Imagine eating M&M’S, then lose weight!

Thinking about sweets might actually help you eat less of them.

 

From Joe: Writing about Treats without Calories, Henry Alford asks us to imagine if imagining ourselves overeating some snacks can help us lose pounds:

I’m what any right-thinking nutritionist would call average size. But note that the number 165 is rendered in heterosexual pounds. In gay pounds, I’m Precious. So when I hit 170 this winter, I knew it was time to test-drive a Carnegie Mellon study I’d read about. Scientists there discovered that when you repeatedly imagine eating a certain food, your craving for that food (but not others) is reduced.

In one test, 51 people were divided into three groups. One group imagined eating 30 M&M’s; another, three M&M’s; the third, none. When a bowl of M&M’s was then presented to the group, those who had imagined eating the most ate the fewest.

For a month, Mr. Alford experimented with the techniques described in the study: At the end, he had lost 10.2 pounds.

 This might be your most precious hint for the day!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/dining/treats-without-calories-imagine-that.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Henry+Alford&st=nyt