The Dark Science Behind Food Addiction (It’s Not Your Fault)

These dangerous ingredients shouldn’t be considered food. Discover why junk food addiction isn’t just an accident, how food engineering and artificial flavors influence cravings, and why some foods are designed to keep you coming back for more.

Today we’re going to talk about the most dangerous ingredients in the world. [music] And actually, it’s not even ingredients in food. It’s engineered chemicals because in no way, shape, or form [music] do they even resemble actual food. The most dangerous ingredients in food are actually something behind the food. It’s the intention of how they’re making these ingredients versus just the ingredients themselves.

Let me explain. What makes an ingredient part of junk food really comes down to one thing. And that is the engineering to keep you hooked because every single ingredient in these ultra-processed foods is so addictive, okay? And they’re designed that way. So, let’s go through some things to actually clarify what I’m talking about.

Number one, time-released flavors. In 2023 and 24, there were certain patents that came out encapsulating certain aromatic compounds. So, when you crunch or bite into it, and it creates this little microfracture, it releases certain flavors at different points of when you’re chewing this food. Number two, acoustic crunch tuning. Food engineers have literally recorded the different sounds that occur when you eat a chip versus a cracker.

All of this sends signals to the brain telling the brain it’s fresh. Again, what they’ve done is they’ve engineered certain perceptions about what you’re consuming. Number three, micro salt. What is that? Well, what they’ve done, and this is actually a patented process, they ground down salt into these micro nano particles, which are 100 times smaller than regular salt.

So, the salt can stick to the snacks better, they give it an even flavor of salt, and they can absorb instantly to give you that sensation of saltiness. I don’t know about you, but I used to crave salt so much. If I can get this instant sensation of the salt going right in my body really quickly, I probably would want to keep eating that. And then we get to number four, engineered micro fat. Well, this is another process where they can make the fat in very tiny droplets through various emulsification techniques where they’re basically mixing and breaking down the fat to a certain level to be able to give you that mouthfeel.

That lubrication your mouth that people love because the mouthfeel is probably the most important thing because it’s the first point of entry and that’s where we make a lot of the judgments. So, it can’t be too dry, it can’t be too this or that, it has to be perfect. It has to lubricate the mouth, it has to have a certain creaminess, a certain fattiness. And even if there’s no fat in there, it has to mimic that mouthfeel. And then we get down to number five, natural flavors and even sometimes artificial flavors.

I don’t know this, but it’s not just one flavoring. You’re talking about hundreds of different chemicals to create different notes to help resemble something real. Like if they’re going to mimic strawberry, they have like 80 different chemicals that they have to put together in a certain way to create a very similar taste to strawberries, but it’s all artificial. But what people don’t know is there’s a lot of additional enhancers in these flavor chemicals that will emphasize certain high notes and then certain things kind of stand out and like wow, this is just exploding in my mouth, but it’s really not exploding in your mouth at all. It’s exploding in your brain because the chemicals are absorbed almost instantly going right to your brain creating this wow, this is amazing, this is really delicious, right?

And then it kind of comes up and then it comes down. So, they actually can create these flavors to go away pretty quick. So, you keep eating them, but you just can’t satisfy your body because the flavors kind of go away. And this relates to number six right here, no satisfaction. One thing about junk food is that it must never satisfy you.

It’s meant to get you to eat a lot of it. There’s no signals to tell your brain to turn it off. So, our brains actually seek out things that are nutrient dense. It’s a survival mode. If there’s no nutrition in there, we just have to keep eating it and eating it to try to get the nutrition, but it’s never going to happen because there is no nutrition in there.

And there’s not a lot of protein. The thing that really satisfies us is the protein. And then number seven, that we create this blood sugar spike that then comes down. When the blood sugars are down and they’re crashed, guess what? You’re going to be hungry.

For what? More sugar. This is a perfect plan to get you to keep eating the same carbohydrates that created the problem in the first place. And then we have number eight, the bliss point. I mean, they spend billions of dollars in the lab trying to figure out the exact combination of salt, sugar, and fat, okay?

And they just keep playing around with it until they hit this harmonic bliss point where it just wow, this is just like amazing. It’s so delicious, right? And then they also have layered textured material. Okay, I like to call it material because it’s not food. So, it’s all about contrast.

So, like an Oreo cookie, right? They have the crunchy outer layer and soft fatty filling. It’s about keeping your brain entertained with all these different flavors and textures and mouthfeel. That’s layered textures. And let’s not forget about convenience, right?

How convenient is it to get these foods? It’s just everywhere. It’s so easy to get them. And that’s another problem with addiction. If something is so easy to get, it’s really hard to say no to it.

The organization that trains and certifies dietitians. It’s called the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. This organization is supposed to be the most trusted group of people in the area of food and nutrition and diet. They have hundreds of thousands of dietitians that are working in hospitals, working with doctors, working in nursing homes, working in the assisted living home. And in society, this is where people go to get truthful information about their health.

But did you know that they have taken millions and millions of dollars from the junk food industry, from Big Pharma, from even the pesticide companies? Here you are trying to help people with their health, but at the same time, you are investing in the actual thing that creates the health problem. Out of all the things that cause chronic disease, ultra-processed food, junk food is at the top of the list. And so, this has been the problem is that Big Food, the junk food industry has done corporate capture over various groups, agencies, not to mention the American Heart Association, the American Medical Association, the American Diabetes Association. They get millions of dollars from Big Food and Big Pharma.

And what’s really interesting about this, if you look on their website, they’ll say things like, “There is no bad food. It’s all about moderation. Any food can be a part of a balanced diet as long as you practice portion control. ” Here’s the big problem. When you start to do portion control with junk food, it’s impossible because it’s addictive.

As soon as you start eating this, you can’t stop. I know for myself, as soon as I start eating a chip, I will eat the whole bag. I cannot practice portion control. And this is why it’s so important. When you go grocery shopping, don’t go there hungry or tired.

Go when you had enough sleep, when you actually had enough food, and have a list of things you’re going to buy, and do not buy the junk food. That way it’s not in the house. That way you don’t have to keep saying no to it. If you come to my house and you look around, you will not be able to find junk food. That makes