The Science Behind Addictive Food: Why Are We After That Crunch?

If you ever tried to change your diet and shift towards healthier eating, you probably know that chips and most of packed crunchy stuff is usually out first (or second after sugar 😌). Being a sticky lifestyle habit, it turns out to be one of the most common food missed. Not only is it hard to stay away from those colorful isles when grocery-shopping - we seem to experience an actual need to keep our hands and mouths busy in between meals.

Of course, partly, consuming crunchy snacks is a habit that goes with watching movies or having friends around. Combined with intense taste and flavor, it does its addictions-forming job as hyperpalatable food making us crave for more even when we’re not socializing – most often, we’re looking for munchies out of boredom or stress.

Don’t be too hard on yourself for not being able to resist that bag of crunchy madness, because there’s more than just taste and fun behind crisps:

• Noisy food is associated with freshness. Decades of processed food production made us addicted to the taste of certain products, but originally we used crunchiness to determine whether nutrients-dense food like apples, celery, carrots, lettuce, etc was fresh and, therefore, contained maximum possible amount of vitamins and nutrients. A bit of a non-appetizing primal life reference here: our ancestors used to feed on crunchy insects that, considering limited variety of food back then, were associated with nourishment. That’s why our tricked brain thinks we’re biting on something that is actually good for us.

• Crunchiness serves as accompaniment to make eating experience fuller. Taste and smell are important elements but, without that crunch, we won't get a complete sensory experience – it adds both texture and sound completing the overall picture and resulting in a feeling of satisfaction. Otherwise we feel like something is missing.

• Serves as a distraction. Emotional eating is all about crunchy food as it seems to alleviate anxiety. Loud eating sounds distract us from stressors and keep us from clenching our jaws, which often happens in response to stress due to facial tension. Resorting to munching is a natural attempt to relieve these symptoms and overcome stress, but it often becomes counterproductive in the modern world as it leads to overconsumption of unhealthy processed snacks (as compared to loading your body with nutrients-dense food that would strengthen your immune system and give you energy to stand through hardship).

Crunchiness is widely used to market snacks. It has long stopped being a secret that supermarkets are filled with food that manufacturers need to sell rather than with something people would actually benefit from. It all boils down to convenience and ability to eat on the go.

Remeber that there are plenty of home-made alternatives that will give you that crunch you’re craving for and will cause much less damage if you happen to overeat on them. Of course, apple and kale chips, along with zucchini fries and baked cheese crackers can’t compete with Sour-Cream & Onion Pringles, but it’s all about that first step towards a healthier life - choose your consequences.

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