A recent study informed us that negative images of fat people help perpetuate obesity's bad reputation and may contribute to obesity itself. But you know what apparently helps fight the fat? Your brain. According to a different study, believing the food you eat is high in calories can help you surpress your appetite.
The Yale-based study used 46 healthy volunteers who were all given the same 360-calorie milkshake. Some were told it was low-calorie and some were told it was a high-calorie gut-busters. Before and after the milkshakes were ingested the researchers used a blood tests to measure the level of ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates hunger and generally decreases in a person after meals, in their subjects. The volunteers who thought they had indulged showed a noticeable drop in ghrelin compared to those who thought they had had a light snack.
So the next time you want to help satisfy your unfathomable hunger, maybe just pretend that bag of Pop Chips is actually a can of Pringles!
