A New Technique For Reducing Cravings For Junk Food

A New Technique For Reducing Cravings For Junk Food.
Researchers crack that they may have hit on a unheard of trick for weight loss: To eat less of a certain food, they suggest you imagine yourself gobbling it up beforehand. Repeatedly imagining the consumption of a food reduces one's proclivity for it at that moment, said lead researcher Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor of social and arbitration sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. "Most people think that imagining a viands increases their desire for it and whets their appetite. Our findings show that it is not so simple," she said.

Thinking of a food - how it tastes, smells or looks - does extend our appetite. But performing the mental symbolism of actually eating that food decreases our desire for it, Morewedge added. For the study, published in the Dec 10, 2010 promulgation of Science, Morewedge's team conducted five experiments. In one, 51 individuals were asked to ponder doing 33 repetitive actions, one at a time.

A restrain group imagined putting 33 coins into a washing machine. Another band imagined putting 30 quarters into the washer and eating three M&Ms. A third aggregation imagined feeding three quarters into the washer and eating 30 M&Ms. The individuals were then invited to break bread freely from a bowl of M&Ms.

Those who had imagined eating 30 candies in fact ate fewer candies than the others, the researchers found. To be steadfast the results were related to imagination, the researchers then mixed up the experiment by changing the number of coins and M&Ms. Again, those who imagined eating the most candies ate the fewest.

In three additional experiments, Morewedge's unit confirmed that imagining the eating reduced realized consumption through a process known as habituation. Simply viewpoint about the food repeatedly or imagining eating a different food did not significantly influence consumption, the researchers also found.

This simulation adeptness might also help reduce cravings for unhealthy foods and drugs, the authors say. However, at least one connoisseur had reservations about the findings. "This small ponder may offer insights for further research, but the message is not that we can think ourselves thin or reduce food cravings by repetitively imagining eating a certain food," said Samantha Heller, clinical nutrition coordinator at the Center for Cancer Care at Griffin Hospital in Derby, Conn.

It was not in the capacity of the study to weigh how long the effect described lasted, but it is important to consider, she said. Was it five minutes? Two days? Were the participants desirous during one part of the study but not during another arm of the experiment? And were they typical weight, overweight or underweight, she asked. "All these factors, and many more, could affect how someone responds to often imagining eating a certain food," Heller said.

Overweight or obese common man may have very different psychological and biochemical responses to this simulation approach compared with normal-weight individuals, she noted. "Food cravings are a complex unite of physiological, psychological, environmental and hormonal aspects," Heller added best vito. "Adopting strong lifestyle habits, such as eating vegetables, fruits, legumes and sound grains, and exercising, may help reduce the strength and frequency of food cravings," she added.