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By Susan M. Callahan, Health Editor and Featured Columnist
Last Updated May 19, 2009
Quick test. When was the last time you ate a plate of French
Fries without ketchup?
Chances are, if you are an American, the answer is "Never" or
"so seldom I can't remember".
Just why is that? Some time ago I started noticing that I, and
almost everyone I know who at one time has struggles to lose
pounds, often ate foods in certain fixed combinations. I
began to ask questions of my friends and found some
intriguing possible answers.
I have friends who were raised in the South. One of them, I'll
call him Vance, grew up in Georgia. At a back yard barbecue I
threw, I served watermelon for dessert. That's when I was
startled to see Vance sprinkling salt --salt!--on his
watermelon. When I asked him how long he had been doing
that, he told me that many people in the South always sprinkle
salt on their sweet fruit--salt on watermelon, salt on peaches.
It struck me then that maybe those of us who are sprinkling
salt on sweet fruit are trying to balance the sweet taste with
salt. Are our tastebuds sabotaging our efforts to lose weight?
I searched for other examples. They were easy to find.
Almost everyone in America eats French Fries with ketchup.
Fries, salty and fatty, ketchup, sweet.
Other examples. Barbecued ribs are oily and earthy eaten
alone. But many of us wouldn't think of eating them without
first bathing them in thick syrupy barbecue sauce. Here,
oily,earthy is balanced by sweet. Only then do we feel
--ahhh--that oh, so satisfied feeling that tells us "This is
Good!".
Besides my hunch, some research appears to support my
theory. Studies have found that when we eat the same,
monotonous diets, we tend to eat less. Scientists at the Weight
Management Center, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Sciences, Medical University of South Carolina,have found that
patients who eat monotonous diets eat much less than those
who eat a variety of foods.
Our appetite sensors, for salt, sweet, bitter, oil and a taste
called "umami (sort of the earthy goodness found in
slow-cooked foods like braised lamb and beef, ripe tomatoes,
mushrooms and sardines) are turned off by sameness.
Perhaps, then, the reason variety turns our appetite triggers
"on" is that each separate taste chases the other triggers
--salt triggers the taste for sweet, which triggers the need for
more salt, and on we go.
Here is my theory:
1. We seek sweet to balance salt. (Ketchup on Fries)
2. Salt to balance Oily, Earthy. (Think salt on ribs)
3. Bitter to balance oil ( Think salad dressing of oil and
vinegar)
If this theory is even remotely correct, then it may explain why
being even a little out of balance can set you up for a
disastrous cycle of cravings.
And, surprise, almost all of us are grossly out of balance with
our daily salt intake.
So, we, loaded with salt, seek out fats to balance the taste.
That sets up a condition leading to internal inflammation,
which can lead to heart disease, stroke and cancer
Salt also sets us up to seek sweets to balance the taste. And
the added sugar not only piles on pounds but sugar leads to
increased incidence of diseases such as diabetes, stroke and
heart disease.
How do we break the appetite cycle?
First, watch our salt levels. That will help to break at least two
links--the link to sugar and to fat. Second, watch the intake of
extra sweets. That will help to avoid triggering our appetites in
general.
You're just warming up. Here are some links on more tips to
help you trim up, lose weight and get healthy:SuperTasters
-Are You One of Them? / Foods That Shrink Your Waist / Diet
and Exercise -How Your Bowel Movements Affect Your Diet
Success / Sugar -The Disease Connection / How Much Is Too
Much Salt? / Best Diet to Lower Blood Pressure / Healing
Foods
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