Sorry… what?! …
Hyper means elevated or more than usual.
Palatable is how agreeable a food is to our palates, basically how tasty we find it.
Put them together and you’ve got what the food industry might call a recipe for (financial) success.
The more palatable a food is, the more we’re likely to eat it and therefore buy it.
When a product is hyper-palatable, we’re talking about amplified flavour such as super sweetness, mouth watering saltiness, rich oiliness or quite often a combination of two or all of these traits.
These ridiculously tasty combinations are not common in nature and since we’re designed to seek out high calorie food for survival, we can’t help but get a bit overexcited by these types of foods and eat way more than we would probably like to admit.
So what would count as a hyper-palatable food?
Some examples include:
- Cheese flavoured corn chips
- Salt and vinegar potato crisps
- Honey crusted cashew nuts
- Flavoured crackers
- Cereals like sugar coated wheat flakes or chocolate flavoured puffed rice
- Frozen dinners
- Cheeseburgers and hot dogs
- Sweets, biscuits, lollies and cakes
- Ice creams
I could have just said all processed foods but even reading ‘salt and vinegar crisps’ is often enough to get you salivating. (Right?)
You can literally imagine the taste, the crunch and just how moreish they are – it’s hard to stop at one!
So what is it about processed foods?
Well most processed foods are hyper-palatable because they are a combination of food ingredients being altered from their natural state, processed in a factory or plant, with the addition of salt, oil, sugar and flavour enhancers.
All of these things aim to improve the taste of the product and importantly, heighten the response elicited from the person consuming it.
Eating a bag of chips or a tub of ice cream is no longer just ‘eating’, it is satisfying an emotionally triggered craving and experiencing a feel good hormonal response via activation of the reward centre in our brain.
This is one of the reasons I get fired up when I see online fitness and nutrition pros saying calories are king and calorie deficit is all that matters.
If we were robots that took food in as simple units of energy each day, we didn’t have highly complex brains and nervous systems and emotions then maybe I could get on board with that.
But we aren’t!
If things were that straight forward we wouldn’t have massive obesity and chronic health problems in nearly every culture where ample access to these food products exists.
In fact one study describes highly processed foods as sharing ‘characteristics with drugs of abuse (e.g. high dose, rapid rate of absorption)’ and that they ‘appear to be particularly associated with “food addiction.”‘
This is serious stuff!
And there are very real, long term and multi-generational consequences.
Our food industry has a lot to answer for…
So how can we help ourselves when we are surrounded by temptation?
Well here are my 3 top tips:
- Don’t buy junk.
Just. Don’t. Buy. It.
If it’s not in your cupboard calling your name, you can’t eat it.
Have your fruit and veg delivered or shop entirely online so that you don’t even need to go down the 8 out of 10 aisles without any real food in them.
Am I saying I never eat junk food? Of course not!
But I don’t keep it in the house.
If I want it I have to go out and buy it, which means that the desire to eat the junk has to be more than the desire of staying at home. (And I’m an introvert so I’m choosing stay at home every day of the week!)
Ban hyper-palatable food products (because this stuff is not real food) for one week and see how you feel.
2. Alert yourself to how often you see advertising for junk food. Pay attention to the language used in the marketing of these products. The bright colours. The placement of ads.
Just the other night at around 8pm I noticed that during one of the most popular shows on TV at prime time, McDonalds were advertising. As if they’re going out of business any time soon?!
But there message is ever present.
Most people won’t consciously be aware that they just learned that you can get a cheeseburger for only a dollar for a limited time only… in fact it’s inserted directly into their subconsciousness!
(Not to mention how happy and healthy the family eating those cheeseburgers looks…)
Just by becoming more aware of how often big food companies are promoting junk food to you with the message that it’s happiness in a paper wrapper, you will start to wake up to how manipulative and influential these corporations are on your everyday thoughts and consequently your decisions.
Like me you may even start to feel angry when you see those kinds of ads – instead of hungry!
3. Fill up your fridge and pantry with easy health food.
Yes a fridge overflowing with kale and bok choy and leeks looks amazing – but do you know what you’re going to do with all of those greens?
If the thought of cooking from scratch (or even learning to cook) is enough to take you to the drive-thru, then cheat.
Yes I said it – cheat.
Buy the cut up stir fry vegetables. Buy the pre-made salads. Use frozen veggies and berries. Use the jars of curry pastes. Buy organic soups from the cold section so you know they’re fresh.
It doesn’t have to be perfect.
The staggering amount of money spent on convincing you to kill yourself slowly with junk food is seriously alarming but you don’t need to fall victim to the bigger powers at play.
And the way to fight back? Just eat real food.
—–
Do you struggle with choosing healthy snacks?
Yep, my clients did too.
That’s why I created my Ultimate Snack Guide – and you download it right now – for free!
Ultimate Snack Guide FREE Download
Kelly Moriarty is an online health & nutrition coach and founder of The Green Body Plan.
After 5 years as a veterinarian Kelly was unhealthy, stressed out and generally dissatisfied.
She now helps professional women make the same changes she did to beat burn out, lose weight, recover their energy and take back control of their health naturally.
References:
PLoS One. 2015 Feb 18;10(2):e0117959. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0117959. eCollection 2015. Which foods may be addictive? The roles of processing, fat content, and glycemic load. Schulte EM1, Avena NM2, Gearhardt AN1.
kellyannmoriarty.com 