health. Liver health, in turn, impacts the overall toxicity of the body as well as digestive processes.
High blood sugar levels also prompt insulin to put sugars in skeletal muscles and fat cells. In other words, high blood sugar can translate into liver toxicity and obesity or it can translate into just obesity or just liver toxicity. This is one reason why some people who don’t gain excess weight as a result of eating fast food still end up getting sick, often quickly and dramatically sick. Their bodies are not putting the excess sugars into fat cells and muscle tissues. Rather, they’re putting the excess sugars into the liver which makes the liver sick.
Every human cell has a membrane that surrounds it to keep it intact and separate from the environment. Insulin receptors on a human cell membrane transmit phosphates in ATP (the primary energy currency in the body) to target proteins located between cells. Without proper levels of insulin, cells don’t have the phosphates they need in order to go through the ATP cycle. Disruptions in the ATP cycle are serious. They lead to brain fog, fatigue, and various configurations of chronic pain due to a lack of cellular energy.
The Science of Insulin
Scientific research into the role of insulin has been focused on how insulin impacts disease states. This is where the scientific funding is directed which means that insulin has not been thoroughly studied to understand all aspects of what it does in the body. Nonetheless, research has shown that a deficiency of insulin makes it impossible for cells to use the sugars that are circulating in the bloodstream. When low insulin levels occur along with high blood sugar levels, hyperglycemia results. Over time, if hyperglycemia is prolonged, diabetes mellitus develops. Diabetes, in turn, leads to nervous system damage, eye damage, and kidney damage.If human cells are not able to use insulin because insulin levels are too low, the body begins to rely on fat stores for energy. The continuous dependence on fats for energy can cause the release of ketones into the blood. This is known as ketoacidosis, a very serious health emergency.
Insulin also acts on the brain, heart, kidneys, bones, skin, and hair follicles. Insulin plays a role in bone health by aiding bone formation. It reduces inflammation due to osteoporosis. It also impacts the central nervous system. Insulin can also either cause or prevent the development of atherosclerotic plaques in the blood vessels. Insulin has a protective role in the kidneys. In the brain, serotonin functions much like insulin to transport blood sugars to brain cells, but insulin still increases blood sugar uptake by cells in the spinal cord, the choroid plexus, pineal gland, and pituitary gland. Insulin controls important functions like neuron plasticity, memory processing, and cognition.
High Fat, High Sugar and Obesity Due to Fast Food Addiction
Obesity is considered an epidemic in the United States. Though the obesity epidemic corresponds with the removal of iodine fortification from the food supply in the 1980s and its replacement with the endocrine disruptor bromine / bromide in the United States, the rise of fast food chains certainly contributed to the development of obesity too. While fast food accounted for only 4% of sales of food outside the home back in 1953, today 33% of U.S. adults report eating fast food daily.The combination of fast food intake with the consumption of sugary drinks is the perfect storm for the development of obesity, diabetes, and any health condition involving insulin.
Metabolic Disorder and Fast Food Addiction
Insulin resistance is viewed in scientific circles as an underpinning issue that causes metabolic syndrome. Iodine deficiency, supportive nutrient deficiencies, and amino acid deficiencies plays a big role in insulin resistance too. As you work to treat fast food addiction, metabolic disorders will also begin to resolve.Metabolic syndrome is defined as any disease or disorder that involves at least 3 out of the 5 symptoms listed below:
- Abdominal obesity
- High triglyceride levels
- Low levels of HDL cholesterol
- Hypertension
- High fasting blood sugar levels
Currently over 25% of the U.S. population suffers from some form of metabolic syndrome.
Types of Metabolic Disorders
The following are types of metabolic disorders. This is not an exhaustive list:- Metabolic brain diseases
- Disorders of calcium metabolism
- Hypocalcemia
- Hypercalcemia
- Acid–base imbalance
- Alkalosis
- Acidosis
- Mixed Disorder
- DNA repair-deficiency disorders / Accelerated Aging Diseases / Segmental Progerias
- Ataxia-telangiectasia
- Xeroderma pigmentosum
- Bloom syndrome
- Fanconi anemia
- Cockayne syndrome
- Progeria (Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome)
- Trichothiodystrophy
- Rothmund–Thomson syndrome
- Werner syndrome
- Hyperlactatemia / Lactic Acidosis
- Glucose metabolism disorders
- Lipid metabolism disorders
- Gaucher’s disease
- Niemann-Pick disease
- Tay-Sachs disease
- Fabry’s disease
- Sitosterolemia
- Wolman’s disease
- Refsum’s disease
- Cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis
- Iron metabolism disorders
- Hemochromatosis
- Malabsorption syndromes
- Primary Lactase Deficiency
- Celiac Disease
- Inborn error of metabolism
- Mitochondrial diseases
- Phosphorus metabolism disorders
- Metabolic syndrome X
- Porphyrias
- Acute porphyria
- Varigate porphyria
- Aminolevulinic acid dehydrase deficiency porphyria (ALAD)
- Hereditary coproporphyria (HCP)
- Proteostasis deficiencies
- Metabolic skin diseases
- Wasting syndrome
- Cachexia
- Water-electrolyte imbalance
Summary
Fast food addiction causes addicts to be at a higher risk of developing a metabolic disease. Not everyone responds to fast food addiction in the same way. The type of symptoms that develop in one person with a fast food addiction may be very different from the symptoms that develop in another, different person with fast food addiction. In any case, fast food addiction increases the risk of metabolic disorder, diabetes, and cancer. When you quit eating fast food permanently, with proper care, your body will be able to heal and overcome the health issues and mental health issues that you’ve developed as a result of the addiction.Resources:
• Isganaitis, E. and Lusti, R. H. (2005). Fast Food, Central Nervous System Insulin Resistance, and Obesity. https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/01.ATV.0000186208.06964.91
• Rahman, M. S. et al. (2021). Role of Insulin in Health and Disease: An Update. Retrieved September 5, 2024 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232639/
• Dubey, P. et al. (2020). Role of Minerals and Trace Elements in Diabetes and Insulin Resistance. Retrieved September 5, 2024 from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32585827/
• Pape, M. et al. (2021). Food Addiction and Its Relationship to Weight- and Addiction-Related Psychological Parameters in Individuals with Overweight and Obesity. Retrieved September 5, 2024 from https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.736454/full
• Singh, M. (2014). Mood, food, and obesity. Retrieved September 5, 2024 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4150387/
• Hedayat, K. M. and Lapraz, J. C. (2019). The Theory of Endobiogeny, Volume 2. Elsevier: India
