In a celebrated passage of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Augustus Gloop becomes the first of four children to suffer an unfortunate accident at Willy Wonka HQ. Unable to control his sweet tooth, he proceeds to drink straight from a chocolate river – and, as fate would have it, tumbles right into it. He is hardly the only character to fall headfirst into a stream (his blind adoration of all things sweet and fattening feels rather like that of the Greek figure of Narcissus, in love with his own face) – and if we take Roald Dahl’s tale to be cautionary, Gloop is also not the first to fall prey to basic appetites. We all do it – this time of year, especially: with advent calendars, Christmas pudding, chocolate logs and endless boxes of Quality Street providing ample delectations in the sweet and fattening department and making Gloopean fiends of us all.
And so from the rivers of Wonka’s factory to our own homes. Unlike Dahl, we’re not here to pontificate and tell you to go on a diet (the Oompa Loompas can do that for you). Rather, we’re here to tell you that dessert isn’t just something you ought to have (because it’s Christmas, and you should live a little), but something you don’t even need to make room for, because your body will do it for you.
No doubt, growing up, you were once told off by your parents for having “eyes bigger than your belly”. But did they ever think to tell you that you also have “a separate stomach for the sweet stuff”? Disclaimer: this writer’s didn’t, and he learnt the saying from a friend whose parents were, typically, more forgiving. Of course, people don’t actually have two stomachs – one for sweet and one for savoury. Even cows, who we often hear have four, truly only have one. (Theirs subdivides into four areas in charge of separate digestive functions.)
But the human brain doesn’t think you have just one stomach. In fact, the brain is very good at compartmentalising what you eat: such that when you undo the top button of your trousers and feel like your stomach’s about to burst – after a Christmas lunch, Sunday roast or any meal in America – and think you couldn’t possibly eat another mouthful, your body finds a way of doing just that. One mouthful of sticky toffee pudding turns into two; three; ten – and by the time you’re done, you’re wondering why on Earth you feel so weirdly fine.
We tend to crave sweet foods in excess the more we eat of the savoury stuff. Our bodies and palettes essentially get bored of being fed potatoes and carrots.
The digestive system is a devilish thing. What happens is the sugar in the sticky toffee pudding triggers an insulin spike, which increases your hunger signals and lowers your blood sugar. This makes you feel less full. Moreover, the sugar interferes with a hormone called leptin, released by the adipose tissue (read: body fat) to signal fullness. In the long-term, a diet with excess sugar can cause leptin resistance, which effectively means you are always hungry and prone to weight gain. That’s in severe cases, though – a little Christmas indulgence won’t hurt anyone.
But the brain is a devilish thing, too. Sweet foods stimulate the dopamine system, which can override any remaining feeling of satiety. And thanks to a phenomenon called “sensory-specific satiety”, first advanced a decade ago in the scientific journal, Appetite, we tend to crave sweet foods in excess the more we eat of the savoury stuff. Our bodies and palettes essentially get bored of being fed potatoes and carrots. In other words: it’s perfectly normal to feel stuffed from one flavour and to crave another. Fullness tends to be relative to a certain food group.
So when you're helping yourself to seconds on December 25th and worried you won’t have room for dessert, fret not. Your body will take care of that for you; your diet starts in January – and chocolate rivers exist only in books.
