Why is it that reaching for a fattening, sugar-filled, or otherwise unhealthy food makes us feel so good? Although we often end up feeling guilty after eating unhealthy food, while we are consuming it, we tend to enjoy the experience quite a lot. But, if it has nothing to offer our bodies nutritionally, you may be wondering why that’s the case.
To put it simply, junk food is crafted in order to elicit the positive response you experience as your body consumes it. Companies put millions, even billions, into research to design packaging that entices you to purchase the junk food to begin with and then they put more research into choosing the colors, the look, the size, and the taste to make it as addictive and enjoyable as possible.
Plus, your body is naturally triggered by high sugar, high salt, or high-fat foods. When you eat these foods, it just makes your cravings worse, and encourages you to eat more even if you weren’t really hungry beforehand. Knowing that junk food is unhealthy, though, why can’t we stop eating it? The reason actually doesn’t have to do with your willpower, it has to do with your brain.
Food manufacturers have put in plenty of research and, through that, they have identified that salty and sugary foods will make you crave more food. To build on that fact, they have begun using chemicals and components that deliver these flavors with an extra kick of strength in order to strengthen your brain’s response to the unhealthy food even further.
Naturally, your human mind is likely to become addicted to sugar or salt. There is a chemical process that takes place in many people that leaves them inclined to become addicted to substances like these, and manufacturers know that very well. With the information that they can get you “hooked” on their products just by using certain flavors, chemicals, and compounds, just about every manufacturer out there confidently pumps out the most unhealthy foods to entice the masses to eat them.
However, in addition to offering little nutritional value, if you took a few minutes to really taste the junk food that most of us just munch down, you’ll find that a lot of it doesn’t have any real flavor at all. It’s just sweet or it’s just salty. And that’s why manufacturers sell it so well.
