Did you ever just feel like a certain kind of food? Having sudden food cravings can help you decide what to eat for dinner. Some people even theorize that a food craving suggests your body is trying to tell you something. Why do we want certain kinds of food? What makes us want Bold BBQ premium beef jerky all of a sudden?
We’ll talk about the science behind food cravings and give you tips on how to satisfy them without going overboard in this post. Not a surprise, but our beef jerky can be a healthy way to satisfy your cravings for spicy, salty, savory, and protein-rich foods. Read on for more.
As the founder of Top Notch Jerky, I often get reviews raving about how addictive our beef jerky is. People say things like “it’s so good I can’t stop eating it!” and “I have to hide it from my kids or they’ll eat the whole bag.” This got me thinking – why exactly is beef jerky so gosh darn addictive?
In this article I’ll explore some of the main reasons why people find beef jerky so hard to put down once they start eating it.
The Incredible Flavor
One of the biggest reasons beef jerky is so addictive is simply because it tastes so dang good! We carefully craft the flavoring on our jerky using just the right blend of seasonings like salt, sugar, spices, and other natural flavors.
The result is a delicious jerky with flavors that linger on your taste buds like our Peppered jerky with cracked black pepper or our Sweet & Spicy jerky with a blend of honey and chili. Once you get that intense flavor in your mouth you just want to keep experiencing it over and over.
We get reviews all the time raving about the flavor. As one happy customer put it:
“Your jerky has the most amazing flavor! I can’t stop eating it once I open the bag.”
The flavor is so good it makes you forget you’re even eating healthy meat snacks and not potato chips or candy. It definitely keeps you coming back for more.
The Texture
In addition to the flavor, the texture of beef jerky contributes to its addictive qualities. Beef jerky has a naturally chewy, meaty texture that is very satisfying to bite into.
At Top Notch Jerky, we carefully select premium cuts of lean beef and then slow smoke them for up to 15 hours. This process tenderizes the meat so that it pulls apart easily when you bite into it.
The chewy, meaty texture hits the perfect spot – it gives your jaw something substantial to tear into without being tough or difficult to chew. This makes it easy and enjoyable to just keep eating one piece after another.
The Convenience Factor
Beef jerky is the ultimate grab-and-go protein snack. The lightweight, compact packaging means you can stash jerky in your bag or car and have a hearty, protein-packed snack available anytime, anywhere.
This convenience and portability only adds to the addictive nature of beef jerky. When you get a jerky craving at work, in the car, or while out running errands, it’s easy to grab a bag from your purse or glovebox to satisfy it immediately. You don’t have to wait until you’re home to dig into a bag.
The Protein Punch
In addition to being delicious, beef jerky packs a serious protein punch. Our ranch cut jerky has 10g of protein per serving – giving you lasting energy without weighing you down.
Protein takes longer for your body to break down than simple carbs. This helps give you that satisfied, fueled-up feeling for hours after eating jerky. And when you start feeling hungry again in a few hours, jerky is the perfect pick-me-up snack.
This protein power only increases the addictive nature of beef jerky. Your body craves more of that protein-packed goodness, so it’s hard to stop after just one piece.
That Savory, Umami Flavor
When it comes to addictive snack foods, savory always beats out sweet. Beef jerky has that intensely savory, umami flavor that keeps you coming back for more.
Umami is considered the fifth basic taste, after sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. It comes from glutamates naturally present in foods like meat, fish, eggs, and mushrooms. This savory taste makes your mouth water and activates your cravings.
Beef jerky is packed with umami flavor. As the jerky dries, the umami flavors concentrate and intensify. This makes beef jerky super savory and incredibly craveable. A little goes a long way in satisfying even the strongest jerky craving.
The Portion Control Aspect
Unlike chips or cookies that come in a big bag you can mindlessly munch from, beef jerky usually comes in smaller 1-2 ounce bags. This built-in portion control can oddly make you want to keep eating more.
When you finish off a small bag of jerky, you feel like you didn’t really get to enjoy enough of it. So you’re tempted to open up another bag to keep enjoying the yummy flavor.
Portioning out snacks into smaller packages backfires for a lot of people. You end up eating more than if it was in one big bag. And when the snack is as addictive as jerky, it only increases the temptation to have “just one more bag.”
The Sugar Content
While our meat sticks don’t contain sugar, our ranch cut jerky contains around 9g of sugar per serving. The sugar adds to the flavor and also causes a release of dopamine in the brain.
Dopamine is a feel-good neurotransmitter that activates the reward and pleasure centers in your brain. Consuming sugar causes a surge of dopamine, giving you a little “high.”
This dopamine effect only increases cravings for that food, making you want more and more. So the sugar content in jerky contributes to that desire to keep eating it.
Creating Memories & Experiences
For many people, beef jerky brings back great memories of road trips, hiking adventures, or fishing outings with family and friends. It’s a snack you often eat when you’re doing something fun.
So when you eat jerky, you associate it with these awesome experiences. This gives it an additional psychological pull that increases cravings and makes it more addictive.
Your brain remembers how enjoyable jerky is during fun times with loved ones. So you start hankering for it any time you want to recreate those happy memories and emotions.
Giving In to Your Jerky Addiction
With incredible flavor, satisfying texture, convenience, protein, and sugar working together – it’s no wonder beef jerky can be so addictive! It hits all the right buttons in your brain and taste buds.
Here at Top Notch Jerky, we take pride in making jerky that people can’t get enough of. We want our jerky to disappear from bags and get hidden away as a secret stash.
We use only premium cuts of lean beef seasoned to perfection to make our jerky totally irresistible and delicious.
So next time you get a jerky craving, don’t fight it – give in and treat yourself to a bag of our mouthwatering jerky! We have lots of different flavors to enjoy so you can find your perfect match. Just try not to eat the whole bag in one sitting – but we won’t judge if you do!
Plan your meals and snacks
Regulating when you eat is also a great way to keep cravings at bay. Sticking to a routine of eating the same junk food at the same times every day makes it hard to make real changes. If you plan your meals and make sure you eat enough healthy food at those times, you won’t want junk food in between meals.
How Memory Affects Food Cravings
We mentioned that food cravings impact regions of your brain that are related to memory. If you think about how happy and relaxed you feel when you eat a certain food, you may want that food again when you’re stressed. Your brain will connect that food with happiness and good feelings, and when you’re stressed, you’ll want that food to help you calm down.
Like when you and your best friend went snowboarding in Tahoe and split a package of Tangy Habanero premium beef jerky. The quick-open snack gave your taste buds a boost and kept you from getting hungry, so you could go for one more run down the slope.
High-carbohydrate foods will raise your serotonin levels, which will help you relax when you’re feeling stressed. Fats and sugars can have a similar effect. This works well when you’re stressed, but not when you’re trying to eat healthily.
Cravings often happen around foods that are high in carbs and fats, like chips, chocolate, and fries. These “junk foods” don’t have a lot of nutritional value and should be consumed in moderation. So how do you curb your cravings?.
A healthier option is a snack like beef jerky. As with all food cravings, moderation is key. Eat slowly, savoring every bite.
Why is jerky so addictive?
FAQ
Why do I crave beef jerky?
Is it OK to eat jerky everyday?
Why do people like beef jerky so much?
Is beef jerky actually healthy?
What happens if you eat too much beef jerky?
Eating too much beef jerky may lead to a slew of side effects, such as rapid weight gain and increased risk of heart disease. But it may also prevent you from eating other foods with adequate amounts of important nutrients you won’t get from beef jerky. Beef jerky nutrition is diverse, supplying protein, iron and vitamin B12, for example.
Is beef jerky a processed food?
Nutritionists and experts generally recommend foods that are whole and not processed to meet dietary needs for protein, zinc, iron, and other essential nutrients. Beef jerky is best consumed in moderation. Jerky is high in sodium and is a processed food.
Is beef jerky healthy?
Beef jerky’s nutritional profile fits this description. But this snack is also heavy on some not-so-helpful minerals, which is not ideal when it comes to certain health conditions and risks. A big plus for beef jerky is that it’s full of protein, with a 1-ounce serving of jerky fulfilling almost 10% of most healthy adults’ daily protein benchmark.
Does beef jerky appeal to men?
In the past, beef jerky brands have promoted their products to appeal to men, just like several snack foods that have adopted similar marketing tactics, adding to the socially-constructed ideas around masculinity and food.