Culinary Boredom May Help You to Lose Weight
When people were offered the same food over and over again, the consumption of food became less, according to new research published in, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. This adds evidence to the fact that a variety of food may be a major contributor to obesity. Reducing the choices in food may be a good option in losing weight.
Shelly McGuire, spokeswoman for American Society for Nutrition, associate professor of nutrition at Washington State University in Pullman, feels that variety is good for dieters when it comes to healthy food. According to her people will not become overweight by eating a variety of fruits and vegetables. But when the choice of food is more, especially high-fat, low-nutrient food regularly, it adds extra pounds.
People become habituated when they are exposed to the same food over and over again. Habituation is the decreased response to a stimulus when the exposure to it is increased. McGuire feels that monotony of food may favor weight loss and this is a good field to explore.
In this study, 32 women were given with highly palatable macaroni and cheese meal when they completed a compute job, which lasted for half an hour. One half of the participants took part in five sessions in five days. The second group participated in one session a week for five weeks.
Results of the study showed that women who were offered macaroni and cheese every had 100 calories lesser in a day, while those offered the same food once in a week had 30 calories more during the day. Mark E. Bouton, PhD, University of Vermont professor of psychology and study co-author, remarked that habituation is one of the psychological processes that may affect weight.
Animal studies conducted by Nicole M. Avena, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Florida, showed that when rat were repeatedly exposed to high-sugar and high-fat food, the brain chemistry of the animals changed just like drug addiction affects the brain. “When the palatable foods were removed from the diet, the animals showed withdrawal symptoms”, adds Avena. She also explained that new pharmacologic therapies for overeating may end up being established drug addiction treatment.
