Pretend eating leads to less eating

Last Updated on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 22:22 Tuesday, 14 December 2010 10:28

A team of researchers, with nothing better to do, have discovered that imagining the process of eating a desirable food curbs cravings and results in eating less of it. It is hoped that dieters could help themselves lose weight by thinking about food rather than avoiding thoughts of food.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University divided 51 people into three groups. The first group imagined themselves eating 30 M&Ms, the second group imagined themselves eating three M&Ms while the third and final group did not imagine eating any.

"Yummy. Delicious cake!"

When all participants were presented with a bowl of M&Ms, those who thought the most about them ate the least. Researchers said it was because of 'habituation' - the process where the more people have of something the less rewarding it becomes and the less they feel a need for it. The study suggests that the experience of imagining eating the chocolates became a substitute for actually eating them. Repetition of the action was a key component.

A second experiment using cubes of cheese yielded the same results.

Joachim Vosgerau, one of the researchers, said they hoped to extend the findings to tougher cravings like nicotine addiction. "In principal, it should work for all objects that are desirable and people want to try to regulate," Vosgerau said.