Addicted to junk - It’s time to get tough on junk food

ANYONE who has regularly experienced the splitting headache sparked by chocolate or caffeine cravings will not be surprised by yesterday’s news that junk food is as addictive as heroin, cocaine or smoking.

Anyone who has not fallen into this destructive cycle will find it hard to believe that something as seemingly innocuous as a burger and chips, or even a coffee and chocolate biscuit, can have such a powerful, almost undeniable pull on ordinarily sensible people. Sadly, the evidence is there for us all to see. According to the Health Service Executive one-in-four children and teenagers is overweight or obese. The ratio amongst adults is almost as bad.

Though junk food is not the only contributory factor to obesity and the life-changing ill health it causes, it is a primary factor. It lays the foundation for a lifestyle that can have only one result ... being overweight, sedentary and more than likely unhappy.