Month: June 2014

Behold the sweetest invention we’ve seen in a long, long time.

This video from madscienti11 showcases the Confectionary Cannon, a marshmallow cannon constructed by four engineering students from Olin College in Needham, Mass. as part of their Principl…

By Caroline Young

Whether it’s on a giant billboard, in a cheesy commercial, or filling a glossy page of a magazine, unhealthy temptation surrounds us every day.

Typically, frequently-advertised foods are the very ones we crave: foods high in ingredients like sugar, fat, and salt. Specifically, fast food restaurants’ advertisements and menus send environmental cues, which can trigger addictive overeating. Highly-processed fast food can become a craving, which is seen in statistics of obesity.

But just what makes certain ingredients so addicting? Why does it feel like we need more and more of them, the more we eat them?

1) Processed Baked Goods

Eating just one Oreo seems like it is just not an option. But why? Studies show an ingredient in many baked goods, High-Fructose Corn Syrup, can actually cause reactions similar to those made by drug abuse. When a sweet craving hits, opt for a more nutrient-dense snack like berries or another fruit with some cinnamon on top of oatmeal. And you may want to think twice about adding artificial sweeteners to your cup of coffee, because chances are, it may lead to greater sugar cravings later.

2) Soda With Caffeine

Soda’s combination of sugar or high-fructose corn syrup, with caffeine, is the perfect addictive recipe. The caffeine goes directly into your bloodstream and blocks adenosine receptors, stimulating the adrenal gland to produce the flight or fight chemical adrenaline, which gives people a feeling of energy. In so many words, the body is being forced into an unnatural state that often leaves it exhausted later. And it’s easy to forget when you’re drinking a coke that you’re drinking tons of calories and sugar too. Only one can of Coke has 11 teaspoons of sugar. Acidic soda can also eat up and erode teeth enamel. If gaining weight and decaying teeth isn’t enough reason to avoid soda, the over consumption of soda can cause psychological effects. Studies show drinking too much of a caffeinated soft drink has actually caused or amplified a patient’s mental disorder symptoms.

3) White Bread

Do you wonder why it’s hard to steer clear of the breadbasket when you’re out at dinner? When it comes down to it, any processed and high-glycemic carbohydrates, like white breads, are hard to stop eating and make us crave more. One study shows people who consume more nutrient dense, low-glycemic carbs are less likely to overeat. Examples of lower-glycemic foods are most fruit, beans, and whole grains, which release glucose more slowly into the bloodstream, and helps to balance blood sugar and fat storage.

4) Potato Chips

Potato chips are high in salt and fat. When we bite into a greasy, fatty potato chip, our nerve endings send signals, which travel up to the pleasure center — the hypothalamus — of our brains. We eventually overload the pleasure center, and crash. Then, we want more, more, more. Even the “healthier” chips, like baked veggie chips, are usually high in fat. Instead, snacking on foods like baked kale “chips” is a better option when you have a hankering for a salty and crunchy snack.

5) Highly-Processed Meat

Cold cuts like ham and bologna, hot dogs, bacon, and sausage are all — yet again — jam-packed with salt and also various chemicals like sodium nitrates. Many of them also contain tons of preservatives and lots of fat. Specifically, hot dogs and sausage can contain up to 23 grams of fat. Consider fresh meats, like skinless poultry and roast beef instead.

6) French Fries

We all know it’s hard to just eat a couple of French fries, especially when we need that salty fix. That salt in those fried potato sticks is precisely what keeps us hooked, and always wanting more. One study reveals that sodium intake creates sensitivity to dopamine, a neurotransmitter that helps control the brain’s pleasure centers. There is actually a connection between salt and addiction-related pathways in the brain. In fact, the same gene group that regulates your appetite for salt also regulates cocaine and heroin addictions.

7) Ice Cream

Also full of fat, calories, sugar, and often the addictive high-fructose corn syrup, ice cream can be difficult to portion. Realistically, we’re not going to eat a half-cup of ice cream, which is the typical serving size for grocery store ice cream brands, like Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs. For example, a half-cup of Haagen-Dazs White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle has 18 grams of fat, 310 calories, and 28 grams of sugar. Most people will eat at least one cup of ice cream at a time, doubling all of those numbers. Instead, go for Greek yogurt and fruit, or frozen grapes, or frozen bananas. And if you must have the ice cream, consider the lower-fat and lower-calorie ice cream at the store.

The foods on this list are calorie-dense, lack nutritional value, and can be addictive. While most of us indulge in these foods every once in a while, if you find yourself constantly craving these addictive foods, consider writing down the situations when you start craving them. Where are you? What do you see? Do you smell something? What time is it? Becoming more aware of why you get cravings can help you make very positive changes to your eating habits

What do you think is the most addictive unhealthy food?

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If you’re in Valley City, North Dakota, looking for coffee or Wi-Fi and you happen upon The Vault, you will immediately notice something unusual: There are no employees at the shop.

That is because The Vault is a self-serve cafe, run entirely on the h…

Peruvian native and chef Carlos Delgado is bringing his home country’s cuisine to H Street NE with the opening of Ocopa on July 18. The restaurant is a partnership with the owners of Chicken Tortilla, which will close its Barracks Row location after Friday. Delgado, who previously worked at Boveda and The Caucus Room Brasserie, grew up in the port town of Callao, Peru, […]

Finger wipin’ good!

A mother in Newcastle, England was horrified when her stepson bit into a deep-fried blue paper towel, the Mirror reported last week.

Krystal Henderson, 29, and 7-year-old Oliver Hallam purchased takeout from a KFC branch in Killingsworth, according to the Express. At home, Oliver took a bite out of what he assumed was chicken, but recoiled seconds later.

“He pulled it out of his mouth and when he did, it pulled away the batter – you could see the blue roll inside,” Henderson said, according to the Daily Mail.

Henderson said that realizing Oliver had bitten into a paper towel was worse than if it had just been bad chicken.

“If it was bad chicken they might have just had a bad batch or something,” she said. “But the blue roll could have been used for anything – it could have bleach or disinfectant on it … Had someone wiped their hands on it, had it been used to wipe the floor?”

KFC investigated the incident and, in May, sent Henderson an apology letter, explaining
“the blue tissue has most likely originated from a tissue roll used for KFC hygiene purposes. The store assume it must have fallen unseen into the breading lug that is under the sieve and was not noticed by the cook.”

A spokesperson for KFC made the following statement, obtained by the Mirror:

We’re very sorry for Ms Henderson’s experience and apologized to her immediately, as well as giving her a refund at the time of the incident.

We take food quality and hygiene very seriously and unfortunately, on this extremely rare occasion, our restaurant failed to meet the high standards that both we and our customers expect.

We have retrained staff on our stringent food preparation procedures at this store to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

The company also offered Henderson a free meal.

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Cashion’s Eat Place owners John Manolatos and Justin Abad are taking over the just-shuttered Taan Noodles space next door to open a shore-inspired spot called Pop’s Seabar this fall. The casual no-reservations restaurant and bar takes inspiration from the seafood shacks that both owners frequented during summers spent with their families at the beach—the Eastern Shore […]