Interesting: Why health food is less satisfying

jlsAhava
jlsAhava Posts: 411 Member
edited September 28 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

Here's an article from Time Health that I thought people around here would find interesting.

"Diet Psych Out: Why 'Health' Food Is Less Satisfying, Even If It's Sinful"
http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/31/diet-psych-out-why-health-food-is-less-satisfying-even-if-its-sinful/

Replies

  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
    I am extremely satisfied with my spinach. I can eat mounds of it! Though, if you gave me mounds of ice cream, I would be far more satisfied :wink: I can see your point.

    I'm going to read that now instead of spouting nonsense!
  • dumb_blondes_rock
    dumb_blondes_rock Posts: 1,568 Member
    Makes sense to me...the mind is a crazy thing, and our worst enemy
  • Angela4Health
    Angela4Health Posts: 1,319 Member
    Totally makes sense to me!
  • callipygianchronicle
    callipygianchronicle Posts: 811 Member
    Interesting. The mind is indeed powerful. I just wish they had tried it with different high calorie/high fat foods to see if the effect was universal.
  • JenKoz4
    JenKoz4 Posts: 37
    Makes sense to me, although I'm always hungry when dieting but I think that has more to do with increased exercise instead of the foods I'm eating.
  • redheadlynn
    redheadlynn Posts: 28 Member
    I don't know. I follow Tosca Reno's (of Oxygen mag fame) "Eat Clean" diet, and I am pretty full on it, even though I end up eating more calories than I did when I ate "diet" foods. I feel better, too, overall. Since I am getting enough fat/protein/carbs on this diet, as well as water, I am not hungry. I wouldn't eat ice cream or any other junk food even if it was given to me, just because I am so satisfied on a diet I know is super healthy and is going to even out my weight. But if all you're eating is lettuce and carrots, yeah, you're gonna be hungry and be less satisfied. I don't know! Interesting indeed, though. :D Thanks!!!!
  • milaxx
    milaxx Posts: 1,122 Member
    I kinda give a lot of these so called "studies" a bit of side eye until I see hard evidence. I just ate the best strawberries in the world. They hit the spot and I am completely satisfied. There are many foods that people would classify as "health foods" that I eat not only because they are good for me, but because I love them.
  • jlsAhava
    jlsAhava Posts: 411 Member
    @ milaxx and redheadlynn,

    I don't believe they're referring to foods that are genuinely healthy (fruits, veges, or foods that use real/full cal ingredients that happen to be healthy).

    Even though I can't be sure of this since I didn't read the study myself - I read only the Times article - I THINK they are referring to those foods that are marketed as "healthy foods" AS COMPARED to their real (and seemingly decadent) equivalents... ie, a low fat chocolate brownie as compared to a regular full fat brownie or, as they used int the study, a low calorie/fat milkshake as compared to a more decadent, fat and calorie filled milkshake.

    As you two mentioned, give me some perfectly ripe raspberries or some other delicious food that just HAPPENS to be healthy, and I'll be totally satisfied. But again, I don't believe that is the type of food the study was focusing on. I think they are talking about the kinds of food that have the labels "LOW CALORIE" or "HEALTHY" or "LOW/NO FAT" on the labels - which usually implies there is a more decadent, calorie-full, version in existence.

    And Milaxx, I agree about being wary of studies. To completely have confidence in the study, you have to be sure it was a well-structured study that in fact measures what it intends to measure, has a large enough representative sample to accurately reflect reality AND has an accurate interpretation of the results (since interpretation of the data can vary widely by individual). And to that end... we have to be doubly wary of an ARTICLE ABOUT A STUDY... since that that is simply ANOTHER layer of interpretation provided by the article's author.
  • sweet_lotus
    sweet_lotus Posts: 194 Member
    I'm of the "eating is largely neurological" mindset; there are so many complex signals between the brain and the stomach, that's for sure!

    Since I've been MFP, it's been fascinating to see what a variety of strategies are claimed as helpful in weight loss and maintenance. (Well, it's impossible to tell if they ARE successful because I don't really know if people are eating what they say they are eating, but, I try to take it at face value.)

    There are the people who go for the marketed low-cal processed foods, the clean eaters (who wouldn't touch a cookie, low cal or otherwise, if you paid them), and people like me who eat some junk food but mostly do reduced portion/moderation type of strategy. The *perception* of the correct way to eat probably has more to do with success than the dietary choices themselves.

    While the study was interesting, it was only 46 people. I bet there was a small subset of test subjects who noticed that the milkshakes were exactly the same, and were all "WTF"? ;)
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