Feeding a large family is no small feat. It takes money, planning, and plenty of energy to keep everyone satisfied—especially with today’s prices.
But when a mom of three shared her latest grocery haul on TikTok, she didn’t get praise for stocking up. Instead, viewers came down hard on her. Many were stunned as she revealed item after item of junk food, from 32 frozen pizzas and 14 blocks of cheese to bags of fries and bottles of soda.
Scroll down to see the full haul and how the mom answered her critics. Do you agree with the internet’s reaction?
A mom of three decided to show how she feeds her family by posting her grocery haul
Image credits: Yunus Tuğ / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
But the contents of her cart left people in shock
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Image credits: boymomx3_b
Watch the full video and see the reactions below
Image credits: Kateryna Hliznitsova / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
What makes junk food so addictive?
Just because a food is healthy doesn’t mean it can’t be tasty. And just because it’s unhealthy doesn’t automatically mean it’s delicious.
Still, when people talk about cravings, it’s rarely broccoli or green smoothies. More often, it’s pizza, chocolate, or ice cream that people dream about sinking their teeth into.
(Although if you genuinely crave peas, props to you.)
So what’s going on here? Why do the foods we label as “junk” feel so tempting?
For starters, food addiction is a controversial topic. It’s not an official medical diagnosis, though addictive eating behaviors have been linked to conditions like obesity and binge eating disorder. And whether food itself is addictive is still debated.
“Some people believe you can’t be addicted to a substance that you need to survive and that food itself is not actually addicting,” psychologist Susan Albers, PsyD, told Cleveland Clinic. After all, food doesn’t create the altered state of mind that drugs do.
There’s also no single “addictive” ingredient. Some people are team salty, while others proudly play for team sweet. But no one eats spoonfuls of plain sugar. The real pull seems to come from processed foods, where fats, carbs, and flavors are engineered into irresistible combinations.
Yet other researchers argue that food really is addictive. Certain foods light up the brain’s pleasure centers and trigger dopamine, the same feel-good chemical released by addictive substances.
Dopamine itself isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s vital for keeping our bodies and minds healthy. But because it also reinforces behavior, when a food makes us feel great, the brain’s message is simple: let’s do that again. And again.
For people more prone to addiction, this reinforcement can override signals that say “I’m full,” leading to a cycle of overeating.
Over time, a kind of tolerance can even develop. “Many of the words that people use to describe how they feel with food are very much related to addiction, such as cravings, withdrawal and feeling out of control,” Dr. Albers explained.
Some experts describe this not as a true “addiction” to food, but as a process addiction: people become hooked on the soothing feelings and pleasure that eating provides rather than the food itself. Stress and emotions can make this cycle even stronger.
Taste plays a big role, too. Junk food often combines fat and carbs in ways that rarely exist in nature. Rice is high in carbs but low in fat. Nuts are high in fat but low in carbs. But food companies mix and intensify flavors, creating foods so appealing that stopping feels impossible.
And research backs this up. When people were asked which foods they tend to overeat, the most common answers were:
- Chocolate
- Ice cream
- French fries
- Pizza
- Cookies
- Chips
- Cake
- Cheeseburgers
That doesn’t mean these foods need to be cut out completely. According to Healthline, swearing off junk food entirely isn’t sustainable, enjoyable, or even beneficial.
As we’ve all heard before, moderation is what really matters. Treat yourself when you want to, while remembering the bigger picture of your health.
Many commenters criticized the unhealthy food choices
Others, however, stepped in to defend the mom
