14 DAY TRIAL // Scientists proved in a recent research, that the human brain has the ultimate power over the body. The results of this research will be presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior (SSIB), in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The most effective way of losing weight might just be not knowing it. People's perception of what they eat has been proven to overcome the actual food quantity. The determining factors for changing people's eating habits are expectations before eating and memories of satiety sensation after a meal. Research proved that if people think they are eating a large food quantity, they will be satisfied and will no longer have the hunger sensation, satiety being given by what we see and not by how much we actually eat.
Two experiments were made on this matter. The first one consisted in showing the ingredients of a fruit smoothie to two groups of people. One group saw a big portion of fruit and the other group saw a small portion. Three hours after finishing the smoothie, people who were shown the big portion declared themselves more satisfied than others. In reality, everyone got the small portion of fruit.
The second experiment tested the difference between the actual and the perceived amount of soup people thought to have eaten. A bowl with a pump underneath it was used to increase or decrease the quantity of soup as people ate, without them knowing it. Three hours later, people were more or less hungry depending on the amount of soup they thought they ate, regardless of the real quantity.
We usually eat the amount of food that we remember calmed our hunger in the past, the actual quantity within the plate having nothing to do with the degree of hunger we feel. Depending on the portion sizes we choose, we expect to be more or less hungry afterward.
These conclusions might prove very useful for people consuming products that are referred to as “light” or “diet”. Terms like “low fat”, “diet” or “light” are usually associated with less quantity of a product. People might expect to still be hungry after eating such products and, as a result, to enlarge the quantities they eat. One way of avoiding this misleading inside our brain would be to favor products that are said to be “hunger relieving” or “satisfying”, said Dr. Brunstrom, a researcher on the study.