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Why We Eat What We Eat

Dee Muszynski

We all know that healthy eating is important. It's also no surprise when I say that for most of us, we know what we shouldn't do, or at least what we should do less of. I think before starting any nutrition journey or changing any type of habit we need to explore the “why” behind any behavior. The ‘why’ lets us get to the root cause of why we are doing something so we can 

  1. fix it, or 

  2. At least gain a better understanding of our own behaviour.  

Why is it hard to eat my veggies? or rather why is it so easy to gravitate toward foods that we know aren't the most beneficial for us. Why do I keep eating them and why is it so hard to stop?

Food companies spend a lot of money to pinpoint exactly the combination of flavors and mouthfeel to keep us coming back for more. 

In the hopes of understanding why making healthy decisions is so hard I stumbled upon Dr Steven A. Witherly and his paper “Why Humans Like Junk Food” Dr Witherly, a food scientist explains that food pleasure is a combination of sensory factors and caloric stimulation by macronutrients. 

The sensory factors that most contribute to pleasure are salty, sweet and umami (savory), plus the feel of food once it is put in our mouths. 

He states the brain is able to know and quantify the pleasure continued in an eating experience. Our brain and our gut play large roles in doing so. Overall, there are mechanisms in our brain and our gut that allow us, on a subconscious level, to figure out the calorie content and quality of that food. For example,  Dr Witherly explains that the gut has the ability to sense this, and he reasons that lower calorie foods are less appealing and less palatable over time. For example, think about how you feel about veggies - unlikely that once you are done you are getting up for more. Therefore, to keep food pleasurable, scientists need to add additional sensations. Once you get that perfect combo - you are not eating just one but the whole bag!!! . 

How exactly do food scientists create foods that cause us to crave them?

There are many theories in the food science world to explain why humans choose the foods that they do. Some are based in biology and some in behaviour. From my perspective, as someone that helps people change eating habits to favour those lower calorie and higher nutritionally dense foods this is extremely important and interesting to me. Here are some of the theories that have been developed to better explain why we gravitate to some foods and not others.

It is obvious why the food industry would need to understand these concepts in order to sell food. However, I argue that we as consumers also benefit in knowing how we are being manipulated to favour packaged foods. Now I know I sound like I'm against packaged foods - I can assure you I'm not, all foods fit into a healthy well balanced diet - but I would argue with what that “balance” actually is.  I believe in knowledge is power, and the more we know how our own biology and psychology is being used to promote the consumption of these foods the better we are for it. Let’s take a look at some of the theories used by food companies to develop our favourite snack foods. This is not an extensive list and if you are interested in reading the whole paper I have attached it below. 

Salivation Response Theory

This theory states that we want foods that trigger a salivary response. It states that we prefer foods that are moist. Moist foods evoke that salivary response, this makes us want that food more. Think potato chips or foods that have salt sprinkled on top.

Temple 2006, found that as we eat more of the same food our saliva secretion decreases. This means that foods become less pleasurable as we eat more of it. So scientists need to come up with foods that continuously feed that response and provide an exciting experience. 

Side note: For those of you familiar with intuitive eating (IE) principles. You know that one of the frameworks includes Making Peace with Food. This framework is based on having  unconditional permission to eat all foods. This idea is that once you give yourself permission to eat all foods, even the ones that are your kryptonite, the wanting of that food will lessen. We can see a bit of that interplay between IE and this theory. Intuitive eating leans on the idea that the more you tell yourself you cannot have that food the more you want it (psychological), we can see that there is also a physiological reason for decreasing our want for that food as well. 

Dynamic Contrast Theory

This theory states that most people like foods that have sensory contrast, think crunchy + soft, salty + sweet.  Think of your favorite snacks that are crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. 

Sensory Specific Satiety Theory 

This theory states that our pleasure is decreased within seconds of tasting food. This is so we get a variety of foods in our diet and not just get stuck on eating one thing. You can see how junk food tries to get around this response. 

Food and Memory Theory

This theory states that the act of eating food creates memories - not only through our senses but the event of eating and the people that are around you while eating it. This memory can later be called upon by the sensory memory of that specific food eaten. 

Energy Density Theory

States that higher caloric dense foods evoke higher food pleasure. High density foods are tasty but not filling and low calorie, high nutritionally dense foods are more filling but less tasty. 

Vanishing Caloric Density Theory

This theory states that we like foods that have a high impact. Meaning lots of taste, different textures (dynamic contrast) but with low ability to make us feel full 

There are many more theories to demonstrate why humans eat the way we eat. And the strategies and theories that food companies use to build that perfect food, the one that keeps us coming back for more. 

Outlining some of these theories is important especially if we feel that we have no control over our food intake.  You can rest assured that there is nothing wrong with you.  These foods are specifically designed to keep you coming back for more. Eliminating that guilt is important while trying to better your relationship with food. 

So what can we do about it? How can we decrease the hold that food companies have on our food choice?

With these biological and psychological theories used in the lab, it feels like we are set up to fail!  How can we possibly lessen the food company's grasp on our food choice. Keep reading and I will show you….

You are in control of your home environment

Get the foods that make it hard to say “no” out of the house. We want to create a barrier for high calorie dense foods and  decrease the barrier for healthier alternatives. I don't believe in restrictions. However, by simply committing to not buying and keeping junk foods in the house you are creating an obstacle to consuming them. If they are not in the house, you are forced to get dressed, get in the car and go get that tasty treat - having to do that might deter you from going and getting that snack. When you actually have to get prepared to go out and get your snack food you are  creating space between decision and action. In that space you might actually come to realize that getting doritos at 10 pm is not worth it. 

Eat Slow

Even if it is a snack food. It takes our brain and gut 20 min to send signals to each other to say that we are full. Snack foods are made to be eaten quickly and therefore much easier to overconsume. By eating slowly we tend to enjoy our food more, we tend to eat less of that food and it also allows us to stop eating when we are satisfied and not overfull. Next time you have some treats in front of you, commit to really tasting the food, think about how it feels in your mouth and enjoy the eating experience as opposed to rushing through it. 

Don’t eat snack foods out of the original bag

Place your snack foods into their own bowl and don’t sit down with the whole bag. Again, we are trying to create a barrier. Once we are sitting down we might not want to get up and refill our bowl. It also prevents us from eating mindlessly, meaning not being on autopilot and realizing before it’s too late that all the chips are gone. It also helps with portion control (next point).

Eat off of smaller plates

Just this simple change can help us navigate our portion size better. Before you say that adding less food and placing it on a normal plate would work the same -not so fast - our brains actually don’t feel as satisfied when we see less food on a larger plate as opposed to more food on a smaller plate. Data also suggests that eating off of smaller plates decreases the total intake of food consumed. 

Make healthy food visible and easy to access

Chop all your veggies right after coming home from the grocery store, place your healthy options food front and center of the cupboard. Having healthy foods more prominently displayed in the house will remind you to have more of them. 

It's not easy making healthy behaviour changes. This article only explores one aspect of our food intake and the rationale behind why we eat. More specifically why it’s so dang hard to say no to Doritos (honestly those things are perfection). 

If you take anything out of this article I want it to be this. Don’t beat yourself up when you over consume something that you know you “shouldn't” have. It’s an oversimplification to say you

have no control. The first step is always the WHY behind anything we do, maybe this article outlined part of your why…now you get to ask yourself “what do I do about it.”


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Written by Dee

DeeRDNutrition

MSc, RD, PN1

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