Engineered to Cause Overeating

Oh, and if you have sources (for blood sugar and leptin especially), that would help.

For nutrition it wouldn't matter either - it all averages out.
Cool, good to know, that was my major question.

Yes, I don't know about insulin effects either. I might look into more it if noone else happens to know.

I dont believe the foods are specifically engineered.

Totally possible that they're not, especially depending on your definition of "engineered." My understanding of junk food design was based on talking to some "food scientists," but if I remember correctly, the links below mention it as well. I've also heard it through other fairly reputable sources (which I don't necessarily consider every website to be). I think food scientists are a relatively good source.


https://sqonline.ucsd.edu/2020/12/food-engineering-an-addictive-science/
https://jamesclear.com/junk-food-science
https://www.diabetichealthclinic.org/food-companies-engineering-food-addictive/
https://www.alternet.org/2014/06/5-unhealthy-foods-engineered-be-addictive/

[Info for 1- you can ignore the numbers, I'm using them so I can refer back later.]
recalibrating your palate to more bitter, more flavourful, and less sweet foods.
That helps. I've been trying to figure out how to sort of hack my tastebuds. Bitter, flavorful, less sweet. Noted.


computer models and literal chemical engineers who are developing exactly which synthetic additives will give an optimal "mouth feel" to a new product, along with countless other quantifiable variables.
Howard Moskowitz, one of the most famous food engineers,

That's really cool, I didn't know that part of it.
I appreciate the info and backup.



[2-leptin-adjacent]
Once I've eschewed high sugar/highly processed foods for a few days,
Yeah, that's one of the reasons I was wondering about leptin because that's the chemical that supposedly modulates that. So this gives me an idea on how long the time frame is. (I didn't know if it was days or months), so hopefully it will only take my body a couple of days to get back on track if I eat junk again.
This leptin response was also part of why I was wondering if I should junk out all at once rather than a little over time-get through the junk-withdraw faster.

I remember once having McDonald's after a long break from all junk. I was really looking forward to it and was surprised that it suddenly tasted like greasy gooey glop!
Me too! When noone else so far seemed to think that the formula changes have been making them blander, I was starting to wonder if it was a COVID thing!

Thank you!

Oh my gosh, there really are people reverse-engineering the junk food process! I didn't mean it this literally, but here's a snippet, plus a couple of interesting comments from the article.



https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/how-junk-food-can-end-obesity/309396/


Recent studies suggest that calorie counts placed on menus have a negligible effect on food choices, and that the less-health-conscious might even use the information to steer clear of low-calorie fare




Here's a larger snippet.
Introduced in 1991, the McLean Deluxe was perhaps the boldest single effort the food industry has ever undertaken to shift the masses to healthier eating. It was supposed to be a healthier version of the Quarter Pounder, made with extra-lean beef infused with seaweed extract. It reportedly did reasonably well in early taste tests—for what it’s worth, my wife and I were big fans—and McDonald’s pumped the reduced-fat angle to the public for all it was worth. The general reaction varied from lack of interest to mockery to revulsion. The company gamely flogged the sandwich for five years before quietly removing it from the menu.

The McLean Deluxe was a sharp lesson to the industry, even if in some ways it merely confirmed what generations of parents have well known: if you want to turn off otherwise eager eaters to a dish, tell them it’s good for them. Recent studies suggest that calorie counts placed on menus have a negligible effect on food choices, and that the less-health-conscious might even use the information to steer clear of low-calorie fare—perhaps assuming that it tastes worse and is less satisfying, and that it’s worse value for their money. The result is a sense in the food industry that if it is going to sell healthier versions of its foods to the general public—and not just to that minority already sold on healthier eating—it is going to have to do it in a relatively sneaky way, emphasizing the taste appeal and not the health benefits. “People expect something to taste worse if they believe it’s healthy,” says Charles Spence, an Oxford University neuroscientist who specializes in how the brain perceives food. “And that expectation affects how it tastes to them, so it actually does taste worse.”


Thus McDonald’s silence on the nutritional profiles of its new menu items. “We’re not making any health claims,” Watson said. “We’re just saying it’s new, it tastes great, come on in and enjoy it. Maybe once the product is well seated with customers, we’ll change that message.” If customers learn that they can eat healthier foods at McDonald’s without even realizing it, he added, they’ll be more likely to try healthier foods there than at other restaurants. The same reasoning presumably explains why the promotions and ads for the Carl’s Jr. grilled-cod sandwich offer not a word related to healthfulness, and why there wasn’t a whiff of health cheerleading surrounding the turkey burger brought out earlier this year by Burger King (which is not yet calling the sandwich a permanent addition)...