The heat in the kitchen is getting to me!

So get this — low calorie sweeteners may just make you fatter. This is the conclusion by Purdue University researchers Dr. Susan Swithers and Terry Davidson. It turns out that in experiments with rats, the rodents eating artificial sweeteners gained more weight than those eating sugar. The good doctors conjecture that the brain thinks sweetness is a sign of high calorie foods, and repeated use of artificial sweeteners causes the brain to become confused and it fails to stop the consumption of sweets at an appropriate point when they are eaten.

Granted this shouldn’t be a problem if you never eat the real thing. But lets be real — we wouldn’t be drinking the diet stuff if we didn’t a have issues with the real thing to begin with.

Don’t believe me. Then get the story right from the rats mouth and read the study just published in Behavioral Neuroscience. Just follow the link and scroll down to the article titled “A Role for Sweet Taste: Calorie Predictive Relations in Energy Regulation by Rats (PDF: 675KB), February 2008”

Or if you are too busy dumping your diet soda down the sink to read the full article, then take a look at this excellent summation by the economist magazine.

Me — I’m sticking to the recipes on GreatGrub. I don’t believe we have any that call for saccharine.

Simple and good meal tip of the day: porridge with banana and honey. Yum! Great way to start the day.

Happy Losar (lo-year, sar-new in Tibetan) to everyone on Great Grub from the Veggie Mamas of Nepal.

Thanks John,

See my latest reviews. These are from a wine tasting I led for a gathering of people in California.

Tomorrow, for a Superbowl party, I’m making 7 racks of my Baby Back Ribs accompanied by Garlic Stir Fried Green Beans, Corn Souffle, and Homemade Dulce de Leche Ice Cream. Mmmm!!! All my friends are already watering at the mouth in anticipation.

My 5-year-old daughter is home sick from school. My wife was headed out to the store to get a chicken for soup when my sick child came up with the following menu:

• mashed potatoes
• grilled steak “nice and juicy” (her words not mine)
• steamed broccoli
• mango sorbet

I’m impressed by her menu making skills. I am also curious as to which menu will prevail. I read somewhere that grilled steak cures the common cold — really I did.

Now if i could only find that “study’ from the American beef institute before my wife leaves for the market.