Why We Crave Junk Food

I found this in an article and thought it was interesting. It helps us understand we want and crave junk food over eating something healthy.

Junk foods are designed to convince your brain that it is getting nutrition, but to not fill you up. Receptors in your mouth and stomach tell your brain about the mixture of proteins, fats, carbohydrates in a particular food, and how filling that food is for your body. Junk food provides just enough calories that your brain says, "Yes, this will give you some energy" but not so many calories that you think "That's enough, I'm full." The result is that you crave the food to begin with, but it takes quite some time to feel full from it. 

When you eat something tasty (say, a bag of potato chips), your brain registers that feeling. The next time you see that food, smell that food, or even read about that food, your brain starts to trigger the memories and responses that came when you ate it. These memories can actually cause physical responses like salivation and create the "mouth-watering" craving that you get when thinking about your favorite foods.P

The good news is that the research shows that the less junk food you eat, the less you crave it.