03:21 PM PST on Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Associated Press

CHICAGO – Forget counting carbs and calories. Obesity researcher Dr. David Katz says the way to lose weight is to limit flavors.Dr. Katz, director of Yale University's Prevention Research Center, says people stop eating when the brain's appetite center registers "full." But eating lots of flavors promotes overeating because different sensors must register full for appetite to subside, Dr. Katz says.

The typical American diet "is a mad cacophony of flavors," Dr. Katz said recently during a book-tour stop in Chicago.

Instead, Dr. Katz advocates flavor-themed meals – an apple day, for example, or a sesame day, even an occasional chocolate day.

The idea is perhaps less boring than it sounds. For example, pineapple day features pineapple juice and cereal for breakfast; pineapple-walnut chicken salad and crackers for lunch; pineapple shrimp, bulgur, sauteed peas and tossed salad for dinner; and caramelized pineapple rings for dessert.

The theory and practice are detailed in Dr. Katz's new book, The Flavor Point Diet, (Rodale Books, $24.95) based on a little-publicized phenomenon called sensory-specific satiety. That is the term used to describe the way food becomes less palatable when enough of it is eaten. Adding a new flavor renews the process, numerous studies have shown.

Dr. Katz, 42, the trim, youthful medical contributor to ABC News and a nutrition columnist for Oprah Winfrey's magazine, tested the diet on 20 people for 12 weeks and said they lost an average of more than 16 pounds.

Whether Dr. Katz's diet works because it limits flavors or because it promotes healthy eating and exercise is unclear.

Here are some tips and a sample menu from The Flavor Point Diet:

Avoid mixing sweet and salty foods at the same meal, though an occasional Chinese meal is OK.

Avoid processed food with lots of hidden flavors that can stimulate overeating.

Drink six 8-ounce glasses of water throughout the day.

Always start dinner with a mixed green salad to help curb your appetite.

Eat some of the same flavor at every meal of the day to help feel full sooner.

For "tomato" day, for example:

Breakfast: sandwich of two slices of whole-grain bread, one soft-cooked egg, two slices of tomato and 1 tablespoon of part-skim mozzarella cheese.

Best of Taste

Morning snack: 12 cherry tomatoes with two tablespoons of hummus.

Lunch: tomato and black bean Mediterranean salad in half a whole-wheat pita.

Afternoon snack: 12 baked corn chips and one-third cup tomato salsa.

Dinner: baked tilapia with tomatoes, olives and capers, cooked bulgur wheat, sauteed cauliflower florets, tossed garden salad with chickpeas.

Dessert: peach-blueberry salad.

Total calories: 1,535, 24 percent from fat, 20 percent from protein, 56 percent from carbohydrates; 53 grams fiber; 272 milligrams cholesterol; 2,186 milligrams sodium.