Designed Desire: The Driver of Modern Eating (Part I)

At some parties, the table overflows with fried plantain, soda, chips, and bowls of nuts. Music plays as the first generation dances.

But you sit in front of the food, already full, yet your hand reaches out again. Not from hunger, but because the mood is there, the food is there. There is more than enough. Why not?

Since 1980, the rise of eating in excess has been evident everywhere. Globally, obesity has more than doubled. It is now one of the biggest drivers of healthcare costs.

Meanwhile, industries push diets and programs, but the curve of obesity rises still.

If “just eat less, move more” is so simple, why is it so hard? Because discipline isn’t the whole story. The environment has taken over. It subconsciously takes decisions for us, having rewired our reward system to respond immediately to the presence of food.

Dopamine and the Reward System

Dopamine. Most know it as the “feel-good” hormone. Fewer people realize how deeply it shapes our relationship with food.

Dopamine is an important part of our inner compass. Next to “feeling good,” it is also the “desiring” hormone. It drives wanting for food, not just pleasure of feeling good when eating.

That’s why your hand reaches into the bowl of chips again at that party, not because the taste is still so good after the point of satisfaction, but because desire has taken over.

Food is a means of nutrition. And yes, it is also meant to be enjoyed. But in modern times, it has come to dominate the body’s reward system more than four decades ago.

Now, food as reward presses constantly on dopamine in ways past generations never experienced.

The body has an “I am full” system too. The system of your body’s natural signals of satiety, but this powerful system is now like little soldiers, fighting a battle with the bigger giants of the dopamine reward system.

Processed Foods

One of the main reasons our reward system has changed over the years is the upcoming of processed foods since 1980s. Not a coincidence that the rise of obesity happened at the same time as the rise of processed food.

Where past generations ate beans, fish, or eggs, today’s generation has endless options boxed on supermarket shelves. Nutritional breakdowns of carbs, protein, and fats may look ideal, but the processed chemical design does more than add calories or fit into the diet.

The engineered mix of salt and sugar has the capacity to suppress your natural body’s “I am full” signals, by stirring dopamine up.

Try eating 1,500 calories of plain potatoes. Chances are you’ll struggle. But chips and ice cream can add 1,500 more, and still feel like a snack. These foods are designed not to nourish, but to target dopamine.

The Battle Within

The body’s natural signals are those soldiers shouting, “I am full.” But against the forces of processed food, they fight a battle already lost.

The pleasure of delicious processed foods is short-lived. In the late evening you feel hungry again, not because your body needs the calories, but because the reward system is still pressing.

You tell yourself you’ll give in just this once and set it right tomorrow. That thought becomes a comfort in the mind, but not a practice. Over time it grows into a way of living, with the natural result of weight gain.

And weight gain is only part of it. Those perfect blends of sugar and salt make the body hold water, leaving the body bloated. Hormones are unsettled.

The next morning the body feels hungry again, giving a reason to give in to the empty stomach cues. Even though the body seems ready to eat again, the after-effects of overeating don’t vanish overnight.

They linger for days as the body struggles to shed the water, calm its hormones, and return to balance.

What feels like random irritability or a low mood often traces back to that high amount of calories two days ago. Hunger returns before balance is restored.

The cycle repeats, leaving the mind clouded and clarity gone.

The Turning Point

But must it stay this way? As old wisdom reminds us, revelation is the first step toward redemption, and our reward system, flexible by biological design, remains capable of renewal at any age.

The path forward may be demanding at first, yet it is within reach. This is where a new story begins, as the body renews its reward system, marking a turning point in the troubling patterns of modern eating.

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Designed Desire: The Driver of Modern Eating (Part II)