From an evolutionary perspective, regardless of whether you consumed the ancestral high-carb diet of the Kitavans or the very low-carb, high fat Inuit diet of the north, both cultures were virtually free of diabetes and metabolic diseases until the introduction of the Western diet.

Metabolic diseases was virtually non-existent until the introduction of the Western diet. [Photo credit: Pixabay]

The Problem with the Western Diet

The Western diet is chock-full of processed convenience foods that are high in added sugar, harmful trans fats, food additives, and artificial sweeteners, and are deficient in fiber and key micronutrients.¹ While these all contribute to excess caloric intake and potentially weight gain, their impact on your brain and your cravings is just as detrimental.

Obesity researcher Dr. Stephan Guyenet has delved deeply into the notion of food “hyper-palatability”—how processed convenience foods are engineered to elicit major responses by our brains, kicking up dopamine levels and driving “food reward” that leads to you craving more and more of these tasty snacks.

Here are some of Dr. Guyenet’s insights on hyper-palatability of foods and weight gain:

• Approximately 70% of the average American diet is from processed foods.² In 1980, there were approximately 15,000 convenience foods available in supermarkets, while today that has exploded to over 43,000. Dr. Guyanet believes the greater the variety of foods, the more calories you’re likely to consume.
• Over the last twenty years, our total daily caloric has increased by 425kcal per day and “snacking” accounts for 77% of this total increase.³ Dr. Guyanet believes this is sufficient, on its own, to explain the rise in weight gain over the past two decades.
• The greater the “palatability” of the food, the more calories typically people will consume in one sitting.⁴ Sounds obvious, but in real-terms this means the tastier your treat or snack (from sugar or additives) the more you’ll consume.

Hyper-Palatable Foods and Your Brain

The brain is constantly seeking reward, and processed foods are engineered to stimulate your brain to want more via the addition of sugars, artificial flavours, salt, and fats. Smell, taste, texture, appearance, and proximity all play key roles in influencing how much of a certain food you will eat. For example, our brains are far more likely to want a snack if it’s close by (i.e. in your desk drawer) versus three-blocks over at a local café. So it’s difficult to resist when your office mates bring in a box of donuts, or when you pass by the candy store on your commute home.

Hyper-palatable foods make us far more likely to snack, and the implications on our waistlines are significant. A recent study looked into the impacts of consuming excess calories on weight gain when consuming only three square meals versus multiple meals (ie. three meals and two snacks) daily. Researchers found that if you overconsume calories, the effects are far worse when you consume them in more than just three meals a day.⁵

Ironically, if you ask the average person about weight loss, they’ll likely repeat the old mantra, “eating multiple meals throughout the day increases metabolism and is good for weight loss”. Unfortunately, this old dogma is a myth. A recent meta-analysis found no benefit of multiple meals on metabolism and fat loss in overweight people.⁶

How to Fight Off “Hyper-Palatable” Foods

Today, constant hunger is far less likely to be due to a true lack of energy and much more likely to be due to hormonal dysfunction (e.g. high insulin), nutrient deficiencies, dehydration or simply boredom. Most people internalize their inability to skip the snacks or avoid that nighttime treat as some type of personal flaw.

But what if the foods themselves were designed to achieve this trait? Processed convenience food companies use added sugars and artificial flavours that stimulate your brain to want more. That’s right: expert scientists are employed to come up with the tastes, textures, and aromas that stimulate your brain and maximize the food reward signal.

If all the extra calories are creating hormonal and metabolic havoc, how can you reboot your brain to not crave the hyper-palatable foods in every gas station, pharmacy, convenience store, and grocery store around? One simple strategy is to kick snacking to the curb. Here are a few options for different periods of the day:

Snack (AM)

After breakfast, go straight through until lunch without breaking for a snack. If you’re used to nibbling on snacks mid-morning, be warned you’re likely going to “crave” food in the first few days. However, remember this is not likely because you need energy, but more so reflects poor blood sugar control and your body’s over-reliance on burning carbs, which impairs its ability to break down fats to balance your blood sugars.

One great tip is to have a coffee mid-morning, as caffeine naturally reduces the PYY hormone in the gut that kicks up cravings. Most people notice that after a few days, the cravings subside and they can make it through easily to lunch.

Snack (PM)

Drinking coffee in the afternoon is not typically a good idea, as it can impair deep sleep at night. Milder forms of caffeine, like black or green tea, or dark chocolate (70% or more) are better alternatives to get you through the natural circadian low we all get in the afternoon (made worse by poor blood sugar control or excessive caffeine intake). If you’re really struggling, go for veggie snacks like cherry tomatoes or bell peppers.

Late Night Snack

After a long day, you finally hit the couch and the stress of a busy day is acutely relieved by a sweet treat. However, as the days roll by you can easily become Pavlov’s dog, wanting a sugary treat as soon as the TV turns on. Drinking water or adding a non-caffeinated herbal tea can help overcome the need to have something at the end of the day. This can be a really tough time of the day for people. For some, toughing it out and going cold turkey can do the trick. For others, tapering off by snacking on frozen berries or grapes is a nice stopgap until you can cut off the snacking completely.

Get Your Health on Track

The issues caused by the Western diet, namely blood sugar dysfunction, diabetes and metabolic diseases are enabled by manufactured, highly palatable snack foods. The urge to eat is not an internal flaw, but rather the result of a food carefully engineered to make you want more. Cutting back on convenience foods and sticking to three square meals per day is a great place to start to lose weight and get your health on track.

More on getting past comfort-food strongholds:

How Stress Makes You Crave Food and Store Fat

References:

1. Cordain L, et al., “Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century“. Am J Clin Nutr February 2005 vol. 81 no. 2 341-354.

2. Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), “Highly processed foods dominate U. S. grocery purchases.” ScienceDaily, 29 March 2015.

3. Guyanet, S., “Why Do We OverEat? A Neurobiological Perspective.” Retrieved from YouTube.

4. De Castro, J., “Social Facilitation and Inhibition of Eating.”

5. Koopman et al., “Hypercaloric diets with increased meal frequency, but not meal size, increase intrahepatic triglycerides: A randomized controlled trial.” ResearchGate, 2014 Aug; 60(2): 545–553.

6. Schoenfeld B, et al., “Effects of meal frequency on weight loss and body composition: a meta-analysis“. Oxford Journals. Retrieved from: nutritionreviews.oxfordjournals.org/content/73/2/69

The post How the Western Diet Triggers Weight Gain appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The reason you find it hard to gain weight is quite simple: you’re a NEAT freak. Your non-exercise activity thermogenesis² – or the number of calories you burn from day to day activity (brushing your teeth, tossing and turning in bed, etc.) – is high, so you require more calories than the majority of people.

But fear not. Today I am going to share several simple strategies to increase your appetite so you can eat enough to gain size without dinner feeling like a Chinese torture method.

If you’re trying to gain weight and can’t, this picture may trigger anxiety. But there’s an easier way. [Photo courtesy Pixabay]

Wake Up Earlier

One of the simplest and most effective methods for weight loss is intermittent fasting: restricting calories by increasing the amount of time spent in a fasted state and decreasing the time spent in a fed state. The opposite is true if the goal to gain weight.

Waking up a couple of hours earlier will allow you to effortlessly consume more calories by increasing your “feeding window.” Your current meal pattern allows you to consume only enough food to maintain your weight. Being awake a bit longer will make it easier to eat an extra meal, which may be all you need to move the needle on the scale. 

What if you’re already waking up early? Perhaps you’re like 10 percent of Americans who skip breakfast³ because you’re either not hungry, or you’re too busy. Either way, I’ve got a solution. Have a shake right after you wake up. Not only does it save time, but it adds 250-500+ calories to your day. A breakfast shake could be the difference between being stuck at maintenance and reaching the necessary calorie surplus. It may seem annoying at first, but eventually you’ll adapt and notice you’re already hungry as you get out of bed.

Forget “Eating Clean”

The idea of “eating clean” leads us to believe that some foods are inherently “good” and others are inherently “bad.” But no one has ever dropped dead from a Pop Tart, just like no one has gotten up out of bed ripped and healthy from a few servings of peas and carrots. This is not to say that we should opt for the mint chocolate chip ice cream over apples and bananas, but being too restrictive in your diet makes it unnecessarily difficult to eat enough.

White sugar and flour have no fiber or nutrients and thus do very little in terms of satiety. That’s why it’s so easy to eat a thousand calories worth of donuts in one sitting, but almost impossible to do the same with broccoli. If you’re already getting the majority of your calories (80-90 percent) from whole, minimally-processed foods, don’t be afraid to indulge in your favorite not-so-nutrient-dense snacks.

Change Your Macros

Protein has been shown to decrease appetite due to how slowly it is digested.^4,5 If you went out to dinner and ordered the biggest, leanest steak on the menu, chances are you didn’t finish the sides, and skipped dessert. And you probably ended up feeling stuffed for the rest of the day.

This isn’t to say that you should avoid protein. It’s still the most important macronutrient when it comes to building lean muscle tissue. But plenty of research suggests you don’t need to consume more than 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight.⁶ Aiming to stay within 0.8-1g per pound while increasing your carbohydrate intake could make it much easier to fit in more calories.

Drink Your Calories

Liquid calories elicit a weak appetitive response when compared to solid foods.⁷ So although drinking calories can be the worst thing to do if your goal is weight loss, it is an effective method for those looking to gain weight and build muscle.

I don’t recommend getting any more than 10-15 percent of your daily intake from liquid calories. Avoid sugary drinks like soda, opting instead for milk (whole, rice, almond, etc.) and fruit juice. And to get more nutrient-dense calories in less time, add one or two homemade meal replacement shakes to your plan. Here’s a recipe I’ve used:

Homemade Weight Gain Shake Recipe

• 1 scoop whey protein
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter
• 1 banana
• ½ cup oatmeal
• 1 cup almond milk

Directions: Throw all ingredients into a blender for 30-60 seconds.

Increase Caloric Density

Eating an additional 250-500 calories per day is typically enough to go from maintenance calories to a healthy surplus. Getting in that many more calories may be possible by simply increasing the caloric density of your existing meals, without increasing food volume.

For example: 

• Use whole milk instead of skim or 2 percent.
• Instead of water in your oatmeal, use almond milk.
• Substitute that handful of grapes for a handful of almonds.
• Drink orange juice instead of water.

These may seem like small changes, but they add up. Incorporating enough of them in the day will help get the needle moving.

Eat First, Drink Last

Drinking water with your meals has been shown to increase satiety,⁸ making you feel fuller, faster. That’s great for someone whose goal is weight loss, it doesn’t help much when the goal is weight gain. Try to avoid drinking too much water right before or during your meals. The sheer volume of the fluid will make it more difficult to eat more food. Instead, have the majority of your fluids throughout the day, in between meals.

Increase Meal Frequency

Consuming 3,000 calories over three sittings is much more challenging than spreading the same amount of calories over six meals. If you’re finding it hard to eat enough calories, I recommend eating smaller, more frequent meals. If I consume five slices of greasy pizza, I find that I typically won’t be hungry for another six hours. On the other hand, if I have some sweet potatoes and chicken, I’m ready for another meal much sooner.

Another way to increase calorie intake is to munch on something in between meals. Some people might even find it helpful to include a pre-breakfast and/or pre-bedtime snack.

Learn to Cook

If you want to build muscle, you’re going to have to eat more food than you want to, at least at first. That task will be much harder if the food you’re eating six times a day resembles sludge the lunch lady slapped onto your tray in your middle school cafeteria.

This is why you should learn to cook. Consuming enough calories to grow becomes a breeze when you actually enjoy what you’re eating. Knowing your way around the kitchen will also allow you to prep your meals in advance. And because we all live extremely busy lives these days, having food readily available makes it that much less likely that you’ll end up short on calories for the day.

Small Changes, Big Mass Gains

When your energy needs exceed your appetite, eating enough to reach a caloric surplus can seem like mission impossible. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Put these simple practices into action, and you might find you’re not destined to remain a skinny guy after all.

Trying to gain mass but stay Paleo?

How to Gain Weight on the Paleo Diet

References:

1. Hand, Gregory A., Robin P. Shook, Amanda E. Paluch, Meghan Baruth, E. Patrick Crowley, Jason R. Jaggers, Vivek K. Prasad, Thomas G. Hurley, James R. Hebert, Daniel P. O’connor, Edward Archer, Stephanie Burgess, and Steven N. Blair. “The Energy Balance Study: The Design and Baseline Results for a Longitudinal Study of Energy Balance.” Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 84, no. 3 (2013): 275-86. doi:10.1080/02701367.2013.816224. 

2. Levine, J. A. “Role of Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis in Resistance to Fat Gain in Humans.” Science 283, no. 5399 (1999): 212-14. doi:10.1126/science.283.5399.212. 

3. “31 Million U.S. Consumers Skip Breakfast Each Day, Reports NPD.” NPD Group. 2011. Accessed June 08, 2016.

4. David S Weigle, Patricia A Breen, Colleen C Matthys, Holly S Callahan, Kaatje E Meeuws, Verna R Burden, and Jonathan Q Purnell. “A high-protein diet induces sustained reductions in appetite, ad libitum caloric intake, and body weight despite compensatory changes in diurnal plasma leptin and ghrelin concentrations.” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. July 2005 vol. 82 no. 1 41-48.

5. Bilsborough S, Mann N. “A review of issues of dietary protein intake in humans.” International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. 2006 Apr;16(2):129-52.

6. Phillips, Stuart M., and Luc J.c. Van Loon. “Dietary Protein for Athletes: From Requirements to Optimum Adaptation.” Journal of Sports Sciences 29, no. Sup1 (2011). doi:10.1080/02640414.2011.619204. 

7. Mattes, Richard D., and Wayne W. Campbell. “Effects of Food Form and Timing of Ingestion on Appetite and Energy Intake in Lean Young Adults and in Young Adults with Obesity.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 109, no. 3 (2009): 430-37. doi:10.1016/j.jada.2008.11.031. 

8. Lappalainen R, Mennen L, van Weert L, Mykkänen H. “Drinking water with a meal: a simple method of coping with feelings of hunger, satiety and desire to eat.” European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1993 Nov;47(11):815-9.

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