To do so, Moss first focuses necessarily on the brain, the true fountainhead of addiction, which he defines (using the words of a Philip Morris C.E.O.) as “a repetitive behavior that some people find difficult to quit.”Īnd, wow, are the hard-wired instincts to eat these foods powerful - more so than those that push us toward addictive drugs like heroin and nicotine. No one questions that the nutritional quality of foods has health consequences, but “Hooked” redirects our attention to the arguably more important question of quantity. “Hooked” asks how food manufacturers manipulate these foods to addict us, helping along a national crisis in which 40 percent of Americans are obese. And that’s the chief motivation for “Hooked,” which is in many ways a sequel to the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s 2013 tour de force, “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us.” That book exposed how multinational food companies churn out processed foods that are both cheap and alluring. Too many of us can’t help eating too much of this stuff.

Obviously, it is preposterous to consider potato chips less fattening than walnuts - because potato chips are among the most addictive foods on the planet, along with French fries, pizza, cheeseburgers and Oreos. To be sure, walnuts pack more protein and fiber and less salt, but if weight gain is your worry, you should eat the potato chips. According to the nutrition labels helpfully provided on both packages, an ounce of walnuts contains 186 calories, 25 percent more than the 150 calories delivered by an ounce of potato chips. From a purely nutritional perspective the answer is easy: the walnuts. Now ask yourself which is more likely to make you fat. They are so crispy you can hear them snap between your teeth, and then they miraculously dissolve into nothingness on your tongue, making you want another. Its flavor is less complex than the walnut’s, but every chip instantly delivers an intense combination of salt, sugar and fat. Enjoy how its initial slightly bitter crunch transforms into something soft, buttery, faintly woodsy. Make sure they are both good quality brands and fresh from a never-opened bag. Imagine or - even better - place two bowls in front of you: one with potato chips the other with whole walnuts.

Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our AddictionsĪs an entree to Michael Moss’s excellent new book, “Hooked: Food, Free Will, and How the Food Giants Exploit Our Addictions,” try this experiment.

Hooked by michael moss reviews