Pretending to eat better for you than actually eating!

Those of us who are "metabolically challenged," have a little joke that becomes especially apropos during Festivus. Essentially, it goes something like, "If I even think about (insert dessert food here), I gain five pounds!"

Funny, huh? Oh, it's hilarious alright! Nothing like battling obesity to lighten-up the holidays. But, apparently it's also completely wrong. A new study appearing last week in the journal Science shows that if you imagine eating M&Ms for a while, when you're presented with the actual thing, you're prone to eat less. From the Los Angeles Times:

Researchers asked volunteers to devote about a minute and a half to methodically imagining chewing and swallowing 30 M&Ms, one after another. Then, when presented with a bowl of M&Ms, those volunteers ate about half as many candies as volunteers who imagined eating only three M&Ms, or none at all.

They did the experiment with cheese cubes too and the same thing happened.

Now, this is interesting and all, but I wonder how much of it has to do with what the scientists believe to be sating "hunger through a process called habituation" as explained here:

The psychological phenomenon that explains why we are able to get used to things that initially seem annoying — the roar of an airplane engine, for instance, or dim light in a restaurant. It occurs when extended exposure to a stimulus decreases an organism's response to it, and many experts think it helps regulate eating.

Look, I'm not "scientist." I don't have a fancy "PhD" or own a white "lab coat." I don't still live with my "mother." But we're talking cheese and chocolate here. Was it all habituation, or did this little ritual give these people a chance to meditate, even subconsciously, on the fact that neither is particularly good for you, so you shouldn't eat a lot? I'd like to see the same experiment done with baby carrots or strawberries.

Good idea, huh? If I were in charge of all science, the world would be a much more knowledge place. Where do you apply for that job?

photo: Stefan on Flickr