{"id":10456,"date":"2024-08-21T17:16:13","date_gmt":"2024-08-21T10:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10456"},"modified":"2024-08-21T17:16:13","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T10:16:13","slug":"cutting-the-calorie-rich-and-processed-foods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=10456","title":{"rendered":"Cutting the Calorie-Rich-And-Processed Foods\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>We have an uncanny ability to pick out the subtle distinctions in calorie density of foods, but only within the natural range.<\/p>\n<p>The traditional medical view on obesity, as <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/16693891\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">summed<\/a> up nearly a century ago: \u201cAll obese persons are, alike in one fundamental respect,\u2014they literally overeat.\u201d While this may be true in a technical sense, it is in reference to overeating calories, not food. Our primitive urge to overindulge is selective. People don\u2019t tend to lust for lettuce. We have a natural inborn preference for sweet, starchy, or fatty foods because that\u2019s where the calories are concentrated.<\/p>\n<p>Think about hunting and gathering efficiency. We used to have to work hard for our food. Prehistorically, it didn\u2019t make sense to spend all day collecting types of food that on average don\u2019t provide at least a day\u2019s worth of calories. You would have been better off staying back at the cave. So, we <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/18534000\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">evolved<\/a> to crave foods with the biggest caloric bang for their buck.<\/p>\n<p>If you were able to steadily <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29038018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">forage<\/a> a pound of food an hour and it had 250 calories per pound, it might take you ten hours just to break even on your calories for the day. But if you were gathering something with 500 calories a pound, you could be done in five hours and spend the next five working on your cave paintings. So, the greater the energy density\u2014that is, the more calories per pound\u2014the more efficient the foraging. We developed an acute ability to discriminate foods based on calorie density and to instinctively desire the densest.<\/p>\n<p>If you study the fruit and vegetable preferences of four-year-old children, what they like <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12880626\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">correlates<\/a> with calorie density. As you can see in the graph below and at 1:52 in my video <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-cut-the-calorie-rich-and-processed-foods\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Friday Favorites: Cut the Calorie-Rich-And-Processed Foods<\/a><\/strong>, they <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12880626\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prefer<\/a> bananas over berries and carrots over cucumbers. Isn\u2019t that just a preference for sweetness? No, they also prefer potatoes over peaches and green beans over melon, just like monkeys <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Food-Preferences-and-Nutrient-Composition-in-Spider-Laska-Salazar\/2e2fdb6aa3807c9073ae6https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Food-Preferences-and-Nutrient-Composition-in-Spider-Laska-Salazar\/2e2fdb6aa3807c9073ae6c6724a1fec8f7ef130ac6724a1fec8f7ef130a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prefer<\/a> avocados over bananas. We appear to have an inborn drive to maximize calories per mouthful.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108521\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/1-52-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>All the foods the researchers <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/12880626\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tested<\/a> in the study with four-year-old kids naturally had less than 500 calories per pound. (Bananas topped the chart at about 400.) Something funny happens when you start going above that: We <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/29038018\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lose<\/a> our ability to differentiate. Over the natural range of calorie densities, we have an uncanny aptitude to pick out the subtle distinctions. However, once you start heading towards bacon, cheese, and chocolate territory, which can reach thousands of calories per pound, our perceptions become relatively numb to the differences. It\u2019s no wonder since these foods were unknown to our prehistoric brains. It\u2019s like the dodo bird failing to evolve a fear response because they had no natural predators\u2014and we all know how that turned out\u2014or sea turtle hatchlings crawling in the wrong direction towards artificial light rather than the moon. It is aberrant behavior explained by an \u201cevolutionary mismatch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The food industry exploits our innate biological vulnerabilities by stripping crops down into almost pure calories\u2014straight sugar, oil (which is pretty much pure fat), and white flour (which is mostly refined starch). It also removes the fiber, because that effectively has zero calories. Run brown rice through a mill to make white rice, and you lose about two-thirds of the fiber. Turn whole-wheat flour into white flour, and lose 75 percent. Or you can run crops through animals (to make meat, dairy, and eggs) and remove <em>100 percent<\/em> of the fiber. What you\u2019re left with is CRAP\u2014an acronym <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20200923000743\/https:\/www.healthscience.org\/about\/nha-history\/books-and-publications\/health-science-fall-2012\/interview-jeff-novick\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">used<\/a> by one of my favorite dieticians, Jeff Novick, for Calorie-Rich And Processed food.<\/p>\n<p>Calories are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/25976357\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">condensed<\/a> in the same way plants are turned into <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21464344\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">addictive<\/a> drugs like opiates and cocaine: \u201cdistillation, crystallization, concentration, and extraction.\u201d They even appear to activate the same reward pathways in the brain. Put people with \u201cfood addiction\u201d in an MRI scanner and show them a picture of a chocolate milkshake, and the areas that light up in their brains (as you can see below and at 4:15 in my <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-cut-the-calorie-rich-and-processed-foods\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>video<\/strong><\/a>) <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/21464344\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">are<\/a> the same as when cocaine addicts are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/9892292\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shown<\/a> a video of crack smoking. (See those images below and at 4:18 in my <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/friday-favorites-cut-the-calorie-rich-and-processed-foods\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">video<\/a><\/strong>.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108523\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-15-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-108525\" src=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18.png 1920w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-960x540.png 960w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-1536x864.png 1536w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-480x270.png 480w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-1200x675.png 1200w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-720x405.png 720w, https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/app\/uploads\/2024\/07\/4-18-540x304.png 540w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cFood addiction\u201d is a misnomer. People don\u2019t suffer out-of-control eating behaviors to food in general. We don\u2019t tend to compulsively crave carrots. Milkshakes are packed with sugar and fat, two of the signals to our brain of calorie density. When people are <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/28859162\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">asked<\/a> to rate different foods in terms of cravings and loss of control, most incriminated was a load of CRAP\u2014highly processed foods like donuts, along with cheese and meat. Those least related to problematic eating behaviors? Fruits and vegetables. Calorie density may be the reason people don\u2019t get up in the middle of the night and binge on broccoli.<\/p>\n<p>Animals don\u2019t tend to get fat when they are eating the foods they were designed to eat. There is a <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1002\/ajp.1350300207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">confirmed<\/a> report of free-living primates becoming obese, but that was a troop of baboons who stumbled across the garbage dump at a tourist lodge. The garbage-feeding animals weighed 50 percent more than their wild-feeding counterparts. Sadly, we can suffer the same mismatched fate and become obese by eating garbage, too. For millions of years, before we learned how to hunt, our biology <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/26693381\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">evolved<\/a> largely on \u201cleaves, roots, fruits, and nuts.\u201d Maybe it would help if we went back to our roots and cut out the CRAP.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A key insight I want to emphasize here is the concept of animal products as the ultimate processed food. Basically, all nutrition grows from the ground: seeds, sunlight, and soil. That\u2019s where all our vitamins come from, all our minerals, all the protein, all the essential amino acids. The only reason there are essential amino acids in a steak is because the cow ate them all from plants. Those amino acids are essential\u2014no animals can make them, including us. We have to eat plants to get them. But we can cut out the middlemoo and get nutrition directly from the Earth, and, in doing so, get all the phytonutrients and fiber that are lost when plants are processed through animals. Even ultraprocessed junk foods may have a tiny bit of fiber remaining, but all is lost when plants are ultra-ultraprocessed through animals.<\/p>\n<p>Having said that, there was also a big jump in what one would traditionally think of as processed foods, and that\u2019s the video we turn to next: <a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-processed-foods-in-the-obesity-epidemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Role of Processed Foods in the Obesity Epidemic<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re making our way through a series on the cause of the obesity epidemic. So far, we\u2019ve looked at exercise (<a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-role-of-diet-vs-exercise-in-the-obesity-epidemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Role of Diet vs. Exercise in the Obesity Epidemic<\/strong><\/a>) and genes (<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/?topics=the-role-of-genes-in-the-obesity-epidemic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Role of Genes in the Obesity Epidemic<\/a><\/strong> and <a href=\"http:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/video\/the-thrifty-gene-theory-survival-of-the-fattest\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>The Thrifty Gene Theory: Survival of the Fattest<\/strong><\/a>), but, really, it\u2019s the food.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re familiar with my work, you know that I recommend eating a variety of whole plant foods, as close as possible to the way nature intended. I capture this in my Daily Dozen, which you can download for free <a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/daily-dozen-challenge\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a> or get the free app (<a href=\"https:\/\/itunes.apple.com\/us\/app\/dr.-gregers-daily-dozen\/id1060700802?mt=8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">iTunes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=org.nutritionfacts.dailydozen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Android<\/a>). On the app, you\u2019ll see that there\u2019s also an option for those looking to lose weight: my 21 Tweaks. But before you go checking them off, be sure to read about the science behind the checklist in my book <em><a href=\"https:\/\/nutritionfacts.org\/how-not-to-diet\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">How Not to Diet<\/a><\/em>. Get it for free at your local public library. If you choose to buy a copy, note that all proceeds from all of my books go to charity.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"et_social_bottom_trigger\"\/>  <\/div>\n<p><script>\n            !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n            {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n                n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n            if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n            n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n            t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n            s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n                'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n            fbq('init', '1582627921973608');\n            fbq('track', 'PageView');\n        <\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We have an uncanny ability to pick out the subtle distinctions in calorie density of foods, but only within the natural range. The traditional medical view on obesity, as summed up nearly a century ago: \u201cAll obese persons are, alike in one fundamental respect,\u2014they literally overeat.\u201d While this may be true in a technical sense, &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}