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Let’s do a little Pavlovian conditioning experiment. Repeat these words out loud: Chips Ahoy, Oreos, Milanos.
Now be honest, who’s mouth watering? Who doesn’t also want a glass of cold milk? Just thinking about those beloved desserts starts tickling the reward areas of your brain with a dose of dopamine.
Like chocolate, alcohol, and shopping, cookies are classic examples of pleasurable stimuli that drive our behaviors. They whisper to our hypothalamus, our brain’s former reward center, that we need it to survive, even when we don’t. And we don’t. But try telling yourself that when you’re three cookies in a pocket of Thin Mints.
We’re certainly not against an indulgence once in a while, we’re just saying be careful out there in the world of snacks. The world is full of hundreds of foods that increase body weight and can trigger your cravings more and more.
Here is a sampling of the worst foods that cause insatiable cravings and can make you gain weight. For more, be sure to check out 5 Ways to Stop Sugar Cravings Before They Start, Dietitian Says.
“Generally, hyper-processed foods high in calories, added sugars, salt, and saturated fat are the worst triggers for cravings,” says the dietitian, Mary Wertz, Dt.P., certified sports dietitian and consultant for Mom Loves Best. Examples of hyper-tasty and hyper-processed foods include sodas and other sugary drinks, candies, ice cream, hot dogs, french fries, frozen pizzas, and donuts.
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Why do you recoil seconds after finishing a plate of spaghetti? Same reason why you add more lucky charms to your bowl when there is milk left. Refined carbs don’t satisfy hunger for very long because they lack fiber, Wertz says. And, in the case of many boxed cereals, they are coated in sugar. Added sugars and refined carbs send your blood sugar through the roof. You will need to eat more to feel full. And the extra calories will likely end up as visceral fat in your midsection.
Bite into a jelly donut or Boston Crème and you get an explosion of flavors and, in the case of Boston Crème, a very pleasant creaminess. This mouthfeel “results in a peak of positive feelings of pleasure, making us crave more,” says one dietitian nutritionist. Blanca Garcia, RDN, nutrition specialist for Canal Santé. “When we consume these super tasty foods, the neurons in the reward region of our brain become very active.” Garcia says we’re especially vulnerable to these feelings when we’re stressed or feeling negative emotions. They are like a balm on a wound. “These foods can stimulate the release of metabolic, stress and appetite hormones such as insulin, cortisol, dopamine, leptin and ghrelin, all of which play a role in food cravings.”
Candy is another candy that’s been known to trigger the urge to keep popping pleasure pills like Gumi Bears and M&M’s in your mouth, says Wertz. Some candies made with high fructose corn syrup may be the worst to eat if you’re concerned about your weight. (Need help? Try the best food that crushes sugar cravings.) Animal studies suggest that consuming fructose causes leptin resistance and promotes the development of obesity. Leptin is a hormone that suppresses appetite or increases the body’s use of energy. Leptin resistance causes constant hunger pangs even with adequate food intake. In one study, rats fed a high-fructose diet developed leptin resistance. Then, when switched to a high-fat diet, they continued to overeat and became obese compared to rats that ate a low-fructose diet and then switched to the same high-fat diet.
Have you ever downed half a pint of salted caramel ice cream during a TV commercial and found it hard to stop eating? Blame your happiness point. “The happy point is the perfect combination of sweetness, saltiness and creaminess that makes food irresistible,” says dietitian Jennifer May, B.Sc.S.Sydney (Australia) City Nutritionist and author of Pure health and happiness: 8 weeks to change your life. An animal study in Natural neuroscience found that high-calorie foods, both fatty and sugary, caused obese rats to compulsively overeat. Scientists at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida have reported that highly appetizing foods cause a release of the feel-good neurochemical dopamine, producing the same effect that cocaine or heroin causes in the brain’s reward center. Additionally, the researchers noted that similar to the effect of addictive drugs, the more the rats consumed of this food, the more of it they had to eat on subsequent occasions to achieve the same level of satisfaction, which is a similar response. to addictive drugs. .
Even the orange dust these salty snacks leave on your fingers appeals to our hedonistic desires. But there’s something more to many of the spicier chips, like Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, which some consider one of the most addictive salty snacks in the snack aisle. The cayenne pepper in Hot Cheetos seasoning creates a pleasant burning sensation that triggers a short-term release of endorphins in our body. When the heat and endorphins drop, we crave that feeling again, so we eat more. Hot Cheetos and other savory fries also contain monosodium glutamate (MSG), a flavor enhancer that provides a savory flavor known as umami, similar to cooked meat. MSG is known to stimulate glutamate receptors in the taste buds.
Jeff Csatari
Jeff Csatari, a contributing writer for Eat This, Not That!, is responsible for publishing Galvanized Media books and magazines and advising journalism students through the Zinczenko New Media Center at Bethlehem Moravian University, in Pennsylvania. Learn more about Jeff
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