why do we crave "bad" foods

 

This weeks question comes from Ad who wants to know why bad food tastes so good.

Now firstly, I don't think that there is such a thing as "bad" food but there is such a thing as a bad diet. If you feast purely on pizzas, burgers and chips everyday, then that would classify as a bad diet in my eyes. However, if you have things like burgers and chips once a week and eat healthily the rest of the time, than that's still a healthy diet overall.

I think Ad is referring more to the cravings we get for all things fatty, salty and sugary. Even as a nutritionist, I still have cravings for a certain pickled onion fried snack from time to time (and nothing else will satisfy).

Research has shown that we are born with innate likes for 3 different tastes - sweet, salty and umami (which is the taste found in meat). We are also wired up to like high fat food because they are the most calorific.

This all goes back to hunter-gatherer times when we needed to focus on high-calorie foods when we could get hold of them to lay down fat and stay alive. Now food is available us all the time, this innate programming can be a problem.

So what's the solution? Well, we can change our pre-programmed likes by trying lots of different types of foods over and over again.  That means eating more the 3 tastes that we innately dislike: bitter, sour and foods that burn. Sounds weird (and slightly unpleasant) but through eating these types of food you can grow to love them (think coffee, limes and curry).

My best piece of advice to curb the crisp cravings is to give yourself lots of healthy and tasty alternatives to chow down on. A handful of dried fruit and nuts for example are great. 

Basically, the more healthy food you eat, the less you eat the less you'll crave the "bad" stuff.

Time to reprogramme those wires.

If you have any thoughts, questions or stuff you'd like to see on my blog posts, then as ever, just drop me a line.

Bye for now

Dr Shilps

 

This weeks question comes from Ad who wants to know why bad food tastes so good.

Now firstly, I don't think that there is such a thing as "bad" food but there is such a thing as a bad diet. If you feast purely on pizzas, burgers and chips everyday, then that would classify as a bad diet in my eyes. However, if you have things like burgers and chips once a week and eat healthily the rest of the time, than that's still a healthy diet overall.

I think Ad is referring more to the cravings we get for all things fatty, salty and sugary. Even as a nutritionist, I still have cravings for a certain pickled onion fried snack from time to time (and nothing else will satisfy).

Research has shown that we are born with innate likes for 3 different tastes - sweet, salty and umami (which is the taste found in meat). We are also wired up to like high fat food because they are the most calorific.

This all goes back to hunter-gatherer times when we needed to focus on high-calorie foods when we could get hold of them to lay down fat and stay alive. Now food is available us all the time, this innate programming can be a problem.

So what's the solution? Well, we can change our pre-programmed likes by trying lots of different types of foods over and over again.  That means eating more the 3 tastes that we innately dislike: bitter, sour and foods that burn. Sounds weird (and slightly unpleasant) but through eating these types of food you can grow to love them (think coffee, limes and curry).

My best piece of advice to curb the crisp cravings is to give yourself lots of healthy and tasty alternatives to chow down on. A handful of dried fruit and nuts for example are great. 

Basically, the more healthy food you eat, the less you eat the less you'll crave the "bad" stuff.

Time to reprogramme those wires.

If you have any thoughts, questions or stuff you'd like to see on my blog posts, then as ever, just drop me a line.

Bye for now

Dr Shilps