Quitting salt and sugar can be compared to quitting smoking. A widely cited study in the journal Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews found that sugar meets all the criteria for a substance of abuse and can be strongly addictive to those who binge on it. Paul van der Velpen, head of Amsterdam's health services, wrote an article on the city's public health website that stated sugar is a drug "just like alcohol and tobacco." Although “this may seem exaggerated and far-fetched, sugar is the most dangerous drug of this time and can still be easily acquired everywhere." Similar studies have linked addiction with salt, as eating salt releases serotonin in the brain leading to sense of well being.

Salt and sugar have found their way into the American diet in obscenely unhealthy quantities, but cutting back can be hard; we are all powerfully addicted. More than two thirds of American adults are overweight or obese making it the number one current public health epidemic, and the huge over-consumption of sugar and salt are factors in the problem.

Read: Hidden Sugars Kill

The human craving for foods sweet and salty has millions of years of evolution when sugar and salt weren't available in such plentiful and accessible supply as they are now. The craving for sugar comes from when sugar signified tasty fruits and vegetables like bananas, grapes, carrots and corn whose sugary flesh is also rich in other vital macronutrients. Salt is a crucial mineral for regulating the fluid balance within the cells of the human body as well as assisting the digestive system with absorbing and breaking down nutrients, but the average American eats more than 5 times the recommended daily intake.

Read: Obesity Lowers Grades

On top of the strong biological urge to consume salt and sugar, highly processed versions of both these tasty additives have been a part of the American diet for over a century. The intensive processing of foods began in the early 1900s with the introduction of refined sugar enhancing the taste of the first widely packaged and distributed foods. These early years saw the huge popularity of candies, drinks and snacks loaded with sugar and salt. Throughout the century, candies such as Snickers and M&Ms would be introduced as well as the revolutionary success of fast food restaurants like McDonald's. From then on, food production giants like Coca-Cola, Nestle and McDonald's, icons of the American demand for delicious unhealthy foods, pumped sugars and salts in huge amounts into their products, and the obesity epidemic was born.

Read: Mr. & Mrs. Salt

But all these factors have left us eating far more sugar and salt than the body could ever use, and this is one of the biggest contributors to the worldwide obesity problem. In the 1700s the average person consumed about 2 pounds of sugar a year, mainly from fruits and vegetables, but in a survey from 2009, more than 50% of Americans were found to be eating more than 1/2 pound of sugar a day, the equivalent of 180 pounds a year.

How To Escape

A good way to begin cutting excess salts and processed sugars out of the diet is by substituting the use of them in food with healthier alternatives. Processed white sugar can be substituted in many recipes for honey, a natural unprocessed sweetener, or xylitol, which does much less harm to the body and even prevents cavities. Salt can still be used in moderation in the taste of foods, as a few pinches of salt throughout the day is still well under the recommended daily intake. The biggest sources of salts and processed sugars come from packaged foods like chips and soft drinks. But be careful. As consumers have become more health conscious over the years, food companies have found many ways to hide their use of sugars and salts in their products, renaming them "high fructose corn syrup," "fruit juice concentrate" and "monosodium glutamate" (MSG).