Pacific Standard July-August 2013 Cover

Guilt Makes the Pie Taste Sweeter

guiltypie

Many of us who generally maintain a healthy diet will fall off the wagon over the upcoming holidays. We’ll be offered a particularly enticing appetizer or dessert and, after some initial hesitation, indulge. While that process inevitably produces internal conflict, it turns out we are rewarded for our discomfort. According to newly published research, the guilt we feel may make that decadent treat taste even more delicious than it otherwise would. When succumbing to temptation, “people who are primed with guilt subsequently experience greater pleasure than people who are not,” ... Read More

Of Obesity, Sweets and Numb Tongues

More than 60 percent of adult Americans are obese, and ever-increasing levels of fat and sugar are sneaking into processed foods. Could blunted taste buds be partly to blame? Neuroscientists at Pennsylvania State University have discovered that obesity gradually numbs the tongues of rats, depriving them of taste sensations for sweet foods and spurring them to eat more and sweeter meals. While previous studies had suggested corpulence leads to an increased craving for sweet foods, little had been known about why fatter and leaner people have different levels of taste and desire for ... Read More