ExRx.net

Has anyone been reading Guyenet lately about reward mechanisms from foods? That had me intrigued.

Basically the idea is some foods set off high reward mechanisms that make it hard to control energy intake. Nothing new so far. The implications that got my attention are: low carb, paleo & stuff would work mainly because you get rid of that food (I could be wrong about this); and, most importantly, high reward food would affect the natural fat set point of the body, in short: the yummier your meals, the fatter your body wants to become.

That's got me thinking about the opportunity of trying to strike a balance between yumminess and blandness as a way to decrease body fat while not hurting adherence. Unfortunately his conclusions aren't that thrilling, but it may be still food for thought if anything.

And now the links. Mind you this is just what appeared most interesting to me. By all means read the rest if you feel like.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2 ... esity.html
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2 ... ty_18.html
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2 ... -gain.html
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2 ... ty_28.html
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2 ... cause.html

<minirant>BTW why does pizza get listed in the junk food category? It's tantamount to saying beef patties are junk food because fast food burgers have patties in them</rant>

and PS: this evening I'm gonna prepare some roasted pork sirloin, and eat it too. How's that for blandness? hell, the mere thought makes me hungry

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I don't know where the blind could lead the sightless
but I'd still like to witness

wonder if this is related to the table spoon of olive oil diet, which also relied on blandness, IIR. I'll check out the links after work

Paleo doesn't exclude bland food, it excludes grains and usually dairy. Paleo actually encourages the use of herbs and spices, partly for the trace nutrients but also because it gets rid of the blandness. The real risk is stuff like salty and sweet snacks. Salt and sweet are the two flavours you have to avoid as these could stimulate appetite.

Guyenet's material has to be looked at from 2 points of view: The healthy, maybe overweight' and the obese and sick. He's really talking about the obese. For some people the taste of food makes them eat more. It's probably a factor in some people but not all.

Pizza is junk food because it combines bread and greasy processed meats. Hamburgers are the same. Fresh grass fed beef is not junk food unless you put in on a bun, then it becomes junk food too.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

healthy food only tastes bland if you suck at cooking

"BTW why does pizza get listed in the junk food category?"

I guess if you were being picky you could consider any simple carb and sat fat/omega 6 combo junk. I try to limit that combo and go with protein/fat or protein/carb.

I don't think that's being picky, I just think you've defined junk food nicely.

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Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.~Hippocrates
Strength is the adaptation that leads to all other adaptations that you really care about - Charles Staley
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Thanks TimD

IMHO, Pizza's only junk considering what you put on it. When I was over in Italy, they had these walk in eateries, with chicken on spits, vegtables and seafoods in jars, and a huge rectangle of what they called Pizza. It was nothing more than bread, topped with olive oil and crushed tomatoes. You bought it by the meter, and a small rectangle with the other stuff wasn't bad at all. Reminded me more of what they call Foccacia bread over here in the US.I don't do much bread, but a bit of that was pretty decent.
Tim

mmm that sounds awesome. Pizza is my weakness, I could give up any fast food except pizza. A Glasgow delicacy is the deep-fried pizza, you wouldn't believe how nice it is. Not very good for you admittedly but no one wants to be healthy all the time

omg pizza crunchieee <3

The ultimate bulking food robert :D

Oh yeah of course! I forgot we had a weejie on the the boards

I'm always lurking and leeching all you lots knowledge

OMG I've never heard of deep fried pizza! Pizza is also my weakness, I always eat it at weekends before I go back to basically no carbs for the rest of the week.

I'm going to retire in Scotland to train with KPj and eat deep-fried pizza with Bob.

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan

we'll have deep fried mars bars for dessert

Couldn't we alternate with deep fried ice cream?

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Our greatest fear should not be of failure, but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter.--Francis Chan