Overview:
This topic delves into the issue of food cravings and their contribution to unhealthy eating habits, with a specific focus on ultraprocessed foods. It examines the tactics that the food industry uses to make such foods irresistible, making the point that ultra-processed food is designed specifically to maximize consumption. The module then offers effective strategies to combat these cravings and develop healthier eating habits.
Topic Summary:
- The food industry manipulates whole food to make it rewarding, convenient, cheap, and socially mandated. UPF companies divert attention away from the addictive nature of their products, suggesting that people just ‘eat in moderation’, which is the anthesis of of ultraprocessed food creation.
- Food cravings are common in our society, and often interfere with the formation of healthy eating habits.
- A common problem is that people can’t tell the difference between nutritional (homeostatic) hunger and reward/reinforcement eating. They simply feel ‘hungry’.
- To help patients identify the type of hunger they are experience, we recommend that ‘apple test’. If a patient feels hungry, they stop and ask themselves “Do I want an apple? They can substitute some other whole food (banana, orange) if they don’t like apples. The answer ‘yes’ suggests nutritional hunger—the patient should go ahead and eat their apple. If the answer is ‘no’, I want a chocolate chip cookie, their hunger comes from reward/reinforcement (limbic) drives
- The best strategy for avoiding food cravings is to eliminate UPF—which is easier said than done, but with time and focus on healthy eating behavior, curating the food environment, performing a neutral behavior (e.g. implementation intention) food cravings can be beaten.
