The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food

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  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,022 Member
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    Thanks, interesting.:smile:
  • Bditbobcat
    Bditbobcat Posts: 171 Member
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    Wasn't that a great article?!?! I read it last week and was blown away! The author was on Dr. Oz yesterday and had some cool information to share. Thanks for posting. More people should read it!
  • Bakkasan
    Bakkasan Posts: 1,027 Member
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    The author was on Dr. Oz yesterday

    Anything on Doc Oz, even when true, becomes false immediately.

    Kidding, but kind of not...

    There is a great documentary on this subject too.
  • TravisBikes
    TravisBikes Posts: 674 Member
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    Linked to it here a few days ago but it went under the radar. Not sure if too many people want to read about the topic.

    I did end up buying the book, my views on food have already been changing. But this story has added more fuel to the fire on avoiding lots of things that my diet centered around.
  • GeneveSparkles
    GeneveSparkles Posts: 283 Member
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    The author was on Dr. Oz yesterday

    [/quote]
    Anything on Doc Oz, even when true, becomes false immediately.

    Kidding, but kind of not...

    There is a great documentary on this subject too.
    [/quote]

    Hahaha, I immediatly thought the same thing :laugh:
  • cupboard_stalker
    cupboard_stalker Posts: 62 Member
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    That was the best piece of writing i've read in AGES! Thanks!
  • GeneveSparkles
    GeneveSparkles Posts: 283 Member
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    Linked to it here a few days ago but it went under the radar. Not sure if too many people want to read about the topic.

    I did end up buying the book, my views on food have already been changing. But this story has added more fuel to the fire on avoiding lots of things that my diet centered around.

    It really is hard to avoid a lot of the convenience foods that we are surrounded by. To think all of that sugar in a jar of spaghetti sauce!!! Something that is made primarily with tomatoes!!!

    It really does boil down to educating oneself on what really is in the processed foods we eat and making decisions based on that knowledge.

    Don't get me wrong I will still eat Doritos, but we have to get back to the mindset of it being a treat and not a daily accompaniment for every meal.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
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    Read the article and immediately pre-ordered the book. Downloaded it yesterday and it is AMAZING. Definitely a worthy read for everyone. My interest lies in the low-fat craze. Was thinking about the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and how they have little fat but SO much sugar and about the same calories as a normal serving of full fat ice cream. Yet, I've been chided into feeling better about going with the low-fat versions all my life, when it is clearly a formula I should stay away from.

    A lot of no-brainers, of course, but when it's explained from the standpoint of big corporations exploiting my taste buds and stomach sensations, it becomes a complicated tale of chemistry and greed.
  • TravisBikes
    TravisBikes Posts: 674 Member
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    Read the article and immediately pre-ordered the book. Downloaded it yesterday and it is AMAZING. Definitely a worthy read for everyone. My interest lies in the low-fat craze. Was thinking about the Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches and how they have little fat but SO much sugar and about the same calories as a normal serving of full fat ice cream. Yet, I've been chided into feeling better about going with the low-fat versions all my life, when it is clearly a formula I should stay away from.

    A lot of no-brainers, of course, but when it's explained from the standpoint of big corporations exploiting my taste buds and stomach sensations, it becomes a complicated tale of chemistry and greed.

    I'm only into the first section on sugar. But from the news article talking about the smaller sizes, of say a bag of chips. How they are still able to reach us with smaller selling portions, but still getting their product into me... grr.
  • luckyjuls
    luckyjuls Posts: 505 Member
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    I'm only into the first section on sugar. But from the news article talking about the smaller sizes, of say a bag of chips. How they are still able to reach us with smaller selling portions, but still getting their product into me... grr.

    I'm with you! I read this article out loud to my husband, asking him if anything in it made him angry. Until recently, we were both big junk food eaters, and I felt really manipulated as I remembered the days of not being able to stop at one portion of Sun Chips (don't get me started on their "healthier than chips" multigrain push). Could I have had more self control? Yes. But it doesn't help when this stuff is engineered to hit your tongue in such a way that you never get full from it EVER.

    He said it was "cool" and "smart" of them (especially the part with the $40,000 machine that finds the right crunch point), and that's why they were leaders in our industry. Le sigh.
  • TravisBikes
    TravisBikes Posts: 674 Member
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    Or the bit in his book during the prologue, about taking salt away from Cheez-It's and how they were nasty (as well as other foods, once you remove salt/sugar/whatever).

    Heart breaker. I used to survive for cheezits.

    And the Cheddar flavor sunchips... can eat the entire family size bags in 2 minutes. good god.
  • susanswan
    susanswan Posts: 1,194 Member
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    I didn't get to read the whole article due to time constraints, but it was interesting to see this in print. It was a different slant than what I've been used to about the refined grains, corn syrup, etc. setting us up for the cravings - empty calories packed with garbage and not satisfying our hunger or nutritional needs which in turn drives us to eat more. I've also heard in Europe the same products we have here are sold there but contain less salt and sugar. I've been off of salt and sugar for so long now that it is incredible to me to note the first thing I taste in crackers is sugar. And the salt and sugar in almost any processed food is now just overpowering to me, especially in snack foods. Sugar especially can hide in the ingredients list under many names. My rule of thumb is, when I look at a food label and find listed any ingredients that I can't buy in the regular grocery store I put the package back on the shelf.
  • caribougal
    caribougal Posts: 865 Member
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    Great article.

    This paragraph is killer, and is a big part of why I eliminate bread, rice, pasta from my diet... all that bland food telling my brain to eat more!

    "This contradiction is known as “sensory-specific satiety.” In lay terms, it is the tendency for big, distinct flavors to overwhelm the brain, which responds by depressing your desire to have more. Sensory-specific satiety also became a guiding principle for the processed-food industry. The biggest hits — be they Coca-Cola or Doritos — owe their success to complex formulas that pique the taste buds enough to be alluring but don’t have a distinct, overriding single flavor that tells the brain to stop eating."

    And that Yoplait example in the article is great. Yoplait has twice the amount of sugar as Lucky Charms! I'm guilty of buying those Go-Gurts for my kids, and I would NEVER buy them Lucky Charms (and would never eat Yoplait myself). Ugh.
  • Bridget0927
    Bridget0927 Posts: 438 Member
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    This was an excellent article, and wonderful way to kill some time! Thanks! :-)
  • Bridget0927
    Bridget0927 Posts: 438 Member
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    Don't get me wrong I will still eat Doritos, but we have to get back to the mindset of it being a treat and not a daily accompaniment for every meal.

    This has hit it on the head, that line says everything we should do IMO Obviously!. People go too far the other way sometimes like these thing are the devil, but I think as a treat once in a while if you have a diet that is consistently healthy fresh foods is perfectly acceptable!
  • shabbychick81
    shabbychick81 Posts: 168 Member
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    this article needs to be read by every one . oh my .... we have known most of this information for a few years . we have changed everything we eat . i cannot believe we allow ourselves to be such lab rats . msg is a nurotoxin (sp)
  • blu_meanie_ca
    blu_meanie_ca Posts: 352 Member
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    That's funny. I was just wondering the other day how baby carrots became a thing. It's funny, with their food allergies (dyes, artificial flavors, and most preservatives) my kids eat next to no processed foods. They don't care for baby carrots, too processed for them - they want "real" ones.
  • einst3
    einst3 Posts: 4
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    OMG i read the article and it woke me up. i noticed my salt, sugar and fat in my intake was hard to keep under the limits at the best of times. if i snacked anything off the shelf, one soda, one prepackaged snacks, it threw my numbers off greatly. it should be a main post as what to look out for in food marketing. watch out for these in your diet, especially in prepackaged foods.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all
  • Flowers4Julia
    Flowers4Julia Posts: 521 Member
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    BUMP and a big thank you for posting this!
  • TravisBikes
    TravisBikes Posts: 674 Member
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    Just a little bump.

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