Not OP but I do. If I had a plate of steamed or roasted broccoli available on demand at any time, I would eat it like most people do chips. Broccoli tastes great, but requires a lot more prep than “junk food” to get there.
I eat junk food mainly because it takes me no effort and still tastes good: for me the addiction is not having to put in any effort to be satiated, more than the taste itself.
And when I do eat junk food I don't eat a crazy amount in volume. But the calorie density of them makes it such that I ate a crazy amount of calories. It's not that I eat a bag of chips per day. But a small bag of chips is 240 calories, while carrot chips of the same mass/volume are 20 calories.
Do I prefer junk food over some healthy food -- yes, probably so (but I love broccoli). But I don't know that my eating habits are drastically different between the two. To put it another way, if the junk food I ate suddenly became healthy for you, I think people say I was just eating a healthy diet.
I am the opposite - my eating habits are drastically different between the two. I find it very easy to eat reasonable amounts of healthy, whole foods and stop eating when I'm full. I find it virtually impossible to self-regulate my consumption of junk food. I will eat it when I'm not hungry, I crave it at odd times, I start eating it and I can't stop. I used to crave specific junk foods to the point that it was all I could think about and I'd leave my house in the middle of the night to walk 20 blocks through NYC to the one bodega that I knew would be open and would have the thing I was craving. On more than one occasion I have thrown a half-full bag of chips in the trash and then fished it out a couple hours later to finish it. It's disgusting.
I may have an unusually addictive personality given that I've had issues with abusing other substances, but I noticed these addictive food behaviors in myself from a very young age before I'd ever touched alcohol or drugs. They bear little resemblance to how I eat when presented with fresh foods. We probably all have varying degrees of susceptibility to addictive junk foods and I'm just more susceptible than you (though also lucky enough to be very energetic and active so I haven't actually ended up overweight).
I guess we all have our differences. Part of the reason why I do eat junk food is largely the opposite reason compared to you. I'm too lazy to go get something I want to eat, so I'll just eat what is easiest to consume right now -- and it'll be something sitting in a bag in the pantry, rather than something I have to chop up or cook. But if I could afford a chef, ohh... I'd do that in a minute!
I only let myself eat junk food in a situation where I'm comfortable going way overboard because it's somehow self-limiting without requiring much willpower on my part. I can't keep it in my house for regular consumption because the convenience isn't worth the downsides of overeating and making myself feel like crap. I do keep easy snacks on hand - things like blocks of cheese and olives and deli meat and fruit. Even homemade popcorn with real melted butter is fine. I find all of those things difficult to overeat, unlike chips or cheetos or ramen noodles. I, too, wish I could afford a chef though!
Hell yes. Have you ever roasted it with some lemon slices? Or broken up all the individual florets with a mandolin and tossed it as a salad? Whirred it into a soup? Broccoli is incredible.
