With the holiday season in full swing, there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy, and overindulge, on hyperpalatable foods that are high in sugar, fat and salt, such as holiday desserts and cookies. Overindulging can leave you with an upset stomach in the short term and increase your health risks in the long term. But Registered Dietitian Jennifer Nasser, PhD, an associate professor in Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, says “you can have your cake and eat it too!”
Nasser shared tips, drawing from a wealth of sensory research (including her own), to make more practical decisions when it comes to enjoying food during the holidays without overdoing it. She suggests that sweetness is a driver of food intake – like the gas pedal – and other senses like the “burn” of pepper or other savory spices, or the awareness of cold temperature, like using ice, “hit the brakes” on the sweet gas pedal.
“While I’ve tried all these suggestions myself, I have never run randomized control trials on them,” said Nasser.
- When eating ice cream (strawberry is my nemesis!), I sprinkle black pepper on it (just a couple of shakes from a container) and mix it in. You don’t notice the black pepper, but the sweetness is dampened so I’m satisfied with a smaller portion, and the sweet pleasantness still exists.
- For sugar sweetened sodas (I hate diet sodas), I mix equal parts cola with unsweetened, flavored seltzer. It cuts the sugar in half, still tastes like cola and I’m satisfied. If I’m using cans of soda and seltzer, I just put a zip lock bags over the opened cans and store in fridge. The fizzle lasts for about 24 hours, so I can have more the next day.
- Another thing that works for me is mixing a few ounces of unsweetened cranberry juice with ginger seltzer. I find it tastes enough like cola to be enjoyable.
- If I’m in a restaurant with self-serve sodas, I do the equal parts mix using unflavored seltzer, but I skip the ice. Cold temperatures decrease the sweetness. You could also fill a cup with lots of ice, then add the sweetened soda.
- When eating sweet solid desserts (cake, cookies, pie, etc.), eat at room temperature so that it dampens the “internal” sense of smell known as retronasal olfaction, the perception of smells emanating from the oral cavity during eating and drinking.
- I also recommend eating these foods with seltzer, or seltzer plus 2 ounces of added milk, rather than a hot beverage. It clears the palate of the sweet taste and makes it easier to stop before eating too much.
- Lastly, eat sweets or carbs with protein to promote satiety, or the feeling of fullness. For instance, I use Greek yogurt on a baked potato instead of sour cream. It tastes good and gives a satiating dose of protein, since Greek yogurt has more protein than sour cream.
Media interested in speaking with Nasser should contact Annie Korp, assistant director, News and Media Relations, at 215-571-4244 or amk522@drexel.edu.
