The Colonel “puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave for it nightly,smartass!”, Stuart Mackenzie. This quote is from the movie So I Married an Axe Murderer and one of my favorite movie scenes. Little did I know that it actually bears some truth. Did you ever wonder why we crave some foods and not others? Chemicals play a huge role in todays food industry and may be the reason you crave those high calorie snacks.

Today most restaurants aren’t just relying on their culinary prowess to win you over as a customer. Instead they rely on modern chemical know-how to make you come back for their dishes. The food industry has definitely taken advantage of high tech methods to get customers hooked on products. The biggest food companies today use chemicals to create exactly the right taste in their products.

People are naturally drawn to foods that offer the most stimulation. Foods that are high in fat, salt, and sugar are the most predominant in the craving category. The reason is that the right mixtures of salt and sugar stimulate the brain, triggering a desire for more and releasing chemicals in the body that actually elicit an emotional response. Thus begins the cycle of overeating.

I recently read a great book on this topic called “The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the insatiable American Appetite”, by Dr. David A. Kessler. Dr. Kessler was the head of the Food and Drug Administration and is best known for his battle with the tobacco industry, accusing cigarette makers of manipulating nicotine content to make their products addictive.

Dr. Kessler found similar methods put to use in the food industry. Food companies have spent millions of dollars finding the perfect combination of fat, salt and sugar to make their products addictive. These products create such a pleasurable response that people will just keep on eating even when they are full. This is called conditioned hypereating. Dr. Kessler points out that “conditioned hypereating is a chronic problem that only worsens with dieting”.

The best way to avoid the chemical super-foods is to limit your exposure to them. I once heard a great piece of advice. When you go to the supermarket try to purchase products that only contain one ingredient. Now, you may be thinking, how am I going to purchase foods with only one ingredient? It’s easy, you can find them in the produce department. Vegetables and fruits have only one ingredient and pack more nutrition than most anything that comes in a box.

Most of us can’t survive on produce alone. Just make sure that you are aware of the ingredients on the box. Try to find more whole grain products along with lean beef, chicken and turkey. Grass-fed beef is very popular these days and contains more nutritional value than your run-of-mill beef from the supermarket. The cost is still somewhat prohibitive but consider the benefits the next time you make up your grocery list.

That taste that your craving may be a chemical in your meal and not the actual natural ingredients. Consider this the next time you go out to get your favorite high calorie dish. When I think about this, those meals become a lot less attractive. Know what you are putting into your body, read the ingredients on the packages of your favorite foods and then make an informed decision about the food you eat.

Author Bio: Steve Stark Get Fit & Stay Fit! Steve is a NFPT Certified Personal Trainer with over 15 years of experience training athletes as well as private clients. For expert fitness advice, instructional exercise videos, printable workout routines and 4 or 8 week workout programs visit www.workoutvillage.com.

Category: Food and Drinks
Keywords: craving unhealthy foods,cravings,nutrition,unhealthy food,weight loss