Have you ever wondered why you can’t stop eating a bag of potato chips or just stop at one cookie?
Would you believe that the food industry strategizes and formulates processed foods with the
perfect trio of ingredients which has you keep coming back for more? A formulation so perfectly
conspired that it is the ultimate global threat to human health.
This trio? It’s Sugar, Fat and Salt, a source of energy, balance and support that has sustained the
human race since its origin. A culinary treasure when used to flavor a vast array of food around
the world, but lethal weapons when used to transform foods to become craveable and addictive.
Food companies invest significant resources into researching and testing different formulations
for their food products to find the perfect combination and balance of salt, sugar, fat, and other
ingredients that trigger a pleasurable sensory response for you the consumer. This concept is
referred to as “The Bliss Point”, a term coined by Market researcher and psychophysicist Howard
Moskowitz, whose work revolutionized the way the food and beverage industry approaches
product development.
Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with wanting food to taste optimally good and feel
pleasurable right? After all, it’s meant to be enjoyed. But the Food Industry isn’t designing the
Bliss Point for food that’s nutritious for you; this doesn’t make them profit. Instead it’s processed
and engineered foods, such as sugary, savory snacks, soft drinks, cereals, bread, yogurt and
other convenience foods that have little to no nutritional value, are pro-inflammatory, contributing
overtime to chronic diseases, declining health, and longevity in young and old alike.
When you eat these foods with a bliss point, you trigger your brain’s reward zone and the brain
releases a neurotransmitter called dopamine – this is your “happy” hormone. Every time you eat
these foods you repeat the reward experience and release these hormones. As such, these
foods disrupt and overwrite the body’s natural “your full” mechanisms, which is why you can
eat larger quantities at a time or just eat until the bag or box is empty.
Your brain makes an imprint of the reward system from eating these irresistible unhealthy foods
and as a consequence, enters a habitual cycle of wanting you to eat these processed foods to
feel pleasure. Overtime, your body’s threshold for eating these Bliss Point foods increases so that
in order to get the same dopamine rush as before, you have to eat more of these foods to release
“the happy hormone”.
So now that you know the science behind processed foods you are eating, you can take control
of your choices to reduce and/or alleviate your Bliss Point. The next time you go to the grocery
store consider using these Strategies to break your bliss point.