Can You Be Addicted To Junk Food?

You may joke about being addicted to junk food, but the food industry has engineered it to be true.  Read this fascinating article (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all) and see how chemists have been working hard to make sure to get you hooked on unhealthy food.  They do this mostly by manipulating sugar, salt and sometimes fat, until the food reaches the proper “bliss point”.  This creates the greatest amount of crave; in other words “bet you can’t eat just one”.  What I found particularly disturbing is the emphasis on marketing to kids and parents.

So what can we do?  First of all, take responsibility. No one is forcing you to buy those chips.  Read labels, check out ingredients (look for the many different versions of sugar, just a few include; corn syrup, fructose, honey, molasses, maple syrup, organic dehydrated fruit juice, agave nectar, lactose, maltodextrin….). Make sure to check serving size, a food may not seem so bad until you read that two chips equals one serving.   If you cannot resist the junk, measure and portion it out yourself.  Leave the box behind and eat only what you prepared.  Most importantly; eat real food. Until they start injecting apples with sugar and carrots with salt, you can be pretty sure that it is healthy.