Janny van der Heijden comes with new television series: Food and our brain
Janny van der Heijden, presenter of Heel Holland Bakt, culinary journalist and winner of the FavorFlav Food Top 100, knows everything about food and drink. In her previous television adventure, De smaak van Nederland, Janny travelled across the country to find out what the Dutch like to put on their plates and what Dutch food culture is really all about. In Voeding en ons brein, Janny investigates how important food is for our brain and what we can do with our diet to keep our brain and body as healthy as possible.
The first episode, themed around temptation, has already aired. In this episode, Janny wondered why we so often cannot resist the temptation of fatty and sugary foods. At the Donders Institute in Nijmegen, Janny went into an MRI scanner, where she discovered what her brain reacts to most; sweet or savoury. Janny also gives tips in this episode on how to resist temptation.
The following episodes all have their own theme as well and will be broadcast at 4:15 p.m. on MAX on NPO 1:
Episode 2 – Smell – Friday 17 February
What does the smell of food do to your brain, and how important is it for your taste? To find out, Janny visits the Smell and Taste Centre at Wageningen University. At a care centre, she tests with the residents what smell does to their emotions and memories. And she discovers how you can use smell to encourage people to eat more healthily.
Episode 3 – Taste – Friday 24 February
To eat healthily, it is useful if many things taste good to you. Can you do something about that yourself by developing your sense of taste? And how can you still eat deliciously if your sense of smell and taste are impaired? Janny attends a cooking workshop for people who have partially lost their sense of smell or taste and discovers that there are still plenty of ways to eat deliciously and healthily.
Episode 4 – Satiety – Friday 3 March
When do you know that you have eaten enough, and how do you make sure you do not eat too much? Together with nutrition researcher (and former finalist of Heel Holland Bakt) Guido Camps, Janny conducts an experiment showing that you feel full sooner when you eat something with texture. Janny also tests the importance of chewing, together with star chef Joris Bijdendijk.
Episode 5 – Sugar – Friday 10 March
Janny discovers how much sugar we unknowingly consume in excess and what it does to our brains. Brace yourself, because the results are shocking. Especially the amount of sugar that young people consume nowadays. To make them aware of this, Janny gives the teenagers from 4 HAVO at Alkwin College in Uithoorn a lesson in reading labels. And she shows how to make delicious mayonnaise without sugar.
Episode 6 – Context – Friday 17 March
Every day, we make dozens of choices when it comes to food, but how consciously do we actually make those choices? Besides tasting and smelling, many more factors in our surroundings influence the choices we make. Janny investigates exactly how this works. Does Janny enjoy her plate of boerenkool just as much with a view of a tropical beach? And at the Lowlands festival, Janny discovers whether you can guide people towards healthier and more sustainable choices by changing their surroundings.
Janny on stimuli
But there is more. Janny is also launching a podcast about how our senses influence our food choices. Every day, we make around two hundred food choices: consciously and unconsciously. In the podcast Janny over prikkels from Omroep MAX and NPO 1, Janny investigates how we are influenced in our eating habits every day. The food industry, supermarkets and advertisements are all adept at capitalising on this. All our senses are put to work in the process. How are we tempted every day to make (un)healthy choices? And how can you use this stimulation to make healthy choices instead? The five senses are covered in five episodes. The first episode is already online and can be listened to via all podcast apps and MAX Vandaag.
Voeding en ons brein can be seen every Friday at 4:15 p.m. on MAX on NPO 1, and the entire series is already available to watch on NPO Start.
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