When we humans are hungry, it usually clues us into the fact
that it is time to eat. Sometimes, we want to eat a specific thing, like pizza
or ice cream, to satisfy our appetites. But how would you eat to satisfy the
cravings of five different appetites?
Researchers David Raubenheimer and Stephen Simpson, authors
of the new book “Eat Like the Animals: What Nature Teaches Us About the Science of Healthy Eating,” studied a variety of animals, from locusts to baboons, to
see how animals eat. Through their research, they found that animals, including
humans, have five appetites: protein, carbs, fats, sodium and calcium. Each
one of these appetites must be properly satisfied and balanced for proper nutrition.
When they're not, we overload on the wrong foods until our needs are met.
Back in the 1990s, Raubenheimer and Simpson began separating
and feeding locusts a variety of foods with various balances of protein to
carbohydrates. The locusts eating low protein would eat more carbs to
get their ideal level of protein, while the high-protein diet locusts ate much less
carbohydrates than they needed to. The protein craving would win over the carbs in
both scenarios. "That suggested that, more so than carbohydrate, protein
has to be carefully calibrated in the diet,” the researchers said in New
Scientist.
They also watched Stella, a Cape baboon from the Cape peninsula
of South Africa foraging and noticed she ate a wide variety of food, from
fruits to leaves, mushrooms to seeds. She would always balance her diet,
especially keeping her ratio of protein and carbs consistent, as noted in their study.
The researchers also replicated the locust experiment with humans to bridge the gap in their research. Subjects were given the obviously very difficult task of
eating from a buffet in a Swiss chalet for 10 days (science is rough stuff), after which the scientists found the same results as the bugs: Humans would always prioritize protein,
eating more carbs if protein was scarce and eating less overall if there were
high-protein foods available.
Obviously, Stella’s intuitive eating seems to be an ideal
habit for humans to adopt. Our bodies know what they need -- we just need the
proper food to “forage” so that we can eat our way to balanced health.
Unfortunately, processed foods muck that up, according to
the researchers. When considering processed foods, they always tend to be lower in protein and higher in carbs and fat, so we eat more in our search to fill our protein
appetite. Their research proves the need for humans to spend more time eating a
variety of whole foods so we can naturally satisfy all five of our appetites. Fancy
diets aren’t needed -- our bodies will tell us what we need if we present them
with great choices.
So, try stocking your fridge and pantry with low and unprocessed
foods that incorporate all the different nutrients we need. Graze like a baboon
and you may find that you don’t even want chips and pizza anymore. You have several
other appetites to please in the meantime.
What foods do you crave a lot?