It’s Never Just One…

We have all been there.  You come back from class looking for an easy snack, and you spot the family sized bag of chips that your Mom bought for you and your roommate to share.  You figure, “Oh, I’ll just eat some while I’m doing my homework.”  The next thing you know yourReaction GIF: whoa, laugh, what the fuck?, horrified, baby roommate is walking in two hours later, and the first thing they see is you finishing up the crumbs at the bottom of the bag.  You couldn’t help yourself though.  The moment you have one chip, it turns in to a few, and then the whole bag.  Chips are just so darn addicting.  But why?  Why do we have absolutely no self control when it comes to eating the favorably delicious salty snack of potato chips?  After all, it’s never just one.

One study has shown that the reason potato chips and other junk food snacks are so addicting and crave worthy are because they are ‘hyperpalatable’; filled with fat, sugar, sodium, etc. Basically all of the good stuff that is unhealthy for our bodies.  Hyperpalatable foods are created in such a way as to produce pleasure in whomever is consuming them.  As a result of feeling pleasurable, the body wills you to continue eating that bag of potato chips big enough for a family of at least four.

But it is not only your body telling you to keep eating.  Eventually the pleasure center in your brain (this is similar to how drugs become addictive), also urges you to continue snacking.  “The likelihood that the use of a drug or participation in a rewarding activity will lead to addiction is directly linked to the speed with which it promotes dopamine release, the intensity of that release, and the reliability of that release” (Help Guide).  So eating each chip tastes good and feels good.  Your pleasure senses in your brain want that feeling and the dopamine being released to continue, so you are going to keep grabbing chip by chip and feel rewarded by it.  I’m going to infer, that this is also why you feel so guilty once you finish the bag and there are no more chips to keep feeding your pleasure center.  The dopamine halts, and you no longer feel the rewards or pleasure of eating your salty snack.

German researcher, Dr. Hoch, experimented with rats the effect that consuming potato chips would have on their brain senses.  Dr. Hoch found that compared to regular rat food, the rats preferred to eat the potato chips.  As they did so, their brain scans “….showed increased activity in the reward and addiction centers of their brains” (What to Expect ).  Clearly, potato chip addiction is not limited to just us humans.  However Dr. Hoch and his fellow researchers speculate “…that people have different sizes and degrees of activation in the reward centers of their brains” (What to Expect) -especially since not all of the rats tested preferred potato chips over rat food.  This speculation, would also explain why not everyone is as easily addicted to potato chips as others.

I hope you guys have found this blog post stimulatingly interesting!  I know I did as I was researching about it.  Let me know some of your thoughts below!

2 thoughts on “It’s Never Just One…

  1. Mackenzie Jo Pardi

    I found this post to be very interesting! I this is is completely true. Every time I eat CheezIts or pretzels it’s like I have to eat at least have the box. Once I eat one the rest just keep shuffling into my mouth. A big trigger to our desire to keep eating is the salt that attributes to much of our favorite junk foods and I noticed you mentioned that in your blog! It confirms my belief now. Here’s a list of foods that are so addicting17 Foods You Can’t Freaking Stop Eating These are really accurate!

  2. Annamarie Rose Sassi

    I found this article very interesting and relatable!! I really don’t like chips that much, but there’s been time’s when I’ve been home alone and starving, and an unopened bag of chips caught my eye. Eating an insane amount of chips (especially at a fast paced rate) gives me an initial feeling of satisfaction that say, eating a bag of carrots cannot. I’ve always wondered why scarfing down unhealthy foods like chips is so pleasurable. Who knew the trend could be backed up by scientific reasoning! Additionally, I find it interesting that while most human beings experiencing some sort of satisfaction from binge eating potato chips, how many of these people experience tremendous amounts of guilt after the pleasure subsides? I know I do!!

Comments are closed.