For The Love of Food

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week learn how refined carbs trigger cravings, how to make body fat burn extra calories and how not to talk to your kids about weight loss.

Want to see all my favorite links? (There’s lots more). Be sure to follow me on on Delicious. I also share links on Twitter @summertomato,  Google+ and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you. (And yes, I took that pepper heart pic myself).

Links of the week

• How Carbs Can Trigger Food Cravings <<A very cleverly designed new study shows that foods that taste the same and have the same calorie content evoke different hunger levels (and potential overeating) later depending on their glycemic index. Be careful with those refined sugars. (NY Times)
• All Fat is Not Bad: Study Shows Exercise Creates “Good Fat” <<Totally fascinating. I didn’t know we could do much to impact our levels of brown fat (the metabolically active, calorie burning kind) as adults, but apparently exercise does it. The implication here is that exercise can increase your metabolism even if you aren’t losing much body fat. Also, since this is true in other mammals, I wonder if brown fat and white fat would taste different from pigs and cows. So many questions! (American Diabetes Association)
•  People Prefer ‘Carrots’ to ‘Sticks’ When It Comes to Healthcare Incentives <<A new study shows that the perception of punishment does little to change chronic behaviors (and generally pisses people off). As I explain in Foodist, this is likely because habit formation requires a reward, not just the absence of pain. This is also why restrictive diets usually fail to promote lasting weight loss. (ScienceDaily)
• Really? The Claim: Taking a Walk After a Meal Aids Digestion <<Spoiler alert: it does. If you’re trying to decide between taking a walk before lunch or after lunch, make it after. (NY Times)
• Counterfeit Food More Widespread Than Suspected <<If you see a deal at the market that seems too good to be true, it really might be. Scary stuff. (NY Times)
• Habits — good and bad — stick when you’re stressed <<One of the best reasons to put effort into cultivating healthy habits instead of dieting is that you fall back on them when things get tough. (Hat tip to Shannon for sharing this). (CNN)
• SURPRISING NEW WAY TO SOOTHE SORE MUSCLES <<If you’re a regular exerciser you likely already know this, but moderate exercise can actual help relieve soreness. (Dr. Weil)
• Cellphone ‘Distracted Walking’ Sending Pedestrians to the ER <<PSA: Don’t forget that all the healthy eating in the world won’t save you from being hit by a bus. Don’t look at your phone while walking, or especially, driving. Seriously, whatever it is can wait. (Medline)
• Conversations With Teens About Weight Linked With Increased Risk of Unhealthy Eating Behaviors <<Once again, guilting people about their weight is not helpful and is probably harmful. Focus on cultivating healthy behaviors and making them enjoyable. (ScienceDaily)
• Frozen Coconut Macadamia Bars <<Possibly my two favorite flavors ever. High-calorie yes, but these look awesome. (Mark’s Daily Apple)

What inspired you this week?