Especially if it's fresh, warm, and straight from the bakery... It’s hard to resist. White flour is made from refined wheat grains, and it's the outer layers of the grains that provide a sense of fullness. Instead of signaling your brain that you’ve eaten enough, products made from white flour raise insulin levels. A Spanish study showed that when people are offered products made from white flour, they eat 40% more.
2. Juices
Thick fruit juices are loaded with sugar and have practically no fiber. When you drink a glass, you get a burst of energy, but within half an hour your blood sugar drops, and you feel even hungrier due to the sudden fall. Your body then tells you that you need to drink another glass or eat something substantial, even though you’ve just had a meal.
And why are homemade juices less fattening?
This only applies if you've used unpeeled fruit and as many vegetables as possible. The peels provide the juice with the necessary fiber, which makes you feel full.
3. Salty Snacks
Why do people even eat salty snacks? It seems like the sole purpose of this food is to help pass the time. You can’t really satisfy your hunger with salty snacks. Plus, all salty snacks raise insulin levels and don’t provide any energy (have you ever seen an athlete grab a bag of chips after crossing the finish line?). On top of that, salty snacks contain way too much salt and are even harmful to your health.
Salty snacks are a perfect example of the failure of our civilization: we invented killer food that makes no sense.
4. Alcohol
The more you drink, the hungrier you get, even though at first it seems like the opposite. Studies show that just 300 ml of wine or a pint of beer can lower leptin levels in the blood by 30%. Leptin is the hormone that controls the feeling of fullness. Have you ever wondered how many calories are in beer? 180 per can. How many calories are in wine? 140 per deciliter. These are the same numbers small chocolate bars reach, which we avoid. But with alcohol, nothing.
5. Pasta
When it comes to pasta, we need to be cautious. Not all pasta is harmful, although white pasta certainly is. White pasta doesn’t hide the fact that it’s made from white flour. More deceptive are colored pastas, which are artificially dyed and further enhance their harmful effects. To reach the same level of fullness as, say, with vegetables, you need to eat at least double the amount of pasta. That’s why pasta portions in restaurants are twice as large as other dishes.
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