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 ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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 ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

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  • prettybunnys@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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 ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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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  • Venator@lemmy.nz ⁨3⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Therefore, the cure for fast food addiction is recreational drugs and alcohol!

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    • Manjushri@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      RFK, is that you?

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  • TomMasz@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

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

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  • Skullgrid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

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

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• 6nk06@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Grease, sugar, and a lot of chemicals.

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  • JohnnyEnzyme@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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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• hungprocess@thriv.social ⁨17⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  “Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smart arse!"
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  • dickalan@lemmy.world ⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    Is that Mike Myers? I still haven’t seen so I married an ax murderer even though I own it

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• theneverfox@pawb.social ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Because your diet sucks. A few months of eating only unprocessed food and you’d probably eat McDonald’s exactly one more time in your life

  And I do specifically mean McDonald’s… It’s uniquely disgusting, even among fast food. It tastes like it’s reconstituted food scraps doped with sugar

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  • paraphrand@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    As someone who is trying to climb out of this hole, I can back up your sentiment.

    Being acclimated to shitty food, and thinking flavor is just sharp strong sensations in your mouth is what perpetuates over consuming fast food. Your brain gets trained to crave the dopamine rush that the sensations of fast food briefly cause.

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• amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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 ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Do I look like I know what an MSG is?

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    • 474D@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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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    • bonenode@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Monosodium glutamat

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    • SuiXi3D@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      Just go to the grocery store and buy some?

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    • lemmyknow@lemmy.today ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      MSG king of flawor (or so I hear)

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    • Tujio@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Makes Shit Good powder.

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• JoMiran@lemmy.ml ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ 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 ⁨21⁩ ⁨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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  • minkymunkey_7_7@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I saw on a fb reel a place that was serving bread with chips now? Like bread and fried potatoes? With salt. With ketchup.

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• inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨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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• JackbyDev@programming.dev ⁨12⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  Yummy

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• leftzero@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  I don’t get it.

  I’ve tried McDonalds food.

  It’s more expensive than much better alternatives, it doesn’t look good, and it tastes worse, like the cheapest ultraprocessed crap you can find in the kind of budget supermarket that only carries foreign brands you’ve never heard of.

  I can find better and cheaper food in seedy bars I’d never willingly go to, or by buying the cheapest brands (even the good brands, or buying natural ingredients, wouldn’t be significantly more expensive) and cooking at home.

  It really boggles my mind. Is it like smoking? Do people start eating it due to peer pressure and never stop because they get addicted?

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  • AdamBomb@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    I don’t get it either. My wife loves the stuff but to me it’s in the uncanny valley of food. Unsettlingly almost, but not quite like food.

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• toynbee@lemmy.world ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

  When I was a kid, I heard two unsubstantiated rumors about McDonald’s food:

  1. It used kangaroo meat (not sure why this was a claim)
  2. It mixed in nicotine (to make the food more addictive)

  I doubt that either are true, but if the latter were maybe it would answer your question.

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• masterspace@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Because we didn’t evolve to live in lands of abundance. We evolved in scarce conditions and are attuned to that.

  Food that delicious and high calorie would not be constantly available in the wild, so if we ever found anything close, it would be beneficial to eat as much as possible to store up calories and survive during periods of scarcity.

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• FatVegan@leminal.space ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Crack tastes like shit too, and it’s maybe even worse than McDonald’s

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