Is salt addictive

Hog

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I know this is not a vegan question. But, I need an answer from a trusted source of information. They have large one dollar french fries at McDonalds. In order to make them taste good, I need salt. I just can’t resist eating them.

I also can not resist salty snack foods. Once I have my first hand full of salty trail mix, I can not stop eating until the bag is empty.

if I know that it is addictive, then I can just tell myself that I have a problem and cut it out totally. It is sort of like eating meat. I know that it is absolutely cruel. Thus, I absolutely do not eat the stuff.
 
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I know this is not a vegan question. But, I need an answer from a trusted source of information. They have large one dollar french fries at McDonalds. In order to make them taste good, I need salt. I just can’t resist eating them.

I also can not resist salty snack foods. Once I have my first hand full of salty trail mix, I can not stop eating until the bag is empty.

if I know that it is addictive, then I can just tell myself that I have a problem and cut it out totally. It is sort of like eating meat. I know that it is absolutely cruel. Thus, I absolutely do not eat the stuff.
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One thing to consider that is that, in the United States, McDonalds french fries are not vegan: World Famous Fries®: Calories & Nutrition | McDonald’s.
 
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French Fries are not vegan at McDonalds? Thank you very much for the information. You you explain why French Fries are not vegan:
 
I'm not sure if addictive is the right word.

Salt is a necessary nutrient. Back when we were evolving salt was sort of rare. So we developed over time a craving for salt - sort of like a survival mechanism. Salt was so important to survival we even developed special taste buds just for salt.

However like so many things, modern man consumes Way Too Much salt. And even when we consume enough salt for all our metabolic processes we still seem to crave salt. In fact, I think some medical papers have suggested we start considering salt as an addictive drug. FDA warnings on French fries?

Another interesting facet is the way Big Foods have figured out how to exploit our craving for salt. There is a great book called Salt, Sugar, Fat which does a great job of investigative reporting.

I'm pretty sure that unless you have high blood pressure you don't need to be too concerned with salt. In fact some doctors think we put too much emphasis on sodium as a preventative for high blood pressure.

Further reading:



 
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If I have too much salt, my blood pressure goes up. Going vegan caused my blood pressure to go down. It seems like I can feel some sort of rush when I have a salty snack. The salty snacks are intensely pleasurable to the point that I keep on wanting more. It is almost like the French Fry is the delivery system that gives me that salt that I really want.
 
French Fries are not vegan at McDonalds? Thank you very much for the information. You you explain why French Fries are not vegan:
McDonalds in the US contain beef fat
I've heard they've quit using it, but that is appartently not true!

I've never liked them regardless of that, I love Five Guys fries, though I haven't had them in over a year ....
I do believe salt is addictive, it's my favorite flavor!
Really it's the two punch of the fat and salt combined that is addictive.

How the food industry hooks us into buying their products is really more dastardly than I'd imagined--this book details it:

Craveability!
 
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if sugar can be considered addicting, I think salt would be too. Maybe not the same type of addiction like being addicted to a hard drug.
 
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if sugar can be considered addicting, I think salt would be too. Maybe not the same type of addiction like being addicted to a hard drug.
I think sugar and salt are both in the same bucket. Both are necessary nutrients, we have taste buds devoted to both, and big food has manipulated both food and us to want more.

Oh. and I was just reminded me of the study with the MRI. They found that combinations of caffeine, fat, sugar and salt produce the same effects as cocaine. Salted Carmel macchiato anyone?

So maybe we can get away with saying it's addictive.
 
People do desperate things for hard drugs, things I would think people wouldn't do for a macchiato.
True. but like almost everything else you can put things on a spectrum or scale. And what kind of withdrawal effect there are.
you probably need to factor in what kind of control the person has over their behavior.
 
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I don't know if it's addictive; quite a few people certainly crave more than might be good for them. We do need a certain amount of it. One day I was googling about this and found out the word for not getting enough salt: hyponatremia.

My blood pressure is usually quite good- but I found that if I eat too much salt, I drank more water. Then I had trouble getting a good night's sleep because the urge to urinate would wake me during the night.
 
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I don't crave salty snacks like I used to. but I also find that I need to add more salt to bring out the flavors of foods that I used to.

sometimes restaurant food or prepared meals have So much salt added to it. I find that I am extra thirsty the next day.
 
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If I have too much salt, my blood pressure goes up. Going vegan caused my blood pressure to go down. It seems like I can feel some sort of rush when I have a salty snack. The salty snacks are intensely pleasurable to the point that I keep on wanting more. It is almost like the French Fry is the delivery system that gives me that salt that I really want.
Try Dr. Greger's website www.nutritionfacts.org and search for salt. Short answer yes salt is addictive and is oil and sugar. That's why the food industry spends huge amount of time perfecting their recipes. Bliss point and mouth feel plus brain chemistry is what it's all about. Salt is so cheap they could literally throw tons into processed foods and the cost wouldn't effect the bottom line. Try vinegar, lemon or miso paste instead. We need sodium and we get plenty from plants. Don't need to add it. It's inflammatory, interferes with calcium absorption and a cause of stomach cancer. It's also a cause of high blood pressure but even if its not high now there's no warning signs and the first time you have a problem is with your first heart attack or stroke.
 
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I decided to treat salt like an addictive substance. I will remember that I am “addicted” to salt the next time I see a salty snack. Thank you very much for your thoughtful replies.

I will also avoid McDonald’s French fries due to the use of rendered fat in the product. Thank you for notifying me of this problem.