23:04
Most people love a good meal overflowing with sugar, salt, and fat. What's not to like? It turns out, a lot. Each ingredient on its own is no picnic for your health, but together it is an experiment that could change your brain. Researchers believe that the three unhealthy ingredients foster the creation of dopamine, which in turn, drives the desire for more of said ingredients. Cravings relate to addiction.
We each have what's called a bliss point, which is our ideal level or combination of sugar, salt, and fat that gets our brain juices flowing. Food manufacturers are well aware of this bliss point and spend a great deal of time uncovering and targeting the average person's ideal level. It leads to short-term satisfaction and unconscious eating. The only thing healthy about this are the profits that food manufacturers earn from hitting the bliss point.
There is a fair amount of research on the subject. One particular study was very interesting to me. Rodents were fed meals with substantial amounts of fat, sugar, and sodium. Researchers found not only that the rodents' reward centers were activated, but that when healthier meals were reintroduced, the rodents appeared to suffer from withdrawal, which highlights the addictive nature of such food ingredients.
When we continuously choose to eat these unhealthy ingredients, it changes our brains and we can become conditioned to overeat. The combination of choosing nutritiously-poor foods and overeating them is a recipe for disaster, more specifically, obesity. What's more, the sugar and salt often act as preservatives, creating a convenient product with a long shelf life, so they're readily available for overindulgence.
Advertisers, and the food companies that pay them, are experts at conditioning us. They attempt to cause you to label their product a comfort or feel-good food. They do this with alcohol as well. Have you ever seen a beer commercial where there wasn't an amazing party going on, packed with beautiful people? Overweight people don't go to parties? This is by design. They want to make an unconscious connection with you and they do it well.
I do not think it is the intent of food manufacturers to negatively impact our health, but it is a troublesome consequence. They want to increase profitability and they've found that by pumping our food filled with sweet chemicals, sugar, salt, and fat, they make tons of money. I recommend keeping such foods out of the house completely. Also, think ahead when you're traveling or running errands. Have snacks like fruits, nuts, and seeds, or even cut up veggies on hand so you don't make that quick pit stop at an unhealthy fast food joint. I highly recommend indulging in high-water content fruit, which are refreshing and typically sweet. It can solve a sugar craving in its tracks. Trust me, it works.
We each have what's called a bliss point, which is our ideal level or combination of sugar, salt, and fat that gets our brain juices flowing. Food manufacturers are well aware of this bliss point and spend a great deal of time uncovering and targeting the average person's ideal level. It leads to short-term satisfaction and unconscious eating. The only thing healthy about this are the profits that food manufacturers earn from hitting the bliss point.
There is a fair amount of research on the subject. One particular study was very interesting to me. Rodents were fed meals with substantial amounts of fat, sugar, and sodium. Researchers found not only that the rodents' reward centers were activated, but that when healthier meals were reintroduced, the rodents appeared to suffer from withdrawal, which highlights the addictive nature of such food ingredients.
When we continuously choose to eat these unhealthy ingredients, it changes our brains and we can become conditioned to overeat. The combination of choosing nutritiously-poor foods and overeating them is a recipe for disaster, more specifically, obesity. What's more, the sugar and salt often act as preservatives, creating a convenient product with a long shelf life, so they're readily available for overindulgence.
Advertisers, and the food companies that pay them, are experts at conditioning us. They attempt to cause you to label their product a comfort or feel-good food. They do this with alcohol as well. Have you ever seen a beer commercial where there wasn't an amazing party going on, packed with beautiful people? Overweight people don't go to parties? This is by design. They want to make an unconscious connection with you and they do it well.
I do not think it is the intent of food manufacturers to negatively impact our health, but it is a troublesome consequence. They want to increase profitability and they've found that by pumping our food filled with sweet chemicals, sugar, salt, and fat, they make tons of money. I recommend keeping such foods out of the house completely. Also, think ahead when you're traveling or running errands. Have snacks like fruits, nuts, and seeds, or even cut up veggies on hand so you don't make that quick pit stop at an unhealthy fast food joint. I highly recommend indulging in high-water content fruit, which are refreshing and typically sweet. It can solve a sugar craving in its tracks. Trust me, it works.
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