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Tag Archives: Food
The Type of Food Packaging That Helps You Eat Less
Try this trick to make sure you don’t overdo it with the candy jar Continue reading
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Get This: Food Is Getting Saltier
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The Surprising Way to Make Your Food More Delicious
Adding sugar or salt may make every morsel taste better—but not for the reason you think Continue reading
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The Weird Thing That Makes Food Taste Better
Ever wonder why your morning coffee tastes best in your favorite mug? Or why pizza’s flavor changes when you eat it with a knife and fork instead of your hands? You’re not imagining things. The weight, color, size, and shape of your cutlery can influence the way your food tastes, according to a recent study.
Researchers at Oxford University conducted three experiments to find out how cutlery affects flavor. In two, participants sampled yogurt with spoons of varying sizes, weights, styles, and colors. In the third experiment, researchers tested to see whether eating cheese with a fork, knife, spoon, or toothpick would make a difference, taste-wise.
Even though each participant tried the same food repeatedly with different utensils, they said that the yogurt or cheese tasted different every time. When eaten with a lighter spoon, yogurt tasted denser and seemed more expensive, for example. Smaller spoons, meanwhile, tended to make the yogurt taste sweeter. And cheese was perceived as sharpest and saltiest when eaten off of a knife.
So, why does cutlery matter if the food stays the same? “We have expectations of what something will taste like before the food reaches our mouths,” says Harrar. “When cutlery is unexpected, we can’t use this automatic system.” So depending on the utensil, you’re more likely to pay attention to different aspects of the flavor or texture that might normally go unnoticed.
Pretty interesting stuff. Not that it’s any reason to go splurge on new cutlery, but it does help explain why you always reach for the same spoon over and over again.
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More from Women’s Health:
Mindful Eating: Clean (Up) Your Plate
5 Ways to Trick Yourself Into Eating Less
How Greek Is Your “Greek” Yogurt?
Is Food Addiction Real?
Ever feel like you’re fighting a losing battle with a bag of potato chips? Your brain might be to blame. Foods with a high glycemic index (GI) activate the same area of the brain that’s triggered by gambling and addictive drugs, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
For the study, researchers fed 12 overweight or obese men milkshakes that were identical—except some were high-GI, while the others were low-GI. Four hours later, the people who ate the high-GI shakes were hungrier, had lower blood sugar levels, and had more activity in the area of the brain associated with cravings and addiction.
Eating junk food isn’t like gambling or taking drugs—so why does it have a similar effect on the brain? High-GI foods cause a spike then a plummet in blood sugar levels, says lead study author Belinda Lennerz, MD, PhD, a clinical fellow in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Boston. This rapid change triggers activity in the brain’s pleasure center, causing you to regain your appetite more quickly and give into your cravings more easily.
That doesn’t mean the food is necessarily addictive in the way that alcohol or cocaine are, though. While most addictive behaviors or substances aren’t essential for life, food is—with one caveat: “People actually eat for many other reasons apart from energy needs: for pleasure, out of frustration, to satisfy a craving,” says Lennerz. Behaviors like this, coupled with the increase in brain activity in the cravings control center, indicate that the risk of “food addiction” could potentially be real.
Do you believe that a person can be addicted to food? Tell us in our poll and sound off in the comments:
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Get This: Target to Start Selling Organic Food
Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:
Soon you’ll be able to get store-brand organic groceries at Target! [USA Today]
Hillary Clinton just joined the Twitterverse. Let’s welcome @HillaryClinton to the dance floor. [Daily Intelligencer]
Get excited: Sarah Jessica Parker is partnering with the CEO of Manolo Blahnik to launch her own line of shoes and bags. [Vogue Daily]
Forty percent of designated drivers have some alcohol before getting behind the wheel—and 20 percent of them have had enough booze to impair their driving, according to a new study. [CBS News]
When you’re bummed out, it can be harder to tell how much fat a food has based solely on taste. Play it safe by reaching for healthy foods that satisfy your cravings. [The Daily Meal]
More than a quarter of men under 40 have suffered from ED—and nearly half of those have a severe case of it. [UPI]
Want to feel better about those tasks you’ve been putting off? Kanye West’s new album, Yeesus, is scheduled to come out a week from tomorrow…and it’s still not finished yet. [The Atlantic Wire]
Fitness apps have gone to the dogs. A special app that tracks how much exercise your pet gets debuted last week. [Reuters]
Brides are no longer just paying a ton of money to buy their wedding dresses. They’re also shelling out cash to have a photographer take pictures of them while they trash said insanely expensive dress. #WeDon’tGetIt [Racked]
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Restaurant Food is Even Worse Than You Think
If you’re under the impression that only fast-food chains are guilty of super-sizing their meals and piling on the hidden calories, think again: The average meal from independent restaurants and small-scale chains contains a whopping 1,327 calories—more than twice the recommended amount—according to a new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Researchers at Tufts University analyzed 157 of the most popular meals (including side dishes) at 33 restaurants in the Boston area. While the average meal clocked in at 1,327 calories, some types of food were worse than others. Italian (1,755 calories per meal on average) and American (1,494 calories) were the worst. Even Vietnamese, which was the best, averaged 922 calories per meal. To put this in perspective, though, the average woman only needs about 600 calories per meal, says senior study author Susan B. Roberts, PhD, co-author of The “I” Diet. And 1,327 calories is more than double that—not to mention about 66 percent of the total calories the average adult needs in one day.
You can thank huge portion sizes and unhealthy ingredients for the excessive calorie counts, says Roberts. Even something as benign as tandoori chicken, which is typically grilled and should be relatively healthy, can come soaked in oil that cranks up the calorie count, she says.
What’s worse is that you have no way of knowing what the calorie counts are at these types of restaurants. Unlike major chains, small restaurants aren’t required to list nutrition info on their menus or websites. And Roberts says humans tend to be pretty bad at guessing how many calories are lurking in a large dish. “When restaurants are serving these gross, obscene portion sizes, we don’t know what we’re eating,” she says.
This doesn’t mean that you have to give up on dining out altogether, though. Roberts suggests immediately setting aside half of your order and asking your server to put it in a to-go box, as well as asking for condiments on the side. Both of these steps can help keep your meal under control.
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More From Women’s Health:
How to Kick Your Fast-Food Habit—For Good
Eat Healthy Foods Even When You’re at a Restaurant
How to Find Healthy Fast Food
Get This: Fish Oil Protects Your Brain From Junk Food
Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:
Another reason to love fish oil: A new analysis of existing research suggests it could help minimize the damaging effect of junk food on the brain. [ScienceDaily]
ABC picked up three pilots created by women for its fall lineup! [Jezebel]
Women’s immune systems age slower than men’s, according to a new study. [Huffington Post]
In most cases, having a healthy weight is a good thing. But recent research suggests that it might make you more likely to develop endometriosis. [Medscape Today]
U.S. airlines made $ 3.5 billion in baggage fees in 2012. These tips will help you save cash the next time you travel, regardless of whether you’re checking bags or not. [USA Today]
The average IQ today is 14 points lower than it was 140 years ago, according to a new study. [Metro.us]
Diddy Tweeted that he’s going to be a regular on Downton Abbey. Please, please let this be a (not at all funny) joke. [Twitter]
Burger King is adding a knockoff McRib to the menu. Just what the world needed: another patty made of mystery meat and drenched in barbecue sauce. [Newser]
New research suggests that pedophiles are born that way—so they can’t help their urges. That still doesn’t make it OK… [kspr.com]
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Get This: There Are Now Food Stamps for Dogs
Check out the list of links that should be on your radar today:
A new nonprofit helps people who are on food stamps buy kibble for their pets. Say it with us now: Awww. [WSJ]
Torri Singer, a 21-year-old Penn State student, is petitioning Twitter to get the network to ban #proana, #promia, and other hashtags that glorify eating disorders (Facebook, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and Pinterest have already removed all “thinspiration” content from their sites). #GetWithTheProgramTwitter [Change.org]
You can get sexy stems by Memorial Day, thanks to a new four-week cellulite-blasting plan from Clarins and Barry’s Bootcamp (or check out these other cellulite-fighting tips). Fresh videos go up every Monday. [YouTube]
RIP, Mary Thom. The legendary feminist and former editor of Ms. magazine died in a motorcycle crash in Yonkers on Friday. [NYT]
You’re more likely to have allergies and eczema if you were born and raised in the U.S. Make allergy season as painless as possible with these tips. [MyHealthNewsDaily.com]
For men, “beauty rest” might not be the right term: A lack of sleep can hurt a guy’s sperm quality, according to a new study. [NBC News]
Forget about leaning in. The Daily Beast’s Laura Dimon (daughter of JP Morgan CEO Jamie) reports that “the last office taboo for women” is going No. 2 in the office bathroom. Well that sounds like a load of you-know-what. [The Cu
It’s becoming increasingly popular for lawyers, inmates, and family members to review prisons on Yelp. Can’t wait for the “Real Actors Read Yelp” version of those to hit YouTube. [Washington Post]
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