Mens Health Australia May 2017

MAY 2017 57

Shrink Your Gut

With Gastrophysics

How one meal can change everything you

think you know about eating – and overeating

[BYSUSHMA SUBRAMANIAN]

You’re sitting in a booth at a fast-food

chicken joint. You unwrap the crunchy

paper to unveil a squishy bun hugging a

warm breast of fried chicken. Pop music

plays above. The aroma of crisped fat

intensifies. You take a bite. It’s not nearly as

juicy as the ad made it look. But you eat.

And probably eat more than you should,

as if compelled by outside forces.

The truth is, those forces – from the

texture of the wrapping to the lightness

of the bun to the blaring music – are

intentional. Scientists have long known

that much of what you “taste” when you’re

eating isn’t about your palate. A new

branch of research is proving the

assumption that all of your senses are

at play when you eat.

To experience these findings first-hand,

I paid a visit to Dr Charles Spence, director

of the University of Oxford’s Crossmodal

Research Laboratory in London.

Spence has popularised the term

“gastrophysics” to refer to the science

behind brain-belly communication. He

guided me through a meal with each

course designed to manipulate one of

my senses.

Here’s what I learned.

HowSightMakes You Fat

My first course was entirely white.

Four appetisers sat atop an ivory

platter: a snowy ball, cloudlike

cotton candy, colourless globules

and a triangular chip. With

Spencelookingon,Iwastoldto

eattheminorderfromsourto

saltytobittertosweet.Iwentfor

the chip. Spence asked why.

Itoldhimthetoppinglooked

likeitwaspickled,soitmightbe

sour. Spence suggested that

there could be something else

going on. Sweetness is typically

associated with round shapes

(think chocolate chip cookies).

Hard, angled edges (lemon

wedges) communicate sourness

and bitterness. Spence explained

that there’s truth to the adage

“weeatwithoureyes”.When

ourfoodlosescolour,our brain

loses context.

1 /Shut Off the Neon

Spence’s research suggests that

people are so compelled by

colour that they trick themselves

intotastingwhattheysee.Inan

experiment he reviewed, for

example, many tasters deemed a

cherry-flavoured soft drink citrusy

becauseithadavibrantorange

colour.Byavoidingprocessed

foodsinanyhuenotfoundin

nature,youcancutdownonjunk.

2 /Look Past the Package

Peopletendtobelievethata

productinmattepackagingis

healthier than one in a glossy

container, according to Spence.

Thenutritionfactsarewhat

matter: always check them when

you’re shopping for food.

3 /Swap Your Dishes

Try eating out of a small bowl

insteadofabigplate.Therimofa

platemayfoolyouintothinking

there’s less food than there really

is,Spencesays.Abowl,

especially filled to the top, gives

the impression of abundance,

possibly leading you to eat less.

HowSmellMakes You Fat

Back in 2000, in his research on

icedteaforafoodcompany,

Spence made an interesting

discovery: when people opened

abottleoficedtea,theythoughtit

smelled evocative. But when they

drankthetea,theflavourwasfar

more subdued, disappointing

them. Your brain doesn’t like

having its predictions proved

wrong, he says. One way to fix the

conflict between smell and taste:

addsugar.Thatwaythetongue

experiences the level of flavour it

had expected based on scent.

1 /Pick Plain

Choose regular, no-fruit-on-the-

bottom yoghurt to cut added

sugar. Then add your own

berries. Incorporate something

that makes you chew longer, like

nuts, to help reduce your overall

kilojoule intake, says Spence.

2 /Watch the Booze

Youknowbeergogglesarea

thing, but beer schnozzes?

People under the influence of

alcoholtendtoeatmore,the

journalObesityreports. Alcohol

cansensitisethebraintofood

aromas,incitingustoeatwhen

we’re not hungry and to overeat.

Orderyourdrink with your meal,

not before.

3 /Lose the Idea of Scent

In2015,researchersstudieda

marketing tactic called

WEIGHT LOSS