{"id":562304,"date":"2026-06-30T21:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/562304\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T21:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T21:53:13","slug":"god-makes-people-eat-more-junk-food-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/562304\/","title":{"rendered":"God makes people eat more junk food: study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thank you, cheese-us.<\/p>\n

Multiple studies have found that consuming ultra-processed foods like chips, ice cream and pizza can increase the risk of multiple health conditions<\/a> like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression<\/a> and other chronic diseases.<\/p>\n

But now when you reach for the unholy (and unhealthy) trinity of fat, salt and sugar, you might just be able to chalk it up to the man upstairs\u2019 doing.<\/p>\n

\"CollageResearch overwhelmingly says ultra-processed foods are unhealthy, but new research suggests God has other plans. Don Pearsall \/ NY Post Design<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a matter of the deep-fried devil on your shoulder pushing you to make unhealthy junk food choices<\/a> over healthy ones.<\/p>\n

Instead, a new study<\/a> published in Psychology & Marketing suggests that spiritual cues create a belief in divine healing \u2014 which lowers self-control around eating.<\/p>\n

In other words, our Father, who art in the snack aisle, will make sure everything\u2019s OK health-wise after indulging in unhealthy eating habits.<\/p>\n

While almost 40% of Americans pray to God for health improvements<\/a> or cures for diseases, even subtle reminders of religion or spirituality can influence choices.<\/p>\n

The phenomenon is referred to as \u201cGod salience,\u201d or a momentary activation of thoughts related to God brought on by environmental cues.<\/p>\n

To understand how people justified eating ultra-processed food, researchers looked at compensatory control theory, in which people seek external sources of order \u2014 like God \u2014 when they face physical vulnerability (say, a snack craving) or internal psychological stress.<\/p>\n

\"YoungThose who are religious or spiritual are more likely to choose junk food because they believe God will protect their health. ZoneCreative \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

They had participants do different activities: read religious texts or neutral sentences, listen to religious or secular music, or write about God or their day. Then, they had to choose either non-processed or highly processed foods.<\/p>\n

Those filled with divine light, so to speak, were more likely and willing to also be filled with divinely delicious junk food<\/p>\n

The findings confirmed that religious reminders shaped preferences for junk food, while healthy foods needed less divine protection in queso emergency.<\/p>\n

Spiritual or religious people often rely on non-medical mechanisms when facing illness, like prayer.<\/p>\n

A reminder of a higher power could lead some to be less worried about the health risks of certain foods or that a deity will intervene in any negative health issues.<\/p>\n

The researchers note their findings have real-world implications, blending nutritional education with spiritual teachings to combat obesity or the use of secular music in grocery stores to subconsciously promote healthier choices.<\/p>\n

Even seemingly healthy options \u2014 like peanut butter<\/a> \u2014 made unhealthy with the addition of cookie dough and chocolate chips, were chosen after participants viewed a sermon.<\/p>\n

So next time you\u2019re seeking peace in a bag of chips or praying for a calorie-free miracle, you might really need a \u201ccome to Jesus\u201d moment about the realities of what junk food can do to your health.<\/p>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Thank you, cheese-us. Multiple studies have found that consuming ultra-processed foods like chips, ice cream and pizza can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562305,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[277],"tags":[18,215326,135,19,17,23852,508,5874,14176,5076],"class_list":["post-562304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nutrition","tag-eire","tag-god","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-junk-food","tag-nutrition","tag-religion","tag-study-says","tag-ultra-processed-foods"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116841284137881326","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562304"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562304\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562305"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562304"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}