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modern food engineered for our tongue

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We all know that junk/ processed food is unhealthy, harmful and contain empty calories which serve no purpose

Addiction to junk food not only has a negative impact on our energy levels and emotional well being, it also leads to many diseases like Obesity, Cardiovascular diseases and other chronic health conditions

But still we are addicted to the junk food. What is the reason behind it ?

The reason is that these junk food are engineered in such a way that we crave to eat them more.

The main objective of any junk food is to appeal to your senses and feel tasty to your tongue so that you become addicted to it.

Some important facts about Junk/ Processed food are as follows

1) In most of the commercials of junk/ processed food, you will observe the lines "One is not enough". Such advertisements indicate that they wish to create food which you cannot resist.

2) Some junk food tend to have a direct impact on our brain. Your brain simply sends you signals to receive some more after tasting some food.

3) Junk food advertisements have rich and fascinating images in the commercial so that we feel tempted to go out and grab it.

4) Just like tobacco and alcohol, even sugar and salt can have addictive control over human brain.

5) Junk food comes with labels (e.g.; diet, low fat, low sodium.etc.) But even these foods are harmful to health.

6) Also when crowd of people eat something, we naturally tend to have it in order to feel a part of the crowd.

Junk foods are engineered in such a way, so that people don't get too full too fast or stop eating too soon as the snack needs to be eaten nonstop until the packet is finished.

Fullness or satiety are quite a serious enemy for junk/processed food products.


THE ENGINEERING BEHIND THESE JUNK FOODS:

A box of Crackers with a promise, "You will be back for more" They know you will be back because they have made the necessary research to make it happen.

These companies rely on deep science and pure science to understand how we are attracted to food and how they can make their foods attractive to us.

The NEW YORK TIMES Investigative report has suggested that it was astonishing to believe how much maths, science and energy is put to find the perfect amount of salt, sugar and fats in their products. These products are designed in a perfect way to keep you coming back to eat more and more.

After studying the scientific journals or scanning food industry publications, a picture emerges that AN ARMY OF CHEMISTS, PHYSICISTS AND EVEN NEUROSCIENTISTS , ALL WORK TOGETHER TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU GO FOT THE SECOND COOKIE.. !

Also Junk foods/ Processed foods are designed to be easy to chew. If people have to chew the food to extract flavours enjoyment, it will take longer to eat, get better digested and feeling of fullness will reach far sooner. So people will consume less.

The CRUNCH OF A POTATO CHIP is also engineered very meticulously. It is the noise of that crunch that amplifies through your jaw bone and you can hear the crunch quite loudly when you bite. Research confirms that the potato chip is perceived to be more crisper and fresher when overall sound level was increased. Hence the need to engineer on that crunch becomes very important.

Apart from designing the chewing pattern and the crunch of a potato chip, foods like CHOCOLATES are also engineered to dissolve quickly in the mouth trickling the brain into believing that no calories have been ingested. When this happens, you are likely to consume more amount of it.

Processed food scientists have also studied the architecture of the mouth to study the detection mechanism of our mouth cavity. Chocolates are generally shaped roundish/ round to hit certain areas in the mouth thus improving its melt-in the-mouth quality. Chocolates would not have been enjoyed if they had sharp edges as they are supposed to give comforting, pleasant and loving experience in the mouth.

The ultimate goal is to reach the Bliss-point. The junk food scientists learn their product to such an extent that they hit the perfect spot in the mouth to create what is called as the blisspoint ! They take care that they consider activating all the senses at the time of engineering their product so that their food appeals to us in a very strong way.

So next time, when we bite into that chip or a cookie, lets appreciate the engineered creativity behind it but also lets remember that there is a healthy bite waiting for us !

EAT MINDFULLY !

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