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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 868 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Why We Crave Junk Food - Ask Gramps

Thank you for joining us for our five days per week, wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 868 of our Trek and time for our Philosophy Friday series.  Each Friday we will ponder some of the basic truths and mysteries of life, and how they can impact us in creating our living legacy.  As we continue on this trek called life, sometimes we have questions about life, so our Friday trek is a time where we can ‘Ask Gramps.’   Gramps will answer questions that you would like to ask your dad or granddad, but for whatever reason, this is not possible.  No matter how old we are, I know that all of us would like the opportunity to ask dad or gramps questions about life in many areas.  We will address areas such as finances, relationships, health/fitness, business/work, home repairs/renovations, seasons of life, spiritual/Biblical questions, and any others areas that come our way.  As your fellow sojourner and mentor on this trek that we call life, it is Gramps goal to provide you with practical wisdom and advice about any area of life. It is crucial that I receive a constant flow of questions so please submit your questions to guthrie@wisdom-trek.com, and Gramps will answer your questions on our Friday podcast.

We are broadcasting from our studio at ‘The Big House’ in Marietta, Ohio.  While any time of year we can fall prey to eating junk food, we are no less tempted during summer cookouts and family gatherings.  Spring and summer gives us extra opportunities to get outside and exercise more, and there are many more opportunities to buy healthy locally grown produce.  It is a great time to begin new habits of healthy eating and exercise.  So our question for today is:

Hey Gramps, “I have a difficult time avoiding junk food. Even though I know I should make better food choices, I so often fall back into the habit of gorging myself with the food that is unhealthy and causes me to gain weight.  How can I change?”
Why we Crave Junk Food
This is a somewhat complex question, so I am going to split my response into two parts.  This week we will explore why we crave junk food and next week we will explore how to change your eating habits.   I want to ask you a question before we dive in.  Do you really desire to change?  No amount of scientific proof or logic will cause you to change unless you accept responsibility for yourself and choose to change your eating habits.

Most of us know that junk food is unhealthy. We know that poor nutrition is related to heart problems, high blood pressure, and a host of other health ailments. You might even know that studies show that eating junk food has been linked to increases in depression.

But if it's so bad for us, why do we keep doing it?

There is an answer, and it has much more to do than just your willpower.  If you understand the scientific reasons why you crave junk food, then you can make a choice to also avoid it.Much of this information comes from a report titled ‘Why Humans Like Junk Food’ written by Steven Witherly, a food scientist, he explores the scientific reasons why junk food is so desirable to all of us.   According to Witherly, when you eat tasty food, there are two factors which make the experience pleasurable.

First, there is the sensation of eating the food. This includes what it tastes like (salty, sweet, spicy, etc.), what it smells like, and how it feels in your mouth. This last quality, known as “orosensation,” can be particularly important. Food companies will invest millions of dollars to discover the most satisfying level of crunch in a potato chip. Their scientists will test for the perfect amount of fizz in a soda.