Why am I addicted to junk food and how can I stop craving it?
Ever feel like you have to have a sugary treat right now or a packet of crisps?
Or do you occasionally get an overwhelming urge to eat chocolate or fast food? It is no secret that junk food tastes delicious.
We all experience food cravings from time to time. Some more than others, but why is junk food so alluring and addictive?
What's so special about junk food? And why is it so hard to stop the cravings? Especially when trying to be good and stick to a healthy eating regime.
I uncover those reasons and offer some great ways to help you stop eating junk!
Food companies are spending millions of dollars to design foods with addictive sensations.
Junk food is precisely what it implies, food made from junk. It's not real food. It’s a slew of chemicals made to taste like food. Eating these foods stimulates the feel-good centres in your brain, triggering you to eat even more. The fact is junk food stimulates the reward system in the brain in the same way as addictive drugs, such as cocaine. The more you eat, the more your body craves it.
Our taste buds can be tricked when salt, fat, and sugar are carefully combined with 'just right in expertly measured amounts. Market researcher and psychoanalyst, Howard Moskowitz, coined this as the 'bliss point' Manufacturers spend millions creating the perfect crunch, the perfect balance of textures and flavours, and it overrides the brain's natural 'stop' signals.
At this point, we keep returning for more, even when our bodies tell us to stop because we are experiencing pleasure.
Steven Witherly is a food scientist who has spent the last 20 years studying what makes certain foods more addictive (and tasty) than others. Much of the science follows from his excellent report, Why Humans Like Junk Food, which is an equally disturbing and fascinating read.
How Science Creates Cravings
There is a range of factors that scientists and food manufacturers use to make food more addictive.
Dynamic Contrast
Dynamic contrast refers to a combination of different sensations in the same food. In the words of Witherly, foods with dynamic contrast have "an edible shell that goes crunch followed by something soft or creamy and full of taste-active compounds.
Think of the caramelized top of a creme brulee, a slice of pizza, or an Oreo cookie—the brain finds crunching through something like this novel and thrilling.
How about food that vanishes on the tongue, like Cheetos or, as we say in the UK, wotsits. They are one of the most marvellously constructed foods on the planet. The puff's uncanny ability to melt in the mouth. "It's called vanishing caloric density," Witherly said. "If something melts down quickly, your brain thinks there are no calories in it. You can keep eating it forever."
Sensory Specific Response
Your brain likes variety. When it comes to food, if you experience the same taste repeatedly, you start to get less pleasure from it. Junk foods, however, are designed to avoid this sensory-specific response.
They provide enough taste to be interesting (your brain doesn't get tired of eating them). This is why you can swallow an entire bag of potato chips and still be ready to eat another. To your brain, the crunch and sensation of eating Pringles or the like are novel and exciting every time.
Calorie Density
Junk foods are designed to convince your brain that it is getting nutrition but not filling you up. Receptors in your mouth and stomach tell your brain about the mixture of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in particular food and how filling that food is for your body.
Junk food provides just enough calories that your brain says, "Yes, this will give you some energy", but not so many calories that you think ", That's enough, I'm full." The result is that you crave the food, to begin with, but it takes quite some time to feel full.
Food manufacturers have turned the masses into addicted and sick zombies. Many mindlessly binging on foods and never being siated. Most are walking around undernourished and overfed. In my earlier article what’s so bad about gluten, I highlight why wheat has addictive tendencies because of how it’s now farmed.
Wheat is an appetite stimulant. It makes you want more and more. It yields particular drug-like neurological effects giving the person eating it a temporary high. If most of your diet is carbs, what are the chances that you are more likely to binge on carbs? Most report that they enter a carb coma after eating. Isn't that similar to a drug high once an addict has shot up??
Read Wheat Belly by DR William Davis. In the book, Dr William Davis criticizes modern wheat and blames it for many health problems, such as obesity, diabetes, heart disease and more. The book claims wheat is addictive and causes inflammation and blood sugar spikes.
You are what you eat, so don’t be cheap, fast, easy or fake!
What are some other reasons we are addicted to junk food?
Habit & Convenience
Breaking the cycle of junk food can be challenging if you're accustomed to not cooking or planning meals. Convenience options like frozen dinners, microwavable meals, and fast food can also make it easy to give in to unhealthy choices.
Embrace meal planning:
Planning ahead empowers you to make good decisions. If you choose unhealthy food, balance it out by eating healthier before or after. Prepare by packing healthy snacks and planning dinners ahead of time. Eating three proper meals a day can reduce snacking.
Clever marketing
The advertising and marketing teams play on our emotions and feelings. Junk food is packaged enticingly. It creates associations between certain foods and specific activities, like popcorn, at the cinema—energy drinks for when your are tired, and protein food products for people who workout.
Cartoon characters on children's junk food or cool names and slogans for sweets and crisps like once you pop, you can't stop, (pringles) or this is grrrrrrrreat! ( frosties, a children’s cereal mainly comprising of sugar and processed wheat.) Some of these patterns become so hardwired when you see these specific foods, they evoke certain feelings of nostalgia.
Your brain begins to trigger the memories and emotional response that came with it, encouraging you to do it again. This is the psychology of junk food.
Stress & lack of sleep
Emotional eating is a real issue. Some people find food helps distract them from negative thoughts and feelings. Others learned as children to use food to cope.
Hormones are also responsible. Like lack of sleep, ongoing stress causes the body to increase cortisol levels and other hormones connected to hunger. Studies show this hormone tsunami increases appetite — along with your desire for sugary and fatty foods. Try meditation, yoga or reading to settle yourself down in stressful moments.
EFT tapping is one of the fastest ways to reduce stress. If you haven't heard of it, take a look here. If you think you could benefit from an EFT session or would like more information on how it can help you contact me here.
Studies suggest that sleep deprivation is associated with increased hunger (especially snack and sweet cravings). And you can blame it on your hormones. Lack of sleep causes hormone shifts:
Ghrelin, the hunger-control hormone, increases, causing you to eat more.
Leptin, the appetite-suppressing hormone, decreases.
Cortisol, the stress hormone, may increase, stimulating your appetite.
Research shows that sleep deprivation causes an increase in overall hunger, leading to cravings for sugar, fat or both.
Ways to curb junk food cravings
Practice mindfulness: It's better to eat and drink mindfully, without distractions and taking time. Eating in a hurry while working or watching TV, scrolling on our phones, or yelling at the kids can make us lose focus. Also, avoid eating in the car.
Really focus on enjoying and tasting your food. You'll find that a few bites can satisfy your craving — and save a lot of calories.
Chew your food adequately, so your brain recognises that you have eaten as when we inhale our food, our body isn't saited, and our brains think we haven't eaten.
Give yourself non-food-related rewards: If treating yourself always involves unhealthy foods, you could sabotage your health. Instead, treat yourself to a new outfit, some pampering or another activity that makes you smile.
Drink lots of water: It's easy to confuse thirst cues with hunger cravings. To stay hydrated all day, keep a water bottle within reach.
If you think about food right after meals, that's a sign you are NOT feeling content. You need to clean up your diet. And If your cravings are out of control, get back to basics, start eating 3 meals a day and include healthy fats and protein in each meal.
Benefits of regularly eating protein and fat each day:
Keeping you saited for longer means you don't have to eat junk food because you're starving!
Your mood and energy levels will improve
You'll feel less tired, stressed, or anxious. And less hangry
You'll lose fat faster if that is your goal for weight loss
A diet higher in protein reduces hunger throughout the day.
Protein slows down how our stomach empties after a meal. This makes us crave less sugary food between breakfast, lunch, and dinner times.
You will crave whatever you feed your body.
The good news is that the research shows that the less junk food you eat, the less you crave it.
Decoding junk food cravings using Eating psychology
Sit with your craving. What is it trying to tell you? How does it make you feel if you don't have what your craving? What emotions come up? Our compulsions serve two functions:
The first is to keep unacceptable feelings buried deep within so we can be numb enough to survive.
The second is to comfort us.
Ask yourself these questions when a craving arises.
What do I need to do or be that is for my highest good? ( reaching for McDonald’s is not the answer.)
What am I really hungry for?
What is the kind of choice here?
What is my deeper knowing?
You may have finished work and had a bad day, so reach out for something sugary to cheer you up. However, if this becomes problematic and you often depend on this fix, it's important to really connect with yourself and find other ways to cheer yourself up.
Try watching a funny comedy, talking to a friend or another non-food way to lift yourself up.
There are often unmet emotional needs, so please take the time to discover what these are for you. Please find support with a therapist if you need to.
If you crave salty foods – you may be dehydrated. The body is incredibly smart. Its also associated with frustration, stress or the need to express anger.
You may not be experiencing enough joy or pleasure if you crave sweet foods. Are you missing the sweetness in your life? Do a pleasure inventory list other ways to get a dopamine hit that doesn’t include food.
Read my article. The reason behind your cravings and how to eliminate them for good. For a more in-depth look into other food cravings.
Final Thoughts
We should prioritize natural and organic foods, exercise regularly, meditate, and breathe deeply, rather than relying on artificial stimulation. Eating synthetic food-like substances created in the laboratory is not the way forward for health and longevity.
There are so many simple ways to curb your junk food habit. I hope this article has given you some information about your junk cravings and how to curb them.
Please take a look at the additional resources and references.
References & further resources
https://lifehacker.com/find-the-underlying-desire-for-junk-food-to-beat-bad-ea-1032241638
Five ways junk food changes your brain - RMIT University
https://www.secondnature.io/guides/nutrition/cant-stop-eating-junk-food
Take a look at my article on how to create healthy food habits that stick based on some of the principles in the book by:
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