Is fake flavor making you fat? What is fake flavor? Why does it seem like year after year we crave food more yet experience less satisfaction from it? What has changed?
A lot has changed.
Our food has changed. Whole foods are different and processed foods are different.
This combination makes fat loss tough and fat gain pretty easy.
Today is part 1 of 2 episodes talking about what has changed about food & what we can do about it so we enjoy food more, eat less of it & reach our fat loss goals without deprivation.
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Is Fake Flavor Making You Fat – Part 1 –
What Happened to Whole Foods?
There is a combination of factors that have led many Americans to eat more junk & eat fewer whole foods.
The whole foods have changed. They have far less flavor, less nutrition & less appeal overall.
The processed foods have changed as well. They have more flavor. They have more appeal. They are carefully formulated to make us want, even need, more.
In today’s episode I’m talking about just how whole foods have changed. In part two I’ll be talking about how processed foods have changed and what we can do about it so we stop craving the processed stuff and enjoy the whole foods more.
I share a few stories from the book The Dorito Effect including a story about how & why chickens aren’t nearly as flavorful or nutritious as they used to be.
It all started during World War II when beef was rationed. The limited availability of beef increased consumption of chicken. After the war when there was no more rationing of beef, the chicken farmers had to get creative to ensure that American families would still eat plenty of chicken.
They launched the “Chicken of Tomorrow” contest to challenge farmers to produce chickens that:
- Grew faster
- Were more uniform in size & color
- Had bigger breasts
- Required less feed to fuel their growth
Flavor was not one of the judging criteria.
It worked. Chickens got plumper, they grew faster, they looked more uniform and prices dropped. So did flavor.
These “improvements” at the expense of flavor have only continued since the 1940s. They’ve also been seen in beef, pork, fish, fruits, vegetables, wheats and grains.
We have more food at a lower cost with fewer nutrients and less flavor.
This has all happened while big food companies pump out highly flavored low cost processed food-like items.
Resources
The Dorito Effect by Mark Schatzker
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