Category: Companions
The Bag Test
The higher the percentage of packaged foods in your grocery bags, the further you are from whole-food eating. Whole foods don’t have ingredient lists because they are the ingredient. Packaged foods are processed, preserved, and designed by food scientists for shelf life and consumption, not nutrition. This companion explores the package principle, an audit framework with four categories from whole foods to highly processed, why this matters for calorie density and satiety, and the shopping shift toward the store’s perimeter. (5 min read)
The Stress Eater Question
Stress eating is an attempt at regulation — food provides comfort, distraction, a dopamine hit, or a sense of control. Research by Dallman showed that palatable food actually does reduce the stress response at a biological level, creating a powerful reinforcement loop. The problem is relief is temporary while new problems emerge. This companion explores what stress eating actually provides, why food becomes the default, the investigation process to identify your specific need, and alternative provisions for comfort, distraction, dopamine, control, and ritual. (4 min read)
The Airport
Airports are designed to extract maximum spending from captive travelers — the food options reflect this with fast food, convenience stores, and bars. Your strategies: eat before you go, pack food (solid food passes through security), find protein-forward options at sit-down restaurants, or simply don’t eat until your destination. A few hours without food isn’t a crisis. This companion explores the airport food environment, four strategies in detail, and the boredom factor that drives much airport eating. (4 min read)
The Problem Foods
“Hyperpalatable” foods combine sugar, fat, and salt in proportions that are rare in whole foods and ubiquitous in processed ones — combinations that overstimulate reward pathways and suppress satiety signals. Fazzino and colleagues identified three key combinations that trigger excessive consumption. They show reward-region activation resembling substance dependence — a blood-oxygen signal rather than dopamine — though how closely that parallel runs in people is still unsettled. The “can’t stop” experience isn’t weakness — it’s the intended response to products designed for that effect. This companion explores the hyperpalatability formula, the reward system hijack, why satiety fails, and practical implications…
The Return of the Cravings
Cravings that had disappeared don’t return randomly — something in your environment or behavior changed. The four usual suspects: deteriorating sleep (which increases ghrelin and decreases leptin), increased stress (elevating cortisol), reintroduced high-glycemic foods, or an expanded eating window. This companion explores how cravings have causes, the investigation process for each suspect, and response options: correct the change, accept the trade-off, or experiment to identify the culprit. (4 min read)
The Potluck
At a potluck, your contribution isn’t just a social obligation — it’s your insurance policy. Bring something substantial you actually want to eat: protein, fiber, and water content are the three properties that track with satiety, and vegetables are how you get the fiber there. When your anchor dish is present, you’re guaranteed at least one good option regardless of what others bring. But know what you’re up against: eating in a group reliably raises intake, and the effect grows with group size — the anchor dish changes what you eat while that happens, not whether it happens. This companion…
Set Point
Your body defends a particular weight range — this is your set point. Lose weight and it fights back: metabolic rate drops beyond what the smaller body explains, ghrelin rises, and muscle does about 20% more work per calorie. The Biggest Loser contestants were still running a 499-calorie-a-day adaptation six years on, and in those who regained the weight it had worsened rather than eased. Across 29 long-term studies, more than half of lost weight returned within two years and more than 80% by five — a measure of how much weight comes back, not of how many people fail.…
The Checkout Lane
The checkout lane is prime retail real estate designed to exploit impulse windows and small-ticket rationalization. You’re standing still, bored, and have already made every other choice in the shop — exactly when a candy bar seems trivial. This companion explores why checkout placement works, audit questions about what enters your cart there, counter-strategies like choosing candy-free lanes or committing before you arrive, and the larger pattern of food appearing in moments designed to maximize consumption. (4 min read)
The Sovereign Kitchen
Your kitchen is sovereign territory — nothing edible crosses the threshold without your permission. If problematic foods are present, you permitted them. This framing shifts control to the point of entry: the grocery store, the delivery app, the gift you can graciously receive and then discard. The exhausting daily battle with temptation is replaced by occasional deliberate decisions at the border. This companion explores where sovereignty is exercised, what you’re not resisting when food isn’t there, and how to audit and tighten your borders. (4 min read)
Artificial Sweeteners
Artificial sweeteners aren’t metabolically free despite zero calories. They maintain your taste for intense sweetness, may trigger insulin responses to the taste of sweet, and research by Suez and colleagues shows they alter gut bacteria — causing glucose intolerance in mice, with a smaller and mixed human signal. The habit of reaching for sweet drinks persists. This companion explores the sweetness problem, the insulin question, gut microbiome effects, why the habit architecture remains intact, and practical options for transitioning away. (4 min read)