您在一餐中最先吃的食物可能影响总热量的摄取。
请想像这个情景：午餐时间到，您已经饥肠辘辘。早上起得晚，所以没吃早餐，然后忙得团团转，连吃个点心的时间都没有。终于到吃饭的时间，面对着吃到饱的餐枱－有淀粉类食物、蛋白质类食物，及一些蔬菜。将盘子装满，坐下来，举起手里的餐具开始准备大吃一顿。就在此时，您看着盘里的肉、淀粉和青菜时，可以想像接下来会发生什么事。您会先从哪一种食物开始下手呢？
您很可能会先挑选淀粉或蛋白质类食物，大概不会第一个就先吃青菜。虽然大家都知道当饿过头时通常会吃比较多，直到最近才真正有人去注意一般人在长时间未进食后，通常会先从哪一类食物开始吃起。有一项针对这个问题的新研究1内容就是−希望能找出在18 个小时未进食的人会最先挑什么食物吃，然后吃最多的是哪类食物。
研究的受试者被分为两组－有一组被要求禁食 18 小
时，另外一组则不需禁食。然后被带到自助餐枱前，餐枱上有淀粉类、蛋白质和蔬菜的食物选择，研究人员观察受试者会拿哪些菜、先吃什么东西，还有总共吃了多少食物。
您可能会认为 18 个小时没吃东西的人从餐枱上拿的食物会比没有禁食的人多−结果确实是如此。但是另外一件值得注意的是与那些没有禁食的人相比，禁食过的受试者会先吃盘中热量比较高的食物。另外，在那些选择先吃的食物中，受试者摄取的份量也比较多－比没有禁食者多超过 50%。换言之，太久没有吃东西的人会摄取比较多的热量，不只是因为一开始就拿比较多的食物，还因为他们先吃的是那些热量最高的食物。
对于想要控制热量摄取的人来说，这个研究结果的确值得深思。
对刚开始要进行体重管理的人而言，如果太久没有进食，当终于有机会坐下来吃东西了，很可能会吃得比平常多。只要有机会，或许拿进餐盘里的食物也就会比平常来得多。从这里开始就注定会摄取比平常更多的热量。
就如同实验结果显示，也可能会从盘中热量最高的食物开始吃起，如此一来，您摄取的总热量可能会比先从热量最低的食物开始吃起时要来得多。
您可能又会想，这会怎么样呢？这整盘食物我都会吃完，我先从面开始，然后再吃青花菜会有什么差别？您想得没错，但是忘了一点：如果先从热量最低的食物吃起，可能就不会将整盘食物吃完。因为已经利用热量较低的青花菜填饱肚子，就不会吃那么多高热量的面食，这么一来，您一整餐摄取的热量就会比较低了。
作者：苏珊·鲍尔曼 Susan Bowerman M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D.
加州大学洛杉矶分校人类营养中心副主任运动营养学专家、康宝莱营养咨询委员会
First bites, most calories: what we eat most of when we’re hungry
Picture this: it’s lunchtime, and you’re really, really hungry. You woke up late, you skipped breakfast, and you’ve been going all morning without a chance to grab a snack. It’s finally time to eat, and you’re facing a buffet – some starchy foods, some proteins, and some veggies. You load up your plate, sit down, and raise your fork – anxious to dig in. Now, imagine what happens next, as you stare down at your meat, your starch and your vegetables.
Which food do you dive into first?
Chances are good that you picked the starch – or maybe the protein – but probably not the vegetables. While it’s been known for some time that people tend to eat
more when they get overly hungry, no one had – until recently – ever really paid attention to what
foods people choose after a long stretch without eating. But a
new study¹ aimed to do just that – find out what
really hungry people eat first – and what they eat the
most of – after 18 hours without food.
Study subjects were divided into two groups – half were asked to fast for 18 hours, while the other half didn’t. They were then brought to a buffet laid out with a couple of starch, protein and vegetable choices, and the researchers looked at what they served themselves, what they ate first, and how much they ate altogether.
You might expect that those who hadn’t eaten for 18 hours would help themselves to larger portions from the buffet than those who didn’t – and you’d be right. But the other noticeable thing was this – compared with those who hadn’t skipped a meal, the meal skippers also ate the higher calorie items on their plates first. And, they also ate more of the food that they chose to eat first – nearly 50% more than those who didn’t fast. In other words, those who went too long without eating took in a lot more calories not only because they took too much food to start with, but also because they filled up on the highest calorie foods first.
For those trying to control their calories, there’s some food for thought here. For starters, it’s pretty much a given that if you go too long without eating, you’re likely to eat more than usual when you finally sit down to eat – and, given the chance, you’ll probably serve yourself more food than usual to start with, too. Right there, you’re setting the stage to take in more calories than you ordinarily would. But if, as this study suggests, you’re also more likely to dig into the highest calorie items on your plate first – you could wind up taking in a lot more calories overall than if you made a point to eat the low calorie items first.
Now, you might be thinking – so what? If I’m going to eat the whole plate of food anyway, what difference does it make if I eat my noodles before my broccoli? Good point. But here’s the thing: you might not eat the whole plate of food if you eat the lowest calorie food first. As you fill up on the low calorie broccoli, you might end up eating fewer of the high calorie noodles – and fewer calories for your meal overall.
Written by Susan Bowerman. Susan is a paid consultant to Herbalife.
