Is the Food You Eat High in Flavor per Calorie?

Flavor per calorie is a useful concept: Tasty foods that are high in flavor per calorie may support your ability to stick to your diet. So, what exactly are some foods ranking high in flavor per calorie? Well, in this piece in the NYT, Mr. Kaminsky is said to endorse anchovies, chickpeas, capers, plain yogurt, olive oil, roasted almonds, porcini mushrooms, bacon, butter, Italian sausage, and dark chocolate (all in moderation, of course). At the same time, he advises readers to steer clear of processed ingredients: white flour, sugar, and potatoes. Does this sound at all familiar paleo readers? I love it when two different lines of reasoning converge upon essentially the same solution.

In the end, Kaminsky fingers sugar and not fat as a primary cause of poor health. We like to take a bit more nuanced approach to fats and sugars by asking: what kind of sugar? what kind of fat? where did it come from? how was it raised?, but in general, we think he’s on the right track. Favorite line from the article, “When people tell me they’re going on a juice cleanse, they might as well tell me they’re going on a root beer cleanse.” Now that’s food for thought.