No Sugar, No Salt, NO SALES: It's Not Your Fault That Your Are Hooked

OMG my whole ENTIRE thought process has been turned inside out! Why didn't anyone tell me I was at war with a clear and defined enemy? At war with my brain and the food industry nonetheless!... So I started reading the introduction of Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, by Michael Moss and OMG.... NOW TRUST ME, I have seen alllll the documentaries that most of us have seen already like Super Size Me an the newest Netflix hit What The Health, but this book, this book made me pivot in my spirit. Most of us watch all the health documentaries an we're really grossed out by the process of killing the animals and the contaminated facilities, the production of processed foods, and how milk is just nasty and contains trace amounts of pus and bacteria etc. However, 8 out of 10 of us will watch a documentary on the food industry, we are first intrigued for a while and 48 hrs later we are enjoying our usual bacon, pasta, and hamburger entrees and life goes on. We slowly reason, "oh well I tried, this is life, and oddly i'm not dead yet so how bad can it really be"and life just moves forward. So what made what I read in Salt Sugar Fat so different for me?
I can vividly remember around the age of 23 or 24 I attempted to take on my first 3 day fast for religious reasons and I kid you not, 2 and a half hrs into "no food no snack" and literally my arms and thighs started shaking. I was startled and I was like oh my lord what is happening and next thing you know anxiety just swept over me and my nerves were shot and all I could think was I need a snack. I jumped up and ate 4 butterscotch candies back to back and what do you think happened maybe 7 mins later? I was calm... my nerves relaxed, my mind slowed down and I was at peace. I threw the whole fast out the window and I never forgot the day because I thought to myself "Is this what it feels like to be a drug addict"? MY body was in need of a fix of salt, sugar, or fat. No, i'm not a diabetic at all.
Another pivotal moment in my memory was while working for a former nationwide retailer that I will leave unnamed. This particular department store happens to have a hot food and beverage section and I distinctly remember one day being over in the hot food section to cover a shift while they were making popcorn. As the employee began to put the popcorn in the popping machines I saw him pick up what had the appearance of a milk cartoon and pour the contents into the machine onto the popcorn. It contained an orange powder and I asked, "Is that what they use to give the popcorn the orangey color instead of butter"? His reply I shall never forget, "More than that, it gives it color but it also contains chemicals that give off a smell to trigger the brain to want the popcorn. The chemical gives off a heavy and distinct smell and it pulls in people within our immediate area that can smell it by triggering certain parts of the brain." My face scrunched up and i'm like, "ummm that sounds like brainwashing that has to be illegal"! He just shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
What does this have to do with the book or any other health food industry documentary and our reaction to it? Moss takes up the intro of his book to explain how all the leading processed food brands all have 3 main ingredients salt, sugar and fat, and all 3 of these ingredients are addictive and are likened unto cocaine when measuring the affects that they have on the brain in particular quantities. All of the high end brands have scientists who calculate mathematical equations to find proper proportions of salt, fat, and sugar needed in all processed food products to keep the brain hooked. NO WONDER I can't resist chocolate, cereal, frozen buffalo wings, and take out! I'm not greedy, i'm frikkin addicted! And I had no say so.
I was so upset because when I watch these health documentaries it's like whatever, we gotta eat, i'm not sick life goes on. SO SOMEHOW I felt in control and powerful because I felt like I know the cons of our food industry but I AM WILLINGLY choosing to still eat what I want. It's my will that makes me free. It's my will that allows me to exercise my freedom and my human rights. But, to find out that in all actuality I somewhat really don't have a choice and chemicals are being used to control my thought process, my cravings and even my nervous system, as well as calculated mathematical equations to identify what my brain needs to be a FUNCTIONING ADDICT.... well yes, i'm at war. I now have a clear defined enemy. Before it was an evil that i chose to deal with, now i realize i'm a sheep led to the slaughter in my sleep. And nobody told me.