Peach cobbler named ‘gateway food to obesity’ for Georgia residents

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - A new study by DrugGenius.com has named the gateway foods to obesity and you probably won’t be surprised by the answer for Georgia -- peach cobbler!

One in four or 25% of Georgia residents admits that peach cobbler tempts them to break their healthy eating plan and to CONTINUE to eat unhealthily.

The website surveyed 3,0003 from across the country.

Although peach cobbler is undoubtedly tempting, there are several sweet treats on the chart that have a bigger impact on the residents of their state than peach cobbler.

Hawaiians, for example, can’t seem to resist shaved ice. 71% of their residents will break their healthy eating plan for the frosty treat.

29% of the residents in Maine will go off the rails for whoopie pies and 31% of Maryland residents really like Smith Island Cake.

35% of Minnesota residents go wild for blueberry muffins and 43% of New Hampshire residents really like apple cider donuts.

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Banana pudding (43%) is the favorite in Tennessee and Marionberry Pie (48%) is the big winner in Oregon.

So why does eating dessert lead to unhealthy eating? The experts say that sugar basically acts like a drug.

Firstly, it fuels every cell in our brain, making it alert. Our brain also sees sugar as a reward, and the more we eat, the more we want; this makes the habit very hard to break. In fact, some experts believe that sugar might be as addictive as an actual drug like cocaine, because eating it releases various opioids and dopamine (a feel-good neurostransmitter that activates the pleasure sensation in our bodies).