"Problem" Foods

In a study at Penn State University, researchers asked 186 women—who they

classified with “overweight” or “obesity”—to rank the “foods you can’t resist and find

hard to stop eating.”

The foods that most frequently topped the participants’ lists:

1. Ice cream

2. Chips

3. Chocolate

4. Cookies

5. Pizza

The scientists then had participants follow a 12-month weight loss program, and

monitored their strategies for managing these “problem” foods.

The result: Overall, the total avoidance of problematic foods—what you often see

on “extreme” diets or “quick-fix” weight loss plans—wasn’t an effective strategy.

So what did help? Limiting the portion sizes of problem foods—instead of giving

them up altogether—was strongly related to weight loss.

In fact, participants who used this strategy the most lost, on average, nearly double

the weight as those who used it the least (15.8 pounds versus 8.3 pounds).

If some foods make you feel out of control, you may want to set some

boundaries around them. That doesn’t mean you can never eat them.

It just means you know there is a problem, and you’ll be

intentional about how and when you eat them. (A coach can help you with this.)

PMID: 32234531

Roe LS, Rolls BJ. Which strategies to manage problem foods were related to weight

loss in a randomized clinical trial? Appetite. 2020 Aug 1;151:104687.