14 DAY TRIAL // Sticking with a diet, even if it’s not as restrictive as it gets, can be a truly challenging task, but not because it’s our stomach that is literally pleading with us to eat more. As the findings of a new study reveal, our brain acts in quite an unpredictable manner when it comes to working out and dieting, which could possibly explain why so many people fall off the bandwagon despite knowing the consequences of their actions by heart.
When exposed to ads and posters that promote healthy eating and getting plenty of exercise, our brain is actually telling us to eat more, the study has found, as reported by MSNBC. If true, then this means that all the campaigns out there meant to motivate people to work out more and ultimately improve the quality of their life could actually be doing more harm than good, especially if they’re seen, say, on the TV while sitting on the sofa with a bag of chips in hand.
Researchers from the University of Illinois asked a group of volunteers to analyze and rate a series of posters urging people to start leading a healthier life by moving around more and eating less junk food. Once this stage was over, the volunteers were told they must also analyze raisins, of which they were free to eat as many as they deemed necessary for a proper “analysis.”
The same study was then performed once more, this time with another series of posters (which touched on subjects such as joining a group and had nothing to do with working out), and raisins, just like the first time around. When comparing how many raisins the volunteers had eaten during the two stages of the study, researchers were able to determine that the biggest amount was consumed after the volunteers had seen the exercise-oriented ads.
“Study author Delores Albarracin, a professor of psychiatry at the university, suspects that the exercise posters simply inspired the students to do something – and because food was available, eating became the thing to do. What this means, she says, is that we need to be careful about when and where we encourage people to work out. […] The study brings up the intriguing possibility that these ads could be doing more harm than good if they’re not targeted correctly, says Dr. Louis Aronne, clinical professor of medicine and director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.” MSNBC points out.
At the same time, the study also helped establish that a better understanding of the way the brain works when it comes to dieting is also necessary. Until that happens, researchers say, the problem of weight gain and, consequently, loss will not be tackled efficiently no matter how authorities go about it.