Edition #7: When Algorithms Decide What We Crave

We talk about “food choices” like they’re neutral. Read the label. Count the calories. Take responsibility and that's it ....

By Mykel Salomon · 2025-12-13

<h3>🔓 Opening Reflection</h3>We talk about “food choices” like they’re neutral. Read the label. Count the calories. Take responsibility and that's it ....But the truth is way more complicated than this:We live inside a food system where corn is subsidized, processed, refined, and pumped into almost everything, especially the cheapest, most addictive products. From sodas to sauces to snacks, high-fructose corn syrup and other corn derivatives quietly fuel the foods most linked to obesity, diabetes, kidney damage, and chronic disease.Now add AI to that system.AI isn’t just recommending shows or songs. It’s helping food brands target us with hyper-personalized campaigns, timed to our cravings, our stress, our vulnerabilities. Some companies are now sending hundreds of millions of AI-generated messages, converting at rates five times higher than traditional campaigns.The result?A food system built on engineered ingredients × algorithms engineered to sell them= A population marketed into sickness.This isn’t “choice.” This is design.<hr><h3>🔦 Signal of the Week</h3>Let’s ground this in truth..... with data, not judgment:<ul><li>Corn is the most-subsidized crop in the U.S., receiving nearly $3.2B in 2024, almost 30% of all federal farm subsidies.</li><li>Only a tiny fraction of that corn becomes “food”; most becomes additives like HFCS.</li><li>Over half of Americans’ calories come from ultra-processed foods.</li><li>A single soda contains 10+ teaspoons of liquid sugar.</li><li>Nearly 50% of U.S. adults drink at least one sugary drink daily.</li><li>Sugar-sweetened beverages are linked to: kidney damage | insulin resistance | metabolic disease | heightened chronic illness risk</li></ul>Add in AI?Food companies are now running AI-optimized, micro-targeted campaigns that know exactly when and how to trigger a craving.The "system" is evolving. Humans… are falling behind.<hr><h3>💬 The Big Question</h3>If algorithms decide what we crave, how much of our eating is still our choice?And the harder question:Who benefits from our cravings, and who pays the price?<hr><h3>🧠 Human Moment</h3>I’ve walked down supermarket aisles with the same tension many of us feel:Health on one side. Habits on the other. And everywhere, decisions engineered for us, not by us.Now imagine being:<ul><li>a parent under financial pressure</li><li>a teenager in a food desert</li><li>someone navigating stress, depression, or chronic fatigue</li></ul>And the foods most aggressively advertised are:<ul><li>the soda loaded with liquid sugar</li><li>the snack engineered for addiction</li><li>the “meal” optimized for convenience, not nourishment</li></ul><blockquote>We tell people to “choose better,” but we built a system where the worst choices are the easiest.</blockquote>And now an algorithm decides when to tempt us.This isn’t a personal failure. It’s precision-targeted system engineering.<hr><h3>🛠️ Build Together</h3>So what now?If you're in marketing, tech, product, or leadership:<ul><li>Audit what your AI actually optimizes for. Revenue without responsibility is just harm with good branding.</li><li>Draw ethical boundaries. Not everything profitable is humane.</li><li>Tell the truth in your campaigns. Real transparency, not strategic ambiguity.</li><li>Rethink how your brand earns trust. Not through seduction, through honesty.</li></ul>If you’re simply trying to survive the system:<ul><li>Notice the foods that “follow” you online</li><li>Pay attention to how your body feels afterward</li><li>Remember: the cheapest calories are often engineered, not chosen</li></ul>📩 Hit reply: What food or drink are you trying to build a new relationship with?<hr><h3>🎙️ This Week’s Episode</h3><h3>Episode 16: The Hidden Consumer — Uncovering the Power of Health-Conscious Buyers</h3>Guest: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#4FD1C5] underline hover:opacity-80 ember-view" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-graves-hidden-consumers/">Amy Graves</a> Author & Keynote SpeakerThis conversation asks the question the food industry avoids:Who gets harmed when brands hide what’s inside the products we rely on?Amy Graves knows this personally. What she believed was a years-long sinus infection was actually her body reacting to ingredients most consumers never see or understand.She is part of what she calls “the hidden consumers” — people with allergies, sensitivities, chronic conditions, or health-driven lifestyles who navigate a world not built for their wellbeing.Amy has become their advocate — pushing for transparency, honesty, and accountability in a system designed around scale, not safety.<hr><h3>📘 Amy's New Book: The Hidden Consumer: Uncovering the Power of Health-Conscious Buyers</h3>Part memoir, part industry exposé, part consumer awakening.Amy reveals:<ul><li>hidden ingredients that quietly shape our health</li><li>the buying power of people who must shop differently</li><li>how brands mislead, distract, and obscure</li><li>why health-driven consumers are the future</li><li>and how understanding them reshapes marketing, trust, and product design</li></ul>This book matters, for consumers, leaders, regulators, parents, and anyone who has ever felt like their body reacts to things “other people are fine with.”📕 Order Amy’s book here: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#4FD1C5] underline hover:opacity-80" href="https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hidden-consumer-amy-graves/1146314235">https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-hidden-consumer-amy-graves/1146314235</a><hr>🎧 Listen or watch the full episode:<ul><li>Spotify → <a target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#4FD1C5] underline hover:opacity-80 jFyrVBZmOJTVoHJvKvUZeDCVoBSSacnHLLmEXDw " href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6AdZdd48XzCWS2xQk4W2GX?si=lk9xHtSRQiGooWVNYBnu8Q">Watch Here</a></li><li>Apple Podcasts → <a target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#4FD1C5] underline hover:opacity-80 jFyrVBZmOJTVoHJvKvUZeDCVoBSSacnHLLmEXDw " href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-16-the-hidden-consumer-uncovering-the-power/id1843402023?i=1000740663800">Listen Here</a></li><li>YouTube → <a target="_self" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="text-[#4FD1C5] underline hover:opacity-80 jFyrVBZmOJTVoHJvKvUZeDCVoBSSacnHLLmEXDw " href="https://youtu.be/XRJWB-tVhh0?si=L5kAjoe4glwUxSyC">Watch Here</a></li></ul><img class="max-w-full h-auto rounded-md my-4" src="https://media.licdn.com/dms/image/v2/D4E12AQHRG1MHv_IoTw/article-inline_image-shrink_1000_1488/B4EZsUU.O9HEAQ-/0/1765572604079?e=1772064000&v=beta&t=HvBbZ_MttnH__XnrO_wvrD6lIk7KMlQfrosvbO5rTK8" alt="Article content"><hr><h3>🧭 Thought to End the Week</h3>“Your cravings aren’t a lack of discipline. They’re in part influenced by design.”And if AI is going to amplify something, we must decide what and for whom.<hr>💌 Share this edition with someone trying to navigate their health in a world designed to challenge it.🔗 Follow The Human Protocol for human-first reflections at the intersection of AI, culture, and health.🌍 Let’s stay human.... and vigilant.... together.— Mykel