Unless you’re deliberate about what you eat, cooking will be an undesirable chore. So, you turn to fast foods because they don’t let you starve.
Or, you’re probably too busy to prepare a healthy meal.
There are a thousand and one reasons you reach for an extra slice of cake or pizza. But do you want to know the real and scientifically proven one?
If you do, then you can fight your addiction and begin a path to healthy eating.
How and why are we addicted to processed and junk food?
You excite your brain when you eat junk and processed foods, but why?
It is no secret that we feel differently when we eat a bowl of ice cream and a plate of leafy greens. One will leave you craving more, while the other will only satiate ghrelin or the hunger hormone.
There’s a science-backed reason you crave sugary and processed foods more than whole foods.
The reward system in the brain naturally chases after dopamine. When you do something it considers rewarding, like eat a sugary snack, the feel-good chemical is released, and the desire to feel that way again is created.
That is how you become addicted to processed and junk food.
Junks and processed foods comprise sugar, salts, preservatives, and other ingredients that taste exceptional in your mouth.
Most of these foods melt easily on your tongue, giving your brain the impression that you’re not eating enough. So, you’ll reach for, slowly feeding your addiction.
In addition, it’s even more difficult to resist these foods, considering the lengths manufacturers go to increase your options, their taste, and appeal.
And if you don’t eat healthily and work out on top of your processed and junk food addiction, you’re attracting many health problems.
Eating a lot of processed and junk food may satisfy you, but it leads to conditions like diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, cancer, and depression.
Processed and junk foods cannot fill your belly, but whole foods will. You may not feel the immediate dopamine rush, but ghrelin will reduce healthily.
Okay, so to sum it up…
Feeding an addiction only makes it grow. Processed and junk foods are bad for you, no matter how satisfying they taste and make you feel in the moment.
While you may want to stop eating unhealthy foods suddenly, you may be unable to. So, a gradual withdrawal is one sure-fire way to do so. Give yourself treats at times but eat more whole foods.