ELI5 why I logically understand McDonald's food is low quality and bad for me but I crave it like crack?

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• RobotToaster@mander.xyz ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  The same reason people will logically understand that crack is bad for them but crave it like crack

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  • Magister@lemmy.world ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Image

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  • prettybunnys@piefed.social ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    This is actually shockingly remarkably true.

    There is very little to differentiate your addiction to junk food and your addiction to sex or your addiction to crack rock.

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• Manjushri@piefed.social ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  There is a chemical in your brain called dopamine which is an important part of how we feel pleasure. Use of recreational drugs and alcohol causes a rush of this chemical and that is part of the pleasure we feel from using them. The problem is that regular use of such chemicals causes us to have lower levels of dopamine when we are not using them. We end up feeling a desire for the drug or booze to get our dopamine levels back up.

  Diets high in sugar, salt, and carbs also causes a dopamine rush. When you eat that food regularly, it lowers your normal dopamine levels, just like drugs and alcohol do, if not to the same level. That is why you feel that craving. Eating such food occasionally is fine, but if you do it to often, you can literally get an addiction to it.

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  • TomMasz@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    We evolved for a life of scarcity, but now we live in a world of plenty.

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  • Skullgrid@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    based middle of the road, analytical, truthful and realistic take.

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• 6nk06@sh.itjust.works ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Grease, sugar, and a lot of chemicals.

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  • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Don’t forget loads of salt!

    Like– every step of the way, fast food places have an opportunity to aim for ‘healthier’ or ‘more delicious’ choices, overwhelmingly with profit-making in mind. That’s the main thing to keep in mind.

    IIRC, McD’s and various other chains even design venting and such to get the smell of the cooking food (chemically enhanced) in to the surrounding area. You know, so that more people can pay a fortune to get a food rush that doubles as a health disaster.

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• amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  fast food isn’t bad for you, unless you only eat only fast food for years. if you wanna recreate the MCD taste at home, try sprinkling MSG on your food.

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  • Asetru@feddit.org ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Do I look like I know what an MSG is?

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    • 474D@lemmy.world ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      You can buy it in a bottle like spices. It looks like salt. I like to replace the regular amount of salt with 50% msg and 50% salt when cooking

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    • SuiXi3D@fedia.io ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Just go to the grocery store and buy some?

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    • lemmyknow@lemmy.today ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      MSG king of flawor (or so I hear)

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    • bonenode@piefed.social ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Monosodium glutamat

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• JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨11⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  A very large culprit is your gut’s microbiome (the bacteria that live in our gut). The more junk food you eat, the more you will grow your craving for it.

  psychologytoday.com/…/where-cravings-are-bred

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• Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk ⁨7⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Want to experience the ultimate in shitty comfort food?

  Come to the UK, go into town, have a few beers, get drunk and then stop for a massive dirty kebab on the way home.

  Fucking bliss

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• inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world ⁨8⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Because sugar, fat and salt in those quantities are literally addictive. Our human/monkey brains were wired for survival, not overall health. Eating a large source of those three would’ve been a massive help in surviving winter when our next meal wouldn’t be guaranteed.

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• Devial@discuss.online ⁨10⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Because fat and sugar are drugs. People don’t usually think of them like drugs, because of the widely accepted, but very wrong, attitude that only illegal substances can be drugs. Sugar, fat, caffeine, alcohol or tobacco are all drugs. They all trigger a desirable chemical reaction in your brain, and all have addictive potential. At least 2 or 3 of them are also significantly more harmful to you several types of actually illegal drugs.

  And in general, though perhaps most strongly for drugs, many people suffer from the cognitive bias of “illegal=bad & legal=good. Automatically and by default”

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