The mystery of Doritos Locos Tacos

Mystery #1 – why were Doritos Tacos Locos the most financially successful food product ever launched?

Let’s see what The New York Times had to say about its success:

• Dynamic contrast• Mouth feel – half the calories are from…• Lactic and citric acids stimulate production

of…• Memories of pleasurable flavors are

stimulated, but there’s no single flavor overload, so there’s no sensory specific satiety

FAT

DOPAMINE

Let’s get even more basic…when your brain is hungry, what does it want

you to eat?

GLUCOSE!! (from sugary and starchy plants)…..why?

FAT!! (from oily plants and fatty animals)…..why?

COLORFUL PHYTOCHEMICALS (from colorful plants!)….why?

Glucose is the fuel that runs your brain and your body.

Fat is a great secondary source of energy as well and is an essential component of your organs, too.

Phytochemicals keep your cells running smoothly and your body healthy.

SODIUM (from plants and animals)….why?SODIUM (in salt) is an essential mineral that controls nerve signals and muscle movement.

And our brains are wired to crave glucose, fat, salt, and color!!

And we won’t stop the hunt for food until we get…

Until fairly recently, food

was pretty hard to come by.

And it still is for many today.

For your brain to be

satisfied, sometimes

the work can be hard…

…or it can be relatively easy

And our brains are still wired to assume that glucose, fat, color and

salt are hard to come by.

It’s as if we are still living in paleolithic

times!!

And how many Calories do you have to burn to get the 200 Calories from one of these?

Remember our brains are programmed to crave glucose and color, among other things…

So it can be a tough choice between

and

And we’re programmed to also crave fat and salt

So is it any wonder that food manufacturers give us

So Do Doritos Locos Tacos satisfy your brain?

So Do Doritos Locos Tacos satisfy your brain?

So they’ve figured out how to appeal to your reward pathway…

but is this a nutritious meal or not?

Mystery #2 – if Dorito’s Tacos Locos are what our brain craves, then why does ‘fast food” like that have a reputation as being “unhealthy”? Shouldn’t our brain crave what we need to stay alive and healthy?

We’ve often been told that this…

is “better for us” than this

But WHY is that? Is it really?

• Go to Nutritiondata.com and figure out how to get the nutrition information for foods from Taco Bell (or any of your favorite fast foods)

• Figure out how the website determines if something is nutritious or not.

• Find some items that the website deems more nutritious than fast food.

Let’s check out Nutritiondata.com and see what they say.

And why is thisUsually so much more expensive than this?

Mystery # 3Why do so many citizens of a wealthy country like

the US still struggle with getting adequate nutrition?

Which is cheaper…?

…and why is that???

Processed food is cheap

Nutritious food is more expensive

So what does that mean if you don’t have much money?

http://www.activerain.com

Supermarket chains tend to not locate in low-income areas

Corner Store

http://www.kilduffs.com/

Row houses, some abandoned

http://www.cityfix.com/

Corner store, abandonedhtt

p://

ww

w.k

ilduff

s.co

m/

http://www.community.livejournal.com

Abandoned corner store and abandoned row houses

There’s a term for places with little access to nutritious food:

“food deserts”

So what is a “food swamp”?

A Food Swamp

www.hypervocal.com

http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/fooddesert/fooddesert.html

Food Desert Locator

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-08-23/food-deserts-of-baltimore#r=lr-fst

And why does this matter?Here’s one example:

http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/atlas/obesityrisk/atlas.htmlInterpret the information found on this

webpage.What is it telling us?What seems to be the relationship between diet, obesity and diabetes?Figure out how to show Maryland’s relationship to other states.

The food industry knows how your brain is wired and they know how to get their products to appeal to you.

THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR HEALTH OR WELL-BEING!!!

They care about making

Solutions??You have a choice of three projects at the

end of this unit to help solve the problems we’ve just seen.

Create a nutritious dish that people will really want to eat.

Or

Develop a meaningful solution to the Food Desert/Food Swamp crisis in Baltimore City.

Or

Redesign the Nutrition Facts label to truly educate consumers.

What we eat …

And how food is prepared…And how much...And when and how…

So Good nutrition is about…

And awareness of how our brains are being manipulated…The next few weeks are about a truth…that will change your lives.

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