Risk area: sweet, fatty, salty foods
Why do "unhealthy" foods often seem the most delicious?
When we are upset, anxious or tired, we often feel the urge to eat "something tasty".
This is not because we are hungry, but because sadness, stress and overwork provoke our bodies to seek quick and easy pleasure.
Why is such pleasure associated with food and how dangerous is all this?
Caloric, i.e. sweet or fatty food seems to be the most delicious to our brain, because from prehistoric times up to the middle of the twentieth century the worst danger for humans was not overeating, but hunger. Getting access to a powerful source of calories, the body receives a signal from the brain to eat as much as possible to satiate and store energy in store.
In addition, scientists have found that sweet, fatty and salty food acts like a drug. The same pleasure zones in the brain are activated, and we temporarily forget about the harm we are doing to our health. However, the more sugar, fat and salt we consume, the stronger the cravings and the harder it is to give up unhealthy foods.
In Europe in the Middle Ages, only rich people could afford to eat too many sweets, so tooth decay caused by their excess was one of the signs of a wealthy person.
Sugar
Consumption of sweets is a powerful pleasure remotely resembling a narcotic drug. Fortunately, cakes and candies are not "hooked" as quickly as drugs: the pleasure of their use increases not to infinity, but only to the "point of bliss" - after reaching it sweet no longer want. However, over time, the body gets used to it, and the "bliss point" shifts: to reach it, sweets need more and more.
In addition, our body likes sweet food, because its taste indicates a high content of carbohydrates. And caloric and easily digestible food, according to our brain, is a great source of energy.
Sugar is the leader among food drugs.
Fats
Fatty foods are just as pleasurable and addictive as sugary foods. But fat is even more insidious than sugar: it does not have a "bliss point", after reaching which the brain signals the body to stop - fat can be eaten indefinitely.
The reason for this is the sensitivity of the trigeminal nerve, through which we perceive the texture of the product. The fatter the food, the more pleasant it feels in the mouth and the tastier it seems.
The combination of fat and sugar is particularly insidious. The degree of sweetness can always be determined by taste, but the amount of fat can easily be masked by sugar, adding it to a too fatty dish: then it will seem to us that there is less fat, the food will be much more attractive, but at the same time harmful.
Salt
Salt supplies the body with sodium, a mineral essential for muscle and nerve cell function. Our brain is always happy with this product, so unsalted food seems unsatisfying and unpalatable to it.
In 2008, scientists at the University of Iowa found out that salt, just like fats, carbohydrates and chocolate, is permanently addictive. We think salt enhances the flavor of foods. In fact, the more one gets used to salting food, the less it tastes - and the more one's hand reaches for salt.
Salt, as well as sugar, equalizes the feeling of fat in food, but it does not reduce the amount of it. We eat salty fatty food with great pleasure - for example, salted lard.
The most harmful foods are those that combine sugar and fat, salt and fat. And these are the ones our brains perceive as the most delicious!
But if we know about it and understand how harmful substances affect the body, we can refrain from excessive consumption of sweet, fatty or salty.
However, you should not completely eliminate sweet, salty and fatty foods from your diet. It is enough to adhere to the basic principles of healthy eating and not to exceed the recommended intake of undesirable substances.
