This is why artificial flavours are so tempting

Practically all my friends take great efforts to eat a healthy diet and get as much "real" food on their family's table as they can day after day. Still, very few people are capable of wholly resisting the temptation of artificial flavours.

You've surely noticed that if you skip a meal or don't get enough sleep, if you're utterly exhausted or stressed out, it's almost impossible for you to fend off unhealthy foodstuffs: salted, sugary food with loads of fat and calories: snacks and desserts.

Have you ever wondered what the reason is for this?

As recent discoveries have shown, it's not just that your body wants to get some energy as soon as possible and thus quickly absorbed carbohydrates seem to be the best choice when you're hungry, tired and stressed out. That's something we might be able to cope with, but there's a more serious, far-reaching reason why foods filled with artificial flavours and flavour enhancers taste a lot better than real foods. The secret is that over the course of millions of years we've been programmed to consider tastier, more noticeable foods as having more nutrients and vitamins than their less tasty or noticeable peers.

That's why it's a huge problem that the food industry has vested interests in producing products which are seemingly healthy and have a long shelf-life. Perhaps you've heard that not only do we think that today's tomatoes are less tasty than the ones we had in our childhood, but they really do taste less like a tomato, yet look bigger, can be stored for a longer period of time and look better on the shelves. In fact, this has become such a huge problem by now that researchers are working on how we can produce, sell and eat tastier tomatoes.

So how can you overcome the temptation?

First of all, you should try eating and drinking fewer artificial tasting foodstuffs. You'll see that eventually the foods you considered to be tasteless and boring become far more interesting if you're adjusted to experiencing a wider range of real flavours. This can help you do a lot for your physical and mental health since foodstuffs containing more fibre and less sugar, salt and additives assist your metabolism and the maintenance of healthy intestinal flora. It's worth being perseverant since your efforts are sure to reap their reward!