Scientists have found a very simple trick to put in place so that you no longer want to eat very fatty and very sweet foods when you feel like snacking.
Snacking can quickly ruin all our efforts when trying to losing weight. Even when you make sure to eat the healthiest foods at every meal – consuming a mix of healthy protein, vegetables and fruit – sometimes all it takes is a few high calorie snacks to upset the established dietary balance. A packet of industrial cakes or chips swallowed in a few minutes can indeed destroy the calorie deficit that we had managed to achieve. Good news, however, researchers have managed to find a trick that makes us want to eat healthier foods and fewer calories when a little hunger strikes during the day. It was published in the journal Food Quality and Preference.
Psychologists from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland have studied the eating behaviors that we adopt when we are hungry and have shown that it would be enoughhave ready-to-eat healthy food on hand so that you no longer fall for a caloric snack at the vending machine. According to the study, “immediately edible foods were about 15% more attractive than foods that require any preparation, whether cooked, peeled or even just taken out of their packaging”. So, “a peeled orange elicited stronger cravings than an unpeeled orange” among the volunteers. Likewise, “a closed bag of crisps aroused less strong cravings than an open bag”. So all you have to do isanticipate your cravings and to always have a satiating chewable fruit or other pre-cut food in a box with you so you can satisfy your hunger without eating anything.
What’s next after this ad
Preparing your snacks in advance: the unstoppable trick for successful dieting despite cravings
To reach this conclusion, the scientists showed images of food at different stages of preparation to more than 200 volunteers and asked them to rate their level of desire to eat it. The conclusion is clear : “The urge to eat is much stronger for immediately edible foods than for foods that need to be cooked, chopped or peeled, or even unwrapped” says, in fact, Dr. Constanze Hesse, psychologist in charge of this study. The doctor also points out that high-calorie foods are often marketed in the form of ready-to-eat ready meals, and that conversely, “low calorie foods are often presented unprepared”. It is this difference that would make us quickly turn to very fatty and very salty foods when we are a little hungry.
Consequently, within the framework of a food rebalancing or a diet, it would be necessary to “prepare healthy food to encourage healthy choices and avoid going shopping when you are hungryas it can make you crave ready-to-eat foods that are generally not as healthy as home-prepared foods” as advised by Dr. Helen Knight, the other doctor in charge of this experiment, which is studying for the first time the impact of preparation for consumption on our desire to eat them. We take note!