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  #1   ^
Old Sat, Jun-02-18, 14:02
Verbena Verbena is offline
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Posts: 1,056
 
Plan: My own
Stats: 186/155/150 Female 5'4"
BF:
Progress: 86%
Location: SW PNW
Default Hyperpalatability?

This is a quote from a comment I made on another thread:
"Hyper-palatability. Is this really true? I know it gets tossed around alot, but I personally cannot believe it. Yes, I know that processed and fast foods are "the bad guys" but everyone still eats them "because they taste so darn good". Or, low carbers don't eat them, but then are consumed by cravings, "because they taste so darn good". But really? Is it a factor of my age (66), or my upbringing, or my genes, or what? None of that junk appeals to me, never has. None of it elicits feelings of loss now that I "can't" eat it anymore. Why would I choose a substandard fast food hamburger over one I could make myself at home? Why would I think that cinema popcorn was superior to freshly popped corn that I used to make at home? Why would I prefer some over sweet cola to homemade lemonade (OK, I can sort of see that, through my friends' eyes, though I have never liked them myself)?"
So, to carry that a bit further, is this really "hyperpalatability", or is it rather "hyper convenience"? Or just a reflection of many people not wishing to/not having time to/not knowing how to cook?
For your own "hyperpalatable" weakness, do these things really taste SO good to you that you crave them (or once upon a time craved them)? Is it the taste, or something else?
(And yes, I know that Big Food has supposedly been manipulating ingredients in such a way as to make them hard to resist. I see no reason to doubt that that is happening to a certain extent. But I do often wonder when I hear people say that they "really miss" fast food, or don't quite know what to do when Girl Scout cookie time comes around. Really?)
Educate me, Folks. I was born too early to have had ready access to fast food, and I had a mother who a) was a good cook, and b) didn't encourage snacking, and c) absolutely forbade eating in the car. She also actively discouraged us from chewing gum, so I never got the feeling that I needed something in my mouth all the time.
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  #2   ^
Old Sat, Jun-02-18, 15:03
GRB5111's Avatar
GRB5111 GRB5111 is offline
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Posts: 4,036
 
Plan: Very LC, Higher Protein
Stats: 227/186/185 Male 6' 0"
BF:
Progress: 98%
Location: Herndon, VA
Default

I can understand the confusion if your palate isn't seduced by some of these Frankenfoods, but it's true. Particularly some of the processed foods that come in bags and can be found in the middle aisles with the potato chips. The calculated crunch with a release of flavor that combines salt and a hint of sweet tastes in the background all releasing a starch concoction with advertising that challenges, "bet you can't eat just one." Oh, yes, it's out there in force and has been for many years. The cost of the research that has identified the unique combination of flavors that have this effect on people could provide sound nutrition counseling for thousands and thousands of people for quite a while. Yep, there's a reason all that money is spent, and it's not to make healthy whole foods available to the population.
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  #3   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 04:40
Kristine's Avatar
Kristine Kristine is offline
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Posts: 25,581
 
Plan: Primal/P:E
Stats: 171/146/150 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 119%
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
Default

I respectfully disagree. Hyper-palatability is real. It may be subjective, but it's real. Personal example: for years, the only pork rinds I could buy here were a brand called Baken-ets. The only ingredients are pork skin, lard and salt. I always found it odd that a lot of folks here said they'd binge on pork rinds and had to be careful. I found them very blah and you couldn't pay me to eat more than a few. Well, I recently found a different brand in the ethnic section of a large grocery store, didn't think much of the ingredients, and proceeded to eat the entire bag. What's the difference, ingredients-wise? Garlic powder and MSG.

I strongly suspect virtually all junky restaurant food is the same way. We've bought Kernels popcorn seasoning at the grocery store. And what do you know, if I put them on plain pork rinds, suddenly I can pack away the entire bag. And my homemade burgers will never taste as good as McDonalds. I watched a kid put way too much grill seasoning on the burgers once, and my super-salty burger was kind of an eye-opener: "oh, so THAT'S what makes it taste like McDonalds."

Whenever DH wants to go to a restaurant, my low-carb gluten-free options are really unappealing to me (let's say chicken or steak with a side of veggies) because I could make the same meal at home for 1/4 of the cost. None of those meals are particularly great - because there's no hyperpalatability factor - sugar or wheat. (I consider salt and fat non-issues. It's the combination that deadens most peoples' satiety signals.)

If you can't relate, you're fortunate.
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  #4   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 04:47
Kristine's Avatar
Kristine Kristine is offline
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Plan: Primal/P:E
Stats: 171/146/150 Female 5'7"
BF:
Progress: 119%
Location: Southern Ontario, Canada
Default

Oh, and here's a separate rant about manners. I WISH we would go back to being a society in which it was rude to eat outside of normal eating areas. Don't eat in the car. Don't eat on the bus. Don't eat in class. Don't eat at your desk unless there's no lunch room. Don't eat while walking down the street or in hallways.

Remember when gas stations just sold gas? Now every single one has a friggin convenience store attached to it! It's ridiculous.

To sum this up in one incident, I was in line at Walmart a few years ago, and the lady behind me opened a bag of chips and started feeding them to her baby who was probably 18 months old. Her son (probably 4 or so) said, "momma, why are you giving McKenna chips?" Mom said, "because she's hungry." WHAT? First of all, you're basically committing theft. Secondly, the baby wasn't crying, only being a bit fidgity as 18-MOs are apt to do. I seriously doubt this child was going to pass out or die if she didn't get chips RIGHT NOW. When did this become a thing?

/rant.
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  #5   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 10:18
Verbena Verbena is offline
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Posts: 1,056
 
Plan: My own
Stats: 186/155/150 Female 5'4"
BF:
Progress: 86%
Location: SW PNW
Default

"If you can't relate, you're fortunate." Kristine, thanks for your response. I think I am very fortunate that I never got caught up in that spiral. Not to say that I can't/couldn't overeat certain things - I don't eat any tortilla chips, for instance, when eating at a Mexican restaurant; if I eat one I know I will eat more. But I don't buy chips to bring home either; they don't taste so good to me that I want them at home. And, you know?, I don't believe I have ever had a McDonald's burger. I like my burgers thick, and still pink (or rather more than pink), and have never been tempted by thin, well done patties.
Rant on manners is well received, and agreed with :-). The only time we were allowed to eat in front of the TV was when my parents were out, and we were allowed to eat TV dinners from the freezer. Otherwise, always at the table. My mother has been gone for many years, and I am an older woman myself now, but I still can't eat in the car. Lucky for me, my DH is European, and my "odd" ideas about food mesh very well with what he also believes.
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  #6   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 10:41
Verbena Verbena is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,056
 
Plan: My own
Stats: 186/155/150 Female 5'4"
BF:
Progress: 86%
Location: SW PNW
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GRB5111
I can understand the confusion if your palate isn't seduced by some of these Frankenfoods, but it's true. Particularly some of the processed foods that come in bags and can be found in the middle aisles with the potato chips. The calculated crunch with a release of flavor that combines salt and a hint of sweet tastes in the background all releasing a starch concoction with advertising that challenges, "bet you can't eat just one." Oh, yes, it's out there in force and has been for many years. The cost of the research that has identified the unique combination of flavors that have this effect on people could provide sound nutrition counseling for thousands and thousands of people for quite a while. Yep, there's a reason all that money is spent, and it's not to make healthy whole foods available to the population.


I understand about the research, and the manipulation. I am just bewildered that intelligent adults (not talking about children here) are so seduced by sub standard food.
As well as having had an old fashioned mother, I suppose I need to be grateful that I was very sensitive to salty tastes when I was younger, so chips and popcorn, (and even bacon!) didn't appeal to me much. And, at the tender age of 12, I embarked on a bet with myself to eliminate added sugars in my food (I was attending Irish boarding school at the time, and the food was dismal; adding sugar made it edible, but I wanted to see if I could get by for a month without doing so). So, not low carbing, not even being really aware of the health consequences, just 12 year old stubbornness. I did it; it was horrible, but I did it. At the end of the month I almost made myself vomit with the sugar I poured onto everything, and have never been particularly fond of sweet things since. Both those facts - not liking salt or sweet much - appear to have saved me from bad consequences, as I really like to eat, and it was necessary to learn how to cook good food to my own taste if I wanted to do so.
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  #7   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 12:59
GRB5111's Avatar
GRB5111 GRB5111 is offline
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Posts: 4,036
 
Plan: Very LC, Higher Protein
Stats: 227/186/185 Male 6' 0"
BF:
Progress: 98%
Location: Herndon, VA
Default

You are fortunate that you don't succumb to the cravings these engineered foods cause. Many do today without even thinking about it. It's easier to open a bag and eat than to have to prepare something. Can you imagine having to prepare something??? We're just too busy with important things.

I was raised in the 50s and 60s and we ate a traditional dinner with fresh vegetables, a starch, and a meat or fish portion. Every night. No soda or any other beverage other than water at the dinner table. No snacks during the day other than 3 square meals a day. I have always had an awareness of foods that were healthy and those that weren't. When the food pyramid came along in the late 70s, everything changed and the food manufacturers really took over determining what was on the grocery store shelves. Easy to prepare, open and eat meals were the norm and still are today. Flavors that will cause you to eat too much. It's pure BS, but many today don't have the awareness that will lead them to better health. They just listen to popular nutrition advice and buy the stuff from the stores. No thinking required.
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  #8   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 13:45
Verbena Verbena is offline
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Posts: 1,056
 
Plan: My own
Stats: 186/155/150 Female 5'4"
BF:
Progress: 86%
Location: SW PNW
Default

Rob, sounds like you are just about my age, with a not dissimilar childhood home life. For me, by the time the food pyramid arrived I was already fairly set in my ways, particularly having to do with cooking, so I disregarded the pyramid. More correctly, I wasn't really aware of it. I was working on learning how to cook for my new German husband's tastes, which was rather different for this California girl. I had read somewhere (might have been Atkins '72) that fat was necessary for certain vitamin absorption, so I never took seriously the low fat "rule". I did get lower fat milk, but have always felt that low fat (or no fat) sour cream, for example, is an oxymoron. I was getting into organic gardening at the time, and it seemed that if I was reading labels on things I put on my plants, reading food labels was a logical extension. I paid more attention to buying and eating foods without too many additives than in following government guidelines. I did fall for the polyunsaturated fat thing though, and used canola oil for a long time - alongside olive oil & butter in certain circumstances. Made most of my own bread, and, quite often, pasta - healthy whole grains were my downfall, not sweets.
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  #9   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 14:04
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cotonpal cotonpal is online now
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Posts: 5,283
 
Plan: very low carb real food
Stats: 245/125/135 Female 62
BF:
Progress: 109%
Location: Vermont
Default

I grew up similarly, protein, veggie and starch for dinner, 3 meals a day, one after school snack allowed, never any soda and, except for special occasions, dessert was always fruit.
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  #10   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 15:58
Robin120's Avatar
Robin120 Robin120 is offline
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Posts: 4,140
 
Plan: low carb
Stats: 171/125/145 Female 5'9
BF:
Progress: 177%
Location: DC
Default

I'm a lucky one- even as a kid, I would refuse all fastfood, or even to go into McDonald's (I hated the smell, and thought all fast-food was "dirty ").
I was a 90s kid, so convenience and prepackaged foods were all the rage. Some of it even seems like women felt like it was a show of their powerful carers to use more frozen foods, lunchables, etc.... As in "I'm so busy that I can afford these foods and don't have time to cook, because I work." It was as if women couldn't have both a career and cook.
in my house, I had a single mom with a great career and she took a ton of time to make healthy stuff for me, especially after I got diabetes, and so i think that is a huge reason I never developed a taste for fast food/chips/etc....
BUT the one treat she could give me was diet soda, so I was allowed it every night. As an adult, I know I drink way too much diet soda!!!!

Culturally, fast food in my generation was very taboo/ seen as for poor people or for the b oys. None of the popular girls would be caught dead eating that stuff. In fact, half the cheerleading team went vegetarian after the movie "clueless" came out because Alicia Silverstone is a very outspoken vegan. It became the "cool girl" culture to pack a bottled water, rice cakes, carrots and hummus at lunch.
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  #11   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 18:42
BillyHW's Avatar
BillyHW BillyHW is offline
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Posts: 378
 
Plan: Keto + IF
Stats: 260/300/165 Male 5' 6"
BF:
Progress: -42%
Location: Alberta, Canada
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Robin120
I'm a lucky one- even as a kid, I would refuse all fastfood, or even to go into McDonald's (I hated the smell, and thought all fast-food was "dirty ").
I was a 90s kid, so convenience and prepackaged foods were all the rage. Some of it even seems like women felt like it was a show of their powerful carers to use more frozen foods, lunchables, etc.... As in "I'm so busy that I can afford these foods and don't have time to cook, because I work." It was as if women couldn't have both a career and cook.
in my house, I had a single mom with a great career and she took a ton of time to make healthy stuff for me, especially after I got diabetes, and so i think that is a huge reason I never developed a taste for fast food/chips/etc....
BUT the one treat she could give me was diet soda, so I was allowed it every night. As an adult, I know I drink way too much diet soda!!!!

Culturally, fast food in my generation was very taboo/ seen as for poor people or for the b oys. None of the popular girls would be caught dead eating that stuff. In fact, half the cheerleading team went vegetarian after the movie "clueless" came out because Alicia Silverstone is a very outspoken vegan. It became the "cool girl" culture to pack a bottled water, rice cakes, carrots and hummus at lunch.


I think it was also around the same time all the cool girls started to complain about how cold it was all the time and conspired to turn every office building men work at into a sauna.
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  #12   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 19:13
Verbena Verbena is offline
Senior Member
Posts: 1,056
 
Plan: My own
Stats: 186/155/150 Female 5'4"
BF:
Progress: 86%
Location: SW PNW
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by BillyHW
I think it was also around the same time all the cool girls started to complain about how cold it was all the time and conspired to turn every office building men work at into a sauna.


No doubt that is why they were the "cool" girls
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  #13   ^
Old Sun, Jun-03-18, 22:42
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mike_d mike_d is offline
Grease is the word!
Posts: 8,475
 
Plan: PSMF/IF
Stats: 236/181/180 Male 72 inches
BF:disappearing!
Progress: 98%
Location: Alamo city, Texas
Default

Used to love hot KK Donuts. Now I can't stand the smell of the place, even a Deli bakery or the bread isle.
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  #14   ^
Old Mon, Jun-04-18, 06:54
Robin120's Avatar
Robin120 Robin120 is offline
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Plan: low carb
Stats: 171/125/145 Female 5'9
BF:
Progress: 177%
Location: DC
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Verbena
No doubt that is why they were the "cool" girls

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