- Food courtesy of NickNguyen via flickr
Peter Kaminsky would advise you to seek out foods with high FPCs. What are FPCs? Flavors Per Calorie. And in Mr. Kaminsky’s new book, “Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well)” he argues that eating foods that deliver maximum flavor leads to greater satisfaction, and in some cases, weight loss. The general idea is that foods with high flavors per calorie can satisfy food cravings with small portion sizes (think savory tapas).
So what exactly are some foods ranking high in FPCs? 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.