Do you look at a picture of food and imagine yourself eating it and then satiating your appetite? This appears to be possible, according to the research. It will even make you feel full. It sounds silly, but it just shows the power of our brain.
The researchers share their findings in the paper appetite. Participants had to indicate in advance how hungry they were. The scientists then showed the participants the same picture three or thirty times. On it was a bowl of M&M oranges. The subjects had to vividly imagine eating an M&M. After that, the participants were asked again about their feelings of hunger.
Finding appetite and feeling full
Anderson explains the researcher scientific Saintias That the image finally had an effect on the feeling of hunger. “Test subjects who viewed the same picture of food 30 times felt more full than before they saw the pictures.” Later, the participants were asked to choose from different servings of M&Ms. People who viewed the picture thirty times ultimately chose a smaller portion than those who viewed the picture three times.
Anderson stresses that appetite is often determined by our brain. According to the researchers, “thinking about food” stimulates the same areas of the brain as when “eating.” You get a physical reaction to something you simply thought, Anderson explains. “That’s why you can feel completely full without eating anything.”
View food pictures 30 times
However, the number of times you look at the image and thus imagine yourself eating does seem to have an effect. The researchers concluded that a person needs to see an image 30 times to feel more full. Therefore the strength of repetition is also important in this study.
Incidentally, the scientists found that the color or taste of the M&Ms, they also replaced the M&Ms with Skittles, had an effect on the outcome. Ultimately, the researchers believe these findings could be adding to issues related to nutrition and weight gain. Did you know that your body works against diets? And why do so many diet attempts fail?
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Research: Often looking at a picture with food, it satiates the appetite and makes you feel “full”