Which Foods are Easiest to Overeat?

Egis R.
4 min readApr 10
Image by the author

Which foods are easiest to overeat? A recent study investigated exactly that. They found the main food characteristics that encourage you to eat more food than some African people eat in a lifetime.

Here are three things that were highly associated with an increased risk of oh god I once again ate myself silly (and what to do about them to make dieting and thus weight loss easier).

#1. Energy density

Unsurprisingly, foods that contain more calories per gram lead to passing out from a food coma aka calorie overconsumption. Here are some examples:

Granola Nut butter Dark Choc. Raisins
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These calorie-dense foods will likely leave you feeling less full while consuming more calories:

Potato vs chips
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So base most of your diet on foods with a lower caloric cost. Veggies, fruits, and lean protein sources are champions at this.

#2. Hyper-palatability

Foods that contain combinations of fat, sugar, and sodium tend to taste fugging delicious and you tend to want to eat more of it.

To put into perspective, cast your mind to the study in which subjects ate on average 508 kcal/day more during the ultra-processed, hyper-palatable diet.

Since hyper-palatable foods usually overlap with foods that have high-calorie density and low volume, you end up being unsatisfied and ready to keep eating like an asshole.

So to make your dietary adherence and calorie management easier, limit hyper-palatable foods and consume more lower-palatable ones:

Food Palatability Index
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#3. Eating rate

Foods that are easier to consume quickly are easier to overeat. You don’t need to have an IQ of a Japanese person to understand that. Heck, not even IQ that’s normally…

Egis R.

I’m Egis, an online weight loss coach who has heightened BS sensors for fitness & nutrition. Only evidence-based & sustainable fat loss. www.absscience.com