Think, and Eat Less Chocolate?
December 14, 2010
Do you ever crave a chocolate bar and then resign yourself to only dream about it, knowing that if you act upon your desires it will just add extra calories to your already holiday-cookie saturated diet?
If you are like me (and answered YES, YES, YES!) then there may be some good news in your future. Close your eyes and imagine that you are eating that chocolate bar, and you will devour less of it!
There is a new study released from Carnegie Mellon University that suggests thinking about forbidden food could make you eat smaller portions of it. Forming a mental picture before we eat causes us to reduce the amount we would eat of that particular food later.
The group’s research found that simply thinking about the food will not in itself be enough to lower actual consumption, but imagining with extreme detail does the trick.
The scientists call it “habituation” and the best practice of it uses multiple senses of sight, smell, sound, and touch to imagine the consumption experience.
No one really knows why this technique works. Some researchers speculate that habituation causes the brain to release dopamine and this may decrease the feelings of hunger.
I am willing to give this a try and see what happens, but after the holidays! Seriously, why would I want to eat less this time of year? I have to save some new tricks for my New Year’s resolutions!
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