I just heard an ad for raspberry cheesecake flavored Yoplait. Like so many food ads it’s always about satisfying (forbidden, midnight etc.) cravings with something sweet, indulgent and “satisfying.” But eating food which is engineered specifically to keep you eating requires even more energy to stop even though the ad says that eating this food will stop the craving.

You can imagine what the sexy attractive woman eating and smiling throughout the commercial is thinking. “We know you want to eat a lot but you can satisfy that craving by eating this low calorie non-food item that tastes incredibly delicious and is only 90 (always under 100) calories.”

from eattobeat.org

The camera lingers over enhanced images of chocolate, raspberry shortcake, vanilla ice cream ad nauseam setting in motion bodily chemical processes so that you not only emotionally want it but also physically want it.

The insanity of this kind of 24/7 advertising everywhere all day constantly is pernicious. Food and eating should never be based on eating more to satisfying desire. Processed non-food ads rarely talk about satisfying hunger which is the real reason to eat.

When you use an engineered non-food to “satisfy” a craving you only increase the craving, which eventually demands more willpower to quell it.

I recently made the decision to stop calling processed, engineered food items “food.” They are not food. They are processed or engineered non-food products.