Eating healthy and exercising is considered the key to healthy lifestyle and also thought to be a reliable way to natural weight loss. There seem to be other aspects that matter, according to some thought provoking research that comes out of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois.
One of the lab’s more recent experiments looked at mindless eating: people snack totally oblivious to the fact that they are not really hungry. The researchers looked at the most common venue for this habit and investigated 158 moviegoers in Philadelphia with an average age of 28.7 years. They gave them 120g pails and 240 g pails of fresh and stale popcorn. Those who received the large size pails consumed more popcorn (45.3 % more when it was fresh and 33.6 % more of the old and stale product.) When it comes to overeating, the researchers suggest, that portion size is more important than taste! The study appeared in the September/October edition of the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. It also confirms the results of similar research. One member of a family who had been given a bulky 900g bag of candy to munch on during a film reported, that between four people they consumed a pound-and-a-half of M&Ms during the show. They just could not stop!
The shape of drinking glasses can also fool even veteran bar tenders. The “vertical-horizontal illusion” is an innate human sensory deficiency, and people think that a tall, skinny glass holds more than a squat tumbler, even though they both hold the same volume.
Mindless Snacking Makes You Fat
The founder of the Food and Brand Lab, Professor Brian Wansink, PhD is aiming his research at helping consumers to become more responsible in eating small quantities of more nutritious foods.
More information about food intake and changing eating habits: http://nethealthbook.com/health-nutrition-and-fitness/weight-loss-and-diet/changing-eating-habits/
Reference: National Review of Medicine, September 15,2005, page 1,5
Last edited October 29, 2014
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