Julia spotted news of this UT Southwestern Medical Center study the other day. It seems that some fatty acids (namely palmitic acid) might be blocking our feelings of being full while eating. Palmitic acid is commonly found in beef, milk, cheese, and butter.
I’m no scientist but it sure sounds like if I were to eat fewer food products that come from cows I would feel fuller faster when eating. Logically that would mean I would stop eating sooner and avoid overeating more often.
So last Friday, just as an experiment, I decided to stop eating all products from cows. Luckily we’ve been doing a lot of shopping for non-dairy products the past three years because our daughter is allergic to milk. We already had a fridge full of great dairy alternatives.
The study also says that palmitic acid stayed in their test subjects bodies for 3 days. Today is day 4 for me and it might all be in my head but I think I’m feeling fuller faster already. I’ll keep it up a while longer and see if canceling cow from my diet helps me eat less.
I also want to point out that if the findings in this study are true and someone comes up with a successful cow-free diet the cattle industry is going to probably be hurt bad. Bummer… I guess they could always farm organic soy beans.
I’m also going to miss all the multi-million dollar marketing campaigns and diets too. You know like the Got Milk campaign, Beef It’s What’s For Dinner campaign, and diets like the Atkins and South Beach Diet, which pushed protein of all kinds.
(Photo below… that’s as close to tongue-in-cheek as a cow can muster.)
Photo credit foxypar4 on Flickr.