{"id":6891,"date":"2015-01-28T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2015-01-28T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/?p=6891"},"modified":"2015-01-24T10:01:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-24T15:01:14","slug":"could-visualizing-food-make-you-eat-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/doinglifetogether\/2015\/01\/could-visualizing-food-make-you-eat-less.html","title":{"rendered":"Could Visualizing Food Make You Eat Less?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"eating\"<\/a>You are on your way to\u00a0work and feel hungry. The morning rush caused you to skip breakfast.<\/p>\n

You pass the bakery as you walk to your office. The smell of freshly baked croissants is tempting. As you look in the window, those croissants are lined up in a row, oozing with\u00a0chocolate and inviting you to buy. But that isn’t part of your eating plan as you are trying to lose those 5 pounds you gained over the holidays.<\/p>\n

You have to\u00a0force the image out of your head. But should you?<\/p>\n

Would it be better to think about that chocolate croissant, the smell, the slightly crunchy crust with a soft inside that melts in your mouth? You can see it, feel it, smell it and taste it going into your mouth!<\/p>\n

Most dieters would say, STOP! Don’t do this to yourself. You will just make the craving worse.<\/p>\n

But new research says maybe not. A study conducted at Carnegie Mellow University looked at what happens when you imagine eating food. The results confirm a very different approach than the conventional, “Don’t think about that food.”<\/p>\n

Instead, researchers noted that when participants imagined consuming a desired food like that freshly baked croissant, allowed themselves to imagine eating and enjoying it, their cravings actually decreased and they ate less.<\/p>\n

Yes, imagining the consumption of the food actually decreased appetite for it. Suppressing your desire for the food works against you. Imaging and experiencing may not be that much different.<\/p>\n

The thinking behind this has to do with habituation. The more you imagine eating the food, the less motivation you actually have to eat it.<\/p>\n

So next time you want that freshly baked croissant, try to imagine\u00a0eating it and enjoying the experience. Your imagination just might\u00a0lead you to eat less or not \u00a0at all.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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