Are Flamin’ Hot Cheetos addictive? They’re being banned in schools! | Source: FritoLay.com

Are Flamin’ Hot Cheetos the new heroin?

A lot of people are claiming that the spicy, salty snack is addictive–and a lot of parents and teachers are concerned that you might be walking down the wrong path. A study reported that “hyperpalatable foods”–basically, anything that tastes really good but you know isn’t good for you–can cause the same chemical reactions in your brain that drugs do. Basically? Delicious foods are terrifyingly dangerous.

“It’s something that has been engineered so that it is fattier and saltier and more novel to the point where our body, brain and pleasure centers react to it more strongly than if we were eating, say, a handful of nuts,” Ashley Gearhardt, an assistant professor of clinical psychology said about junk food. “Going along with that, we are seeing those classic signs of addiction, the cravings and loss of control and preoccupation with it.”

Like drugs, you may well get in trouble for having Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in school, though you’ll likely not be reprimanded as harshly as if you had a baggie of something green. A lot of schools are banning and confiscating the snack, catching the perps redhanded–literally, because that’s what happens to your fingers when you eat them.

But let’s get down to the facts: How do you know when you’re addicted to Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? Do you find yourself scratching the floors when you get to the bottom of a bag? Do you find that you’re broke because you’re spending all of your babysitting money on Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? Are Flamin’ Hot Cheetos the first thing you think of when you wake up and the last thing on your mind before bed? Are you trying to hide your consumption of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos from your family and friends? Have they staged an intervention? Have you ever purchased Flamin’ Hot Cheetos on the black market? Is there a potential for gang or gun violence to affect you if you attempt to purchase a bag? If so, you might have a problem.

How can you curb a Flamin’ Hot Cheetos habit? It’s best to do it in small steps. You may want to try cutting back to half a bag at a time, taking smaller bites to savor the flavor without overdoing it. Results of methadone treatment on Flamin’ Hot Cheetos addicts haven’t been released, and there aren’t any clinics open to treat Flamin’ Hot Cheetos addiction at this time. However, experts suggest that at-risk youth who hang out in the gym or the produce section face the least likelihood of developing a dependency.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you think you have a problem and think you’re in danger of being addicted to something delicious in a crinkly bag. And please, never drive immediately after consuming Flamin’ Hot Cheetos–at least not until the food coma (you know, the crash after the “high”) wears off and you’ve washed your hands.

Do you think Flamin’ Hot Cheetos are really addictive? Do you think Flamin’ Hot Cheetos should be banned in schools? Have you ever been addicted to junk food? Tell us in the comments!

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