Track 10

Unit 3b.

Health sciences.

Food addictions.

Pages 50 and 51.

Listen for main ideas and Listen for details.

Last time we looked at diet and healthy lifestyles. Today we’re going to talk about foods and drinks that can be addictive.

What does addictive mean?

Well it means that a person can’t easily stop consuming something, they crave it in other words they feel like they need it to feel calm.

We usually think of things like drugs or alcohol or cigarettes when we talk about addiction, but today we’re going to look at three very common substances I bet most of us have consumed.

And we’ll see how they can be addictive too, and why that can be harmful. Let’s talk first about caffeine that’s C A FF E I N E.

It’s a natural substance that makes people feel excited or more awake and studies have shown that it’s addictive. Can you think of something you drink that contains caffeine?

Let’s see, there’s coffee and tea and, how about colas like Pepsi and Coke?

These all contain caffeine and therefore carry the risk of addiction. Does this mean you’ll become addicted if you have a coffee now and then or a Coke or a cup of tea?

No it’s only when you drink several cups or glasses every day that you might experience the addicting quality of these drinks.

So how does caffeine affect our bodies and what are the dangers of a caffeine addiction? Well, too much caffeine can cause your heart to race and you may have difficulty sleeping.

Caffeine can also cause your body to lose water and finally if you consume a lot of caffeine over a long period of time and then try to quit it, you might experience headaches.

Here’s another example of something calm and addictive, sugar. You might say what?

There’s sugar in all sorts of foods and drinks you’re right, Americans consume an average of 135 pounds of sugar every year, that’s two to three pounds a week.

It’s pretty hard to get through a day without eating something with sugar in it, lots of common foods and drinks like candy, soft drinks, breakfast, cereal, even spaghetti sauce contains sugar so what are the dangers of having a sugar addiction?

Well if we eat or drink a lot of, it we might feel high or happy at first but later it can make us feel unhappy or low and eating a significant amount of sugar can make us fat, sugar is also bad for our teeth but like with caffeine, if we consume a little sugar each day we probably won’t experience addiction.

Okay I’ve saved the best example for last, at least I think it’s the best chocolate.

Here we have sugar plus a couple of chemicals that are like caffeine, so all of the consequences of caffeine and sugar I mentioned are true for chocolate too, which means it could make your heart race, your head hurt, and your teeth bad, it also might make you lose water, feel high but then low, feel restless and get fat. but wait a minute, if we know that these substances can be addictive and that an addiction can harm the body, then why is it socially acceptable to consume these substances?

Because unlike drugs or alcohol the consumption of caffeine and sugar and chocolate is unregulated that means there are no laws controlling our consumption, in fact in many cultures these three things are considered luxuries or very special items that people give as gifts, so there’s a sort of double standard about these substances right?

by that I mean because they’re legal, it’s okay to consume them even though they might cause us harm.

So if you like caffeine, sugar and chocolate, what’s the answer?

Well, it’s almost impossible to get through life without consuming these things from vending machines, to movie theaters, to your favorite cafe, they’re everywhere you turn the key is moderation this means not too much, go ahead enjoy your morning coffee or a piece of chocolate just don’t overdo it and you’ll be fine.