The Benefits of Tasty Food

Whoever said you’re not allowed to enjoy diet foods never talked to Alan Hirsch MD.  Hirsch founded the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago, and has recently found that more taste in your food may actually promote weight loss.  He allowed 2,436 overweight or obese subjects to sprinkle relatively bland or neutral tasting foods with various tastants with tastes such as onion, ranch dressing, banana, strawberry, etc, and used 100 volunteers to go without these seasonings on their food.  Over a 6 month period, those with seasonings lost an average of 30.5 pounds, whereas the control group lost an average of 2 pounds.  Because Hirsch did not control how much each participant ate, what kinds of food they ate, or how much they exercised, it is uncertain if the seasoning participants lost more because they were eating less or because they were turning toward healthier foods generally considered bland.  But the weight loss differences were statistically significant.

Unfortunately, the tastants used in this study are not available to the general public.  However, one could also note the fact that prior to this study, certain herbs and seasonings such as cayenne pepper have been popularly linked to accelerated rates of weight loss and fat burn.  Cayenne pepper specifically has been said to create a thermogenic effect, effectively burning more fat calories.  On another level, seasoning food to your liking may actually help you to stick to a diet plan more effectively than expecting to give up all your favorite foods and anything you think tastes better than grass.

Hirsch himself suggests dieters should “Sniff your food before you eat it.  Chew it a lot.  Choose low-calorie foods and season them.”  In short, we suggest using all things in moderation.  But more seasonings on your food may help you to lose more weight than with another diet and exercise alone.

1. Weight Loss. ScienceDaily. Retrieved October 16, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/06/080616115852.htm

---