A New York student says she sought treatment in a rehab facility for her cheese addiction. “It was the only thing that made me feel somewhat complete,” says Adela Cojab, describing her unusual desire. A doctor confirms that cheese contains opiate-like ingredients and can therefore “easily make people addicted”.
Cojab reported on her unusual vice in the New York Post. The addiction developed at the beginning of her studies. To finance her excesses, she bought the “cheapest” pieces of cheddar and parmesan cheese every day. Often she didn’t even use cutlery, but scooped up the dairy products with her bare hands. She often ate the cheese alone on the floor of her apartment in the dark.
Woman justifies consumption ‘like addicts do’
In addition to tons of cheese, parmesan chips were also said to have been devoured. To defuse her unbalanced diet, she often decided to eat just one salad. But it came down to eating cheese again, “with salad as a side dish,” according to the 27-year-old. “I kept telling myself that it was actually cheaper to just buy a few blocks of cheese,” the student said. “I convinced myself that I was making an economically sound decision, the kind that addicts try to justify.”
You can see the student from New York in this article – after therapy she lost the kilos she had gained due to her cheese addiction:
The rehabilitation stay cost $6,000 per week
When she had gained 20 pounds, had stopped menstruating and was at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, her mother intervened and advised her to seek treatment. Ultimately, she went to Hilton Head Health in South Carolina for two weeks to regain control of her eating disorder. A stay there costs about $6,000 per week. There she learned to eat healthier.
Doctor: Cheese has a similar effect to fentanyl
The doctor Neal Barnard, who wrote the book ‘Get Out of the Cheese Trap’, explained to the ‘New York Post’ why you can become addicted to cheese: the protein casein, which can make people addicted, is to blame. “Cheese contains opiate chemicals that bind to the same brain receptors as fentanyl or any other narcotic,” Barnard said. That’s why “some people call cheese ‘milk crack.'”
By using Ozempic, which she was prescribed because of the risk of diabetes, the young American woman lost weight quickly. Still, she hasn’t given up cheese completely: “If I’m really stressed, I’ll eat a block of cheese, but that doesn’t happen that often,” she explains. These days, she’d opt for a “lighter” mozzarella instead of a Vermont cheddar or parmesan.
Source: Krone
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