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Comment by vladvasiliu | Hacker News Reader

I think the issue isn't just the pure carb content. 100g of strawberries is a lot of strawberries. 100 g of Snickers bars is... two bars. I can easily eat two and then crave another one right away. After 100 g of strawberries, I'm pretty much done for a while. Same with say, apples.

I think one thing that is usually overlooked in these discussions is the "feeling" part of it, for lack of a better term. Some things make you want to keep on eating, while others are satiating. Of course, if you're able to only eat one Snickers bar a day while the cupboard is full of them, then that's great! I know I can't, so I avoid them altogether.

Carb content (calories, actually) isn't important per se, what matters is the total consumed quantity, and usually calorie-dense foods have a tendency to incite overconsumption.

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> make you want to keep on eating

Junk food recipes are a/b tested and statistically evaluated just like in ad tech.

I remember an ad I once saw on TV about some snack, and the tagline was something like "you can't eat only one". I can't remember the product, though...

One example I have in mind about products being made like this is Nestlé's Extreme ice cream cones. They're fairly sugary throughout, but right at the end there's a small "chocolate bomb", super sweet, that just gives you that "I have to have another one" craving.

Yeah this is what a lot of “food science” is these days.

Not to mention all the effort that goes into studying how different food constituents affect human consciousness and behavior, which results in products that are habit-forming and increase impulsive buying.

I’ve often wondered how many secondary impulse buys are made because someone makes an extra trip to the store to satisfy their primary craving for tobacco, coffee, energy drinks or just sugar.

In retailing those are known as magnet products and are more promoted within the store.

I think it's more the opposite, no? You go to the store for something you need, but then on your way out you pick up a bag of chips or a chocolate bar or whatever. I suspect that's why they often put them on display in the check-out line.

At least with my young single male peers, trips to the store are primarily for beer or tobacco or sugar. The 1 & 2 of video game junk food cross sponsorship has messed up a lot of their bodies

Lay's Potato Chips. I remember that one. Pringles was Once you pop, you can't stop.

Most useless invention: resealable bag of potato chips.

To be fair, so is all of our fruit these days. Just through a couple thousand years of selective breeding.

Our fruit is tested for many things other than simply, "can we get you to eat more of this." One of the most common being, "does is stay shiny while we ship it," as opposed to, "does this taste good?"

I don't disagree. But much like the sugary (or "sugary") treats I'd say it's one of the highest priorities.

At this point, most of our fruit is much more recent vintage than a few thousand years.

Strawberries, as we know them, only came into being in the 18th century.

Also, fruit is being actively manipulated to fit consumer's tastes and producer's profitability. The Honeycrisp apple is one of the biggest recent success stories.

100 grams of strawberries looks to be about 8-10 large strawberries

http://www.wholefoodsplantbasedhealth.com.au/wp-content/uplo...

To your point, I bought a food dehydrator recently and made a batch of dried apples. I was watching a movie and midway through realized that in my snacking while watching I had eaten 9 whole apples. That water content really prevents a lot of abuse.

Fruit is fructose + water + fibre + natural flavouring.

Confectionery is sucrose + other carbs + filler + appetite enhancers.

While you can over eat fruit, the water and fibre make it very difficult.

With confectionery, it's literally designed to be easy.

While I don’t disagree with you in general, I disagree on strawberries. 100g of them is a very small amount and a snickers bar (or in my case, some artificially sweetened protein bar) is far more filling.

100g of strawberries is 33 calories. 1 cliff bar is 240.

You can eat a pound of strawberries and feel full for an hour. Try that with a candy bar.

Volume and digestability is key to eating less.

> a snickers bar (or in my case, some artificially sweetened protein bar) is far more filling.

Come on, this is just incomparable. Protein is satiating.

A protein bar is a very different experience from a Snickers

100g of strawberries really isn't that much strawberries. I eat 400g of berries each morning with breakfast and would gladly eat more if calories didn't exist and that already weren't too much fruit at once.

> calorie-dense foods have a tendency to incite overconsumption

Key quote that refutes GP's perspective.

Yeah, no.

100g is half a cup. It's about 5 large strawberries. See https://findanyanswer.com/how-many-grams-are-3-strawberries for more numbers.

I buy strawberries in 500g boxes, and let me tell 1/5 isn't all that filling (definitely less than a Snickers bar).

Eating only one snickers isn't impossible - I do this. It is mostly habit. I'm used to eating about a half of a candy bar at a time, but I'm also basically just having a bit of candy when I want a bit.

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