Eat a lot of processed food to prevent the spread of the virus, be careful not to get addicted and gain 2 kg in 2 weeks! Doctor: Eat the original food and lose 1 kg in half a month

When the calories of food are the same, changing from natural raw food to processed food can actually make people eat 500 calories more every day. Why is this happening? I've never seen anyone eat boiled potatoes over and over again, but I've also never seen anyone eat just one potato chip and stop.

A well-known potato chip brand has an advertising slogan: Betcha can't eat just one, which means "I bet you can't eat just one" in Chinese. That’s the power of ultra-processed foods.

Let us first clarify the definition. "Ultra-processed foods" are usually made from more than five cheap industrial food ingredients, such as sugar, vegetable oil, salt, antioxidants, stabilizers, and preservatives.

If you pick up a food item at a convenience store, turn to the back to see its ingredients, and discover that it contains corn syrup, invert sugar syrup, maltodextrin, hydrogenated vegetable oil, and casein—ingredients that you wouldn’t have in your kitchen—then this item is probably a super-processed food.

The more you eat, the more addictive it becomes! Ultra-processed foods make people eat more

In my previous book, I strongly advocated eating more whole foods and less ultra-processed foods, as this can help us maintain our health and weight. However, previous concepts were mostly derived from indirect evidence such as observational studies and animal experiments. Until recently, some scholars finally fed humans processed foods "hard", allowing us to further realize the power of ultra-processed foods.

Scholars from the National Institutes of Health recruited 20 young people and had them live in the laboratory for a month. For half of the month, the subjects were given the prototype food meals and for the other half, the ultra-processed foods. Every day their rooms are filled with plenty of food, and even during non-meal times there are snacks readily available. They are encouraged to eat when they are hungry and stop when they are full, and it is entirely up to them to eat more or less.

Next, let's enjoy the skills of the chefs at the Institute of Health. Here are some examples of archetypal foods:

● Breakfast: Greek yogurt, various fruits and nuts.

● Lunch: Chicken breast salad, wine vinegar dressing, sliced ​​apples, grapes.

● Dinner: roast beef, broccoli, white rice, small salad, oranges.

● Snacks: various fruits and nuts.

These foods are actually quite similar to what I usually eat, except that I have been eating less salad recently. We also rarely eat white rice at home. We mostly eat brown rice, sweet potatoes, pasta or potatoes. Other than that, the style of the food is quite similar.

As for what exactly are we eating when we eat ultra-processed foods? It is roughly as follows:

● Breakfast: Muffins, milk and Cheerio breakfast cereal.

● Lunch: Beef and tomato ravioli, Parmesan toast, toast, crackers, and diet soda.

● Dinner: Chicken salad sandwich, crackers and canned fruit, and diet soda.

● Snacks: potato chips, various biscuits, and peanuts.

Although the contents of the prototype and ultra-processed foods are very different, the researchers adjusted the total calories, three major nutrients, sugar, salt, and fiber content of the two to be the same. This is an extremely difficult job, and it is remarkable that the research has been done to such perfection. I guess it’s because a lot of dietary fiber is added to processed foods, and the original foods are made from fruits with high sugar content.

What is the difference between eating prototypes and ultra-processed foods for half a month?

The results showed that compared with the original food, the subjects ate an average of 500 calories more per day when eating ultra-processed foods. The two lines in the figure below show the calorie gap between the two groups. This way of eating was quickly reflected in weight. Those who ate raw food lost 1 kilogram in half a month, while those who ate processed food gained 1 kilogram.

The conclusion of this study is very clear: it is easy to eat too much ultra-processed food, and excess calories will lead to obesity.

I want to eat more after I finish eating it! Ultra-processed foods trick your brain

I originally thought it was a matter of food volume. Perhaps the salad was large and low in calories, so it made people feel full and not easy to eat too much. But after reading the original research method in detail, I found that I was wrong. The researchers even took this into consideration. Using some magical method, they made the calorie density of the two diets, that is, the calories contained per gram of food, very close, so the food volume cannot explain the difference between the two. My personal interpretation is that the original intention of designing super-processed foods is to entice people to eat them again and again.

These foods not only have to compete with vegetables, fruits, eggs, meat and milk in stores, but also with similar types of potato chips, soda, cakes and biscuits. In the free market of capitalism, winners can make huge profits, while foods that no one likes can only be relegated to inconspicuous positions in the store, removed from the shelves, and even affect the company's market share and stock price.

Therefore, the products developed by food company laboratories are painstakingly formulated by technicians, evaluated and improved by countless testers, and even repeatedly undergo market research after being put on the market.

There is only one purpose, which is to use the lowest cost process to produce large quantities of super-processed foods that will make consumers addicted and eat them again and again. Studies have found that these ultra-processed foods trigger the dopamine system in the brain, stimulating the reward system to produce a response and making people feel happy. Some scientists even compare processed foods to drug abuse and gambling.

Some people eat a lot of ice cream to vent their feelings after a breakup. This is probably because this kind of food can affect the neurotransmitters in the brain, making people temporarily forget the pain of reality. Even more frightening, the researchers estimate that eating the original food would cost $150 per week, but eating ultra-processed foods would only cost $100. This also explains why in many countries, the poor are often the most obese people.

Dr. Scott's 1-minute reminder

Ultra-processed foods can cause people to unconsciously eat too many calories and gain a kilogram every two weeks.

People who want to lose weight should try to eat more vegetables, meat, fruits, milk, eggs, roots, tubers, whole grains and other primitive foods.

This article is selected from Sancai Culture's "One-Minute Weight Loss Classroom 2 Dr. Scott's Scientific Guide to Muscle Gain and Fat Loss: The Latest Scientific Research X Seconds to Understand Chart Analysis, Debunking 41 Weight Loss Myths! 》