A Balanced Diet

Researchers in The Netherlands have verified what you may have already experienced: avoiding sweets can increase your desire for them (Appetite 2012;59:1-8).

They were conducting research into savory versus sweet foods and their relationship to protein intake. All other things being equal, would eating sweet-tasting foods make you crave high-protein foods, which tend to be savory?

Thirty-nine healthy men and women in their twenties signed up to participate in their feeding study. For twenty-four hours, once a week for four weeks, the participants ate only what the researchers gave them, starting with lunch. Each week's foods were one of four types: savory, sweet, mixed savory and sweet tending more toward savory, and mixed tending more toward sweet. The levels of macronutrients (protein, fat, and carbohydrate) were the same over the four diets. On an hourly basis the participants used handheld devices to record their food preferences, hunger, and other appetite-related feelings.

After having lunch, dinner, snacks, and then breakfast the following morning, the participants attended a buffet lunch where they could choose their own foods and eat as much or as little as they wished. The buffet, as you might guess, included both savory and sweet foods that were both high and low in protein levels.

The scientists had theorized that after 24 hours of eating sweet-tasting foods, people would tend to eat foods that were higher in protein, regardless of whether they tasted sweet or savory. They were wrong. Those who had been eating the sweet meals chose more savory foods from the buffet, while those who had been eating the savory foods chose more of the sweeter foods - a larger amount of sweet foods than when they were choosing savory foods after the sweet diet. That said, they tended to eat about the same number of calories regardless of what types of foods they chose, and protein content seemed to have no effect on their choices.

The records on the participants' handheld devices revealed that while those on the savory diet felt more satisfied with their meals than those on the sweet diet, they also showed a stronger preference for sweet foods. Those on the sweet diet showed more of a preference for savory foods, but this preference was not nearly as strong.

What this means for you

Eating healthy does not mean avoiding sweets. Let's say that again: EATING HEALTHY DOES NOT MEAN AVOIDING ALL SWEETS.

Eating healthy is about BALANCE, and sweets are part of that balance. (That does not, however, mean that dessert should be a daily part of your life: save them for special occasions, like your birthday.) Satisfy your sweet tooth with fruit and other healthy, sweet things, so that when you're presented with that doughnut or cake at the office, you aren't overcome.

First posted: May 23, 2012