Originally Posted by teaser

In mouse studies, they look at how hard animals will work to get food. Make them climb a slope to get at the food. The animals will work harder to get to oreos than they will for plain mouse chow. To a degree, clamp for palatability, and the animals will eat less if the food has to be worked for. I'm the same way with that low carb cheesecake--once it's made, I'm likely to make meals of it (if it lasts past one meal) until it's gone. But if I have to go to the store, get the ingredients, mix them together, wait for it to bake--the effort involved keeps me from bothering, most of the time. A few times I've come home with ingredients, and decided I'd rather just have cream cheese.

If I cook five hamburger patties, I'm liable to eat them all. If I cook two, I'm liable to be happy with that. I'd like more, obviously since pretty repeatably if I cook more I'll eat and enjoy them. But usually I don't want more to the point where I'll bother to cook more. Cooked meat is just more appealing than raw.

Cheese and nuts are common problem foods. One theory is that they are too palatable. It's true that they're palatable, it's also true that by nature they're ready to eat, just as they are. How much effort does it take to fry a couple eggs? Precious little. But if you're feeling a little peckish, even that slight bit of work might drive you towards the cheese vs. the egg, if the egg were the only option, sometimes you might not even bother.

Once a friend stayed at our cottage and brought some big steaks, mine was ridiculous. The barbecue gave out while they were still pretty raw. I like steak every way from totally raw to well-done. So I just started eating mine. I got halfway and was stuffed. My friend fried the remainder with butter. It was like a dessert effect, with the first bite my appetite returned. I got halfway through, full again--my friend fried it again, more of those yummy advanced glycation end products--and I finished the steak. I would have been done with food still on my plate, if he'd left well enough alone the first time, that's pretty rare for me.