Be careful, "electronic mustard tuber" is increasing your weight and harming your stomach

In recent years, a product of the new era seems to have slowly squeezed into people's lives, gradually becoming a new favorite for "eaters" and even everyone. It is "electronic pickled mustard tuber".

What exactly is “electronic mustard tuber”?

"Electronic mustard tuber" may not sound appetizing, but I believe everyone has tasted this "delicious dish" firsthand. As one of the top ten buzzwords in 2022, it has at least more than 16 million hits on Sina Weibo alone. So what is it?

"Electronic mustard tuber" refers to the fact that people eat less and less with friends and family, and instead use electronic products to watch news, short videos, podcasts and other programs while eating. Because of its efficient function of eating with rice, it is named "electronic mustard tuber". Classic high-quality works such as "Wulin Wai Zhuan", "Crayon Shin-chan", "The Legend of Zhen Huan" and "Friends" have become one of the first choices for "dry eaters".

The secret behind the popularity of “electronic mustard tuber”:

The consumers of this kind of "delicious food" are not just young people today. Its essence is similar to the "prime time" program that appeared on TV 30 years ago. In addition, the diverse content and the portable and fast transmission speed have become the reasons for the popularity of "electronic pickled mustard tuber".

Of course, the secrets behind this are far more than that. People often think that eating with "electronic pickles" is a manifestation of loneliness. But the fact is just the opposite. It is a state of deep immersion in one's own spiritual world. Clinical psychologist Dr. Sophie Mott mentioned in her study, "When people chew food and watch their favorite programs, this double happy sensory experience can better relax the brain because they can simultaneously speed up the secretion of dopamine, a happy chemical." In addition, in busy daily life and work, interpersonal communication can be said to be everywhere. This has led to an increase in people's demand for self-space. And "electronic pickles" just happen to meet our desire. With chopsticks in the right hand and a mobile phone in the left hand, eat, swipe and watch at the same time. This sense of immersion will help us temporarily get out of the social environment. But this experience of happiness and freedom is precious, which is why "dry eaters" can't wait to take out their mobile phones as soon as they sit at the table. Because we know that the moment we put down our mobile phones, it means that the reason for entering our self-space disappears, and we need to regroup and start facing a new round of challenges.

In addition, Dr. Mott pointed out that the popularity and culture of "electronic pickles" are also inextricably linked to childhood experiences. For example, in areas with abundant resources, people are more likely to watch while eating. If people in the area generally attach importance to productivity, the probability of "electronic pickles" will also increase. This is because in groups that focus on efficiency, people rarely do only one thing at a time. Being too focused, on the contrary, violates the general norms of society. In addition, childhood experience is also one of the reasons for the popularity of "electronic pickles". Especially for young people today, on the one hand, because of the loss and assimilation of traditional table culture, such as "every grain of rice is hard-earned" and "there can only be food on the table", on the other hand, because of the compensatory mentality for loneliness, some parents are absent during their children's growth, especially during meals, which leads to children looking for other ways of companionship in childhood to fill the gap in their hearts, and over time, it becomes a habit.

Is “electronic pickled mustard tuber” really harmful?

It seems that each of us is more or less a loyal eater of "electronic mustard tuber". So, what impact does it have on our health?

An experiment conducted by a joint team from the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil and the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands has shown that long-term consumption of "electronic mustard tuber" will increase people's appetite, but also increase the probability of gastrointestinal dysfunction, indigestion, nutritional imbalance and other problems. The total calorie intake of participants who were electronically interfered with in the experiment increased by 15%, and the lipid intake also increased significantly. The root cause of this situation is not because the "electronic mustard tuber" is really fragrant, but because it distracts people's attention, causing the blood that should have been concentrated in the stomach to digest food to flow to the brain, so as to process and process the information seen. This shift in attention delays the onset of satiety, making us unconsciously eat more, or tend to eat those irritating and chewy foods, such as spicy, salty, meat, staple foods, etc.

In addition, people often overlook a detail: the type of "electronic mustard tuber" also has a significant impact on eating habits and physical health. Research published in the scientific journal "Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry" shows the unique impact of binge eating videos. According to the survey, compared with ordinary videos, binge eating videos are played more than 4 times more than the former, and the stronger the characteristics of the ingredients, such as high stimulation or large quantity, the higher the viewing rate.

Research shows that normal eating shows have certain benefits for people, because they give viewers the feeling of tasting with the hosts, which helps reduce loneliness and increase appetite. However, hosts often make excessive adjustments to the quality and quantity of food for reasons such as ratings, and these adjustments not only establish unhealthy and wasteful eating templates for viewers, but may also stimulate their potential binge eating behavior or trigger a relapse of binge eating.

What should you do if you are addicted to “electronic pickles”?

As a product of the new era, it is not easy to completely avoid or reject "electronic mustard tuber", and whether its impact on the body and mind is good or bad depends on how we eat it. In addition to returning to traditional dining habits and dining with relatives and friends, we can also adjust our usual eating mentality. One of the reasons for being addicted to "electronic mustard tuber" is our lack of interest in the food on the plate. If you are a housework "dry eater", you can increase your interest in food by adjusting the tableware or the way you arrange the dishes when cooking. People are visual animals. Whether it is ingredients or tableware, the more exquisite and elegant they are, the more they can firmly attract our eyes. Exquisite tableware and romantic and elegant plating can create a second source of attraction, allowing your attention to shift from "electronic mustard tuber" back to the dining table. If you are a takeaway "dry eater", you can regain your interest in food by changing the type of takeaway and improving the quality of takeaway. Most takeaway "dry eaters" don't care much about what they eat because their purpose is to be fast and full. Therefore, new ingredients and improved quality can reignite their interest in eating, thus avoiding the mentality of always eating like a task to be completed.

References:

【1】Robinson E, Aveyard P, Daley A, Jolly K, Lewis A, Lycett D, Higgs S. Eating attentively: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of food intake memory and awareness on eating. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Apr;97(4):728-42. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.112.045245. Epub 2013 Feb 27. PMID: 23446890; PMCID: PMC3607652.

【2】Soph. (2021). A Manual for Being Human. Gallery UK. Retrieved from https://www.perlego.com/book/2526077/a-manual-for-being-human-pdf (Original work published 2021)

【3】Kang E, Lee J, Kim KH, Yun YH. The popularity of eating broadcast: Content analysis of "mukbang" YouTube videos, media coverage, and the health impact of "mukbang" on public. Health Informatics J. 2020 Sep;26(3):2237-2248.
【4】Kircaburun K, Balta S, Emirtekin E, Tosuntas ŞB, Demetrovics Z, Griffiths MD. Compensatory Usage of the Internet: The Case of Mukbang Watching on YouTube. Psychiatry Investig. 2021 Apr;18(4):269-276.

This article is a work supported by Science Popularization China Starry Sky Project

Author: Tang Yicheng

Reviewer: Fan Chunlei, Associate Researcher, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Produced by: China Association for Science and Technology Department of Science Popularization

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.