Why your brain makes you reach for junk food

[jchima]

Will that be a pizza for you or will you go for a salad? Choosing what you eat is not simply a matter of taste, conclude scientists in a new study at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre. As you glance over a menu or peruse the shelves in a supermarket, your brain is making decisions based more on a food's caloric content.



The study, published in Psychological Science, is based on brain scans of healthy participants who were asked to examine pictures of various foods. Participants rated which foods they would like to consume and were asked to estimate the calorie content of each food. Surprisingly, they were poor at accurately judging the number of calories in the various foods, but their choices and their willingness to pay still centered on those foods with higher caloric content.

"Earlier studies found that children and adults tend to choose high-calorie food" says Dr. Alain Dagher, neurologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital and lead author of the study. "The easy availability and low cost of high-calorie food has been blamed for the rise in obesity. Their consumption is largely governed by the anticipated effects of these foods, which are likely learned through experience. Our study sought to determine how people's awareness of caloric content influenced the brain areas known to be implicated in evaluating food options. We found that brain activity tracked the true caloric content of foods."
Source: Why your brain makes you reach for junk food - eReporter

 

[Moonglow]

I prefer salad and pizza....with beer and a blonde, preferably not my wife and 24 years old...

 

[Mr. H.]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

 

[Moonglow]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

I do if it's the only meal of the day...

 

[Mr. H.]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

I do if it's the only meal of the day...

Here's the only daily dose you need to be concerned about...

 

[Moonglow]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

I do if it's the only meal of the day...

Here's the only daily dose you need to be concerned about...

 

[Mr. H.]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

I do if it's the only meal of the day...

Here's the only daily dose you need to be concerned about...

I'm back. With a vengeance.

 

[September]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

Speak for yourself.

After eating a spinach salad (with cucumbers and tomato, no dressing) with some green grapes on the side, I feel all kinds of awesome Energy action goin on.

All kinds.

Or a juice I make with a base of green apples and cucumber, throw in some Kale, spinach, and celery, some strawberries and orange and other fruit... Maybe some mango, dragonfruit, and pomegranite... Sqeeze in some lime...

DAYUM!

Fuckin' energy potion right there

Ashtara style
​

 

[Darlene]

I'm not blonde nor 24 (dirty blonde/red and 21). Anyways, I'm almost never satisfied while eating.
I believe we eat junk food because sodium and sugar is addictive.
For example, if a child is introduced to icecream and other sugary snacks early on, they are ten times more likely to want sugary foods as they grow older. This makes them more susceptible to obesity, diabetes, and many other health problems. I admit, I have a pretty big sweet tooth (its acceptable, since I'm eating for two haha) but I love whole foods as well. I also try to get more organic foods and less processed food.
I prepped a lunch for my one year old. It consisted of hard-boiled eggs, cooked organic carrots, avocado, and bananas. I always look at the ingredients and nutrition label on my food and food I buy for my son.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Will that be a pizza for you or will you go for a salad? Choosing what you eat is not simply a matter of taste, conclude scientists in a new study at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital of McGill University and the McGill University Health Centre. As you glance over a menu or peruse the shelves in a supermarket, your brain is making decisions based more on a food's caloric content.



The study, published in Psychological Science, is based on brain scans of healthy participants who were asked to examine pictures of various foods. Participants rated which foods they would like to consume and were asked to estimate the calorie content of each food. Surprisingly, they were poor at accurately judging the number of calories in the various foods, but their choices and their willingness to pay still centered on those foods with higher caloric content.

"Earlier studies found that children and adults tend to choose high-calorie food" says Dr. Alain Dagher, neurologist at the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital and lead author of the study. "The easy availability and low cost of high-calorie food has been blamed for the rise in obesity. Their consumption is largely governed by the anticipated effects of these foods, which are likely learned through experience. Our study sought to determine how people's awareness of caloric content influenced the brain areas known to be implicated in evaluating food options. We found that brain activity tracked the true caloric content of foods."
Source: Why your brain makes you reach for junk food - eReporter

We opt for junk food simply because the companies which make it spend a lot of money on science formulating their products to effect our brains just like a narcotic. The right blend of salt, sugar, fat, etc. does in our brain the same thing heroin does. Thus many are literally addicted to junk food much as drug users are.

 

[auditor0007]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

I almost always feel better after eating, because I'm hungry when I begin eating, and if I don't eat, I become very agitated. The key to eating properly is to stop when you are no longer hungry rather than stopping when you are full. There is a very big difference between the two.

 

[Politico]

People pick foods they think taste good. I wonder if any tax dollars were wasted on this pile of drivel.

 

[Lipush]

It's also a matter of eating culture. In America I noticed the amount of "junk food" is way too overwhelming to ignore, even if they're trying to educate the young generation nowdays to try more healthy food.

When you buy junk and your kid sees junk, he'll eat junk.

 

[Iceweasel]

It isn't rocket science. We eat junk food because it tastes good and fills you up. It isn't the manufacturers fault, they are in business to make money. If you buy their crap they'll make more of it.

All things in moderation. I eat healthy but have some junk food on occasion. If it's the staple of your diet there's no one to blame but you.

 

[BlueGin]

Ever notice how you rarely, if ever, feel better after you've eaten?

Depends. If my blood sugar crashes ...eating definitely makes me feel better. Binge eating due to stress? Not so much.

 

[Asclepias]

People pick foods they think taste good. I wonder if any tax dollars were wasted on this pile of drivel.

Ever wonder why those foods "taste good"?

 

[Delta4Embassy]

People pick foods they think taste good. I wonder if any tax dollars were wasted on this pile of drivel.

Ever wonder why those foods "taste good"?

Not since the expose' about how they specially formulate them to have the 'sweet spot' of fat, sugar, and salt.

 

[Asclepias]

People pick foods they think taste good. I wonder if any tax dollars were wasted on this pile of drivel.

Ever wonder why those foods "taste good"?

Not since the expose' about how they specially formulate them to have the 'sweet spot' of fat, sugar, and salt.

Between that and the continual marketing you have no chance of eating healthy. They get you mentally and physically. People that never developed bad eating habits are usually immune to this especially if they know about the fact this is done on purpose.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

People pick foods they think taste good. I wonder if any tax dollars were wasted on this pile of drivel.

Ever wonder why those foods "taste good"?

Not since the expose' about how they specially formulate them to have the 'sweet spot' of fat, sugar, and salt.

Between that and the continual marketing you have no chance of eating healthy. They get you mentally and physically. People that never developed bad eating habits are usually immune to this especially if they know about the fact this is done on purpose.

What parents are for, "Can't have dessert until you eat your dinner."

 

[Marvin Zinn]

My brain was converted many years ago. I eat only organic if I can find it, and very little sugar. I have no threat of diabetes, but know that sugar is the most dangerous addictive drug in the world.

A lot of other things I learned from my work in 20 countries. The United States is among the least healthy like "fast food".

Also I do not accept medical practice beyond just information and corrections from injury. If I believed doctors I would have already been dead four times, but half of that was injuries, the last with seven weeks coma. They do a good job with that sort of thing, but for disease there is usually an alternative, like herbs I use to stop prostate cancer after I refused surgery.

marvin