Welcome to the continuing diary series "Let's Read a WHEE Book Together!" This week, we're continuing with David Kessler's The End of Overeating, Chapter 3.
If you want to follow along but you can't get your hands on a copy of Kessler's book just yet, you can read the first six chapters on Google Books.
WHEE (Weight, Health, Eating and Exercise) is a community support diary for Kossacks who are currently or planning to start losing, gaining or maintaining their weight through diet and exercise or fitness. Any supportive comments, suggestions or positive distractions are appreciated. If you are working on your weight or fitness, please -- join us! You can also click the WHEE tag to view all diary posts.
If you're just finding this series now, here are links to the previous episodes:
Introduction: You Are The Target (summarized by Edward Spurlock)
Chapter 1: Something Changed . . . America Gained Weight (summarized by Edward Spurlock)
Chapter 2: Overriding the Wisdom of the Body (summarized by Clio2)
And now, WHEE presents:
Chapter 3: Sugar, Fat, and Salt Make Us Eat More Sugar, Fat, and Salt
Kessler begins Chapter 3 by introducing the concept of "palatability":
...when scientists say a food is palatable, they are referring primarily to its capacity to stimulate the appetite and prompt us to eat more...it's that stimulation, or the anticipation of that stimulation, rather than genuine hunger, that makes us put food into our mouths long after our caloric needs are satisfied.
For many years (until the 1980s), scientists focused on sugar and mostly ignored fat as a component of palatability. Science came late to a realization that could have been made years ago in any ice cream shop: Given a choice between a low-fat, high-sugar food, a high-fat, low-sugar food, and a high-fat, high-sugar food, people choose the food with sugar AND fat.
The combination of sugar and fat can make food "hyperpalatable," and can defeat the body's homeostatic system, causing one to continue eating long past the body's need for food energy. This has been shown in both animal and human research.
Kessler discusses one animal study, in which rats which had been bred to be obesity-resistant on normal feed were fed a high-fat, high-sugar liquid and found to gain weight as quickly as obesity-prone rats which had been bred to overeat on normal feed.
Another researcher found that laboratory rats allowed to eat a "supermarket diet" of foods like cookies, marshmallows, chocolate, peanut butter, cheese, and salami continued to eat far more than a control group of rats. The junk-food junkie rats eventually weighed twice as much as rats in the control group.
The "supermarket diet" study points to another aspect of hyperpalatability: variety. Kessler does not emphasize the role of variety in The End of Overeating, but other researchers have found that variety is another factor in overeating. According to Brian Wansink in his book Mindless Eating, even visual variety can lead to increased consumption. For example, subjects offered M&M candies in the usual mix of colors ate more than subjects who were given only a single color of M&Ms.
Kessler details one human study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health in which variety may have contributed to overeating, IMO. Male subjects, a number of whom were "significantly overweight," were confined to a ward and allowed to choose freely from "vending" machines that offered a variety of entrées and snacks. The men ate an average of 4500 calories during the test period, 50% more than the 3000-odd calories they would have needed to maintain their already-considerable weights.
Kessler concludes Chapter 3 by stating:
All of this demonstrates scientifically what most of us know from experience: When offered a varied selection and large portions of high-sugar, high-fat, high-salt foods, many of us will eat them in excessive amounts.
end of Chapter 3
Hyperpalatable - or WAY past the "bliss point"?
As an illustration of foods that are pushing the limits of hyperpalatability, I present the following:
Delish.com: 8 Outrageous Burgers
You want sugar, fat, and salt? We got your sugar, fat, and salt right here! When it comes to obesity, America is Number 1 - and by God, we'll stay that way, if these forward-looking patriotic restauranteurs have anything to do with it!
The TODAY Show: Move over, Twinkies: Deep-fried butter is here
When you're a Texas parent and you've successfully lobbied your child's school to protect your precious snowflake from socialist Muslim ideas like study, hard work, and washing one's hands during flu season, how do you unwind from your labors? Why, you go to the Texas State Fair and eat stuff, of course!
State Fair food vendor Abel Gonzales Jr. has won food competitions in previous years by coming up with savory collations like deep-fried cookie dough, deep-fried Coke, and deep-fried peanut butter, jelly, and banana sandwiches. Coming off last year's crushing loss, Gonzales has surely outdone himself with this year's attempt to tantalize the fickle Texas palate: Deep-fried butter.
To make fried butter, the butter itself needs to have an outer coating, or shell, if you will — something that can withstand the bubbling cauldron of the deep fryer.
"I mean, butter by itself does not taste good," Gonzales said. "Nobody just grabs a stick of butter and eats it. That would be gross."
Obviously, Kessler has nothing to teach this entrepreneur about the importance of fat AND sugar when it comes to palatability!
Upcoming WHEE diaries:
September 5
Sat AM - yr humble servant
Sat PM - ???
September 6
Sun AM - ??? (usually louisev's Turtle Diary - yoohoo, louisev?)
Sun PM - JiffyKeen
September 7
Mon AM - NC Dem
Mon PM - ???
September 8
Tues AM - Clio2
Tues PM - ???
September 9
Wed AM - Edward Spurlock
Wed PM - ???
September 10
Thurs AM - ED G
Thurs PM - st minutia
September 11
Fri AM - ???
Fro PM - ???
September 12
Sat AM - Edward Spurlock
Sat PM - ???