The Conspiracy "Junk Food" Producers Deny

Ahh! Imagine your favorite junk food for just a moment. Try to savor the taste (I know that won't be difficult!). Doesn't it seem as if it's just the right blend of tastes . . . textures . . . that just want to make you keep eating . . . and eating . . .

No, it's not your imagination. And no it's not your lack of discipline that keeps you thinking this way. And not coincidentally that keeps you returning for more!

Now, in a candid interview Dr. John Berardi reveals the stunning revelations that junk food producers would rather you not know: Those tastes and textures are indeed carefully blended with those fats and sugars to ensure you keep coming back for more than "just one."

It's true! Berardi, internationally acclaimed nutritionist to Olympians and founder of Precision Nutrition, told Christina Williams, in a recent television interview, the goal of these companies is to "manipulate your taste buds" so you would eat more . . . and then, of course, buy more!

In this way, he explained, certain foods become more like drugs than foods. It's far too easy to start craving them. And by contrast it's far too difficult to stop eating them. When you claim they're "irresistible," you're doing more than just explaining how good they are.

Your claim of them being "irresistible" is much closer to a real observation at how they affect you physically and emotionally. You are literally not able to say no to certain foods.

Let's face it, junk food is ubiquitous. It's everywhere. If you were a crack addict trying to quit, one of your first steps would be to avoid encountering the drug by avoiding visiting locations where it is sold. Sound reasonable? Try doing that with these foods. Fat chance!

No wonder you're beating yourself up thinking you lack discipline. In a very real sense, with certain junk foods, you're dealing with addictive behavior. Forging ahead, treating these foods as anything less than a drug, is not only frustrating, but in many cases extremely ineffective, as well.

So just how do you handle this situation? The key, according to Berardi, is to not "put yourself in the line of fire." Sure, you know these foods are in the stores. But don't bring them home with you.

If you were to buy them, bring them home and then open the packaging vowing you'll only have so many pieces a day -- that is trying to establish some portion size as you do with healthier food -- you almost always fail. And I'm not making a dire prediction here. I'm pointing out past behaviors. You're not the only one. Just ask anyone who has tried to limit his consumption of junk foods.

For many of us, this may be a new way to view junk foods. For some us though Berardi is telling us nothing that we haven't suspected for a while now. So, the next time you reach for those potato chips or for those cheese puffs . . . or for that matter any junk food you have a weakness for, think twice.

You'll certain extend that reach thinking you can limit the amount of the snack you'll eat. But the next thing you know, the bag is nearly gone and you're screaming at yourself for being such a fool.

View it as more -- much more -- than your desire to eat a tasty food. View it as possible addictive behavior. Because now you know it's much more than just a great tasting snack. It's an opiate of sorts, waiting for you to eat just "one."

And that's when the "junk food" producers smile!

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