Want to lose weight? Just think about food

JUST thinking about food could help people lose weight, ­according to a new study. ­However, being distracted while eating could lead to piling on the pounds.

Researchers found that remembering previous meals as filling and satisfying can lead to someone serving up smaller portions, eating less and, ultimately, a thinner waist.

However, eating while watching telly or working at your desk can impact on awareness, attention, memory and lead to being distracted and not knowing how much you have eaten.

Techniques such as writing down previous meals, using visual reminders of previous meals and keeping food wrappers were found to help with food memories and lead to a reduction in meal sizes.

Lead researcher Dr Eric Robinson, from Liverpool University’s Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, said: “Our research found if people recalled their last meal as being filling and satisfying then they ate less during their next meal.

“This could be developed as a new strategy to help with weight loss and maintenance and reduce the need for calorie controlled dieting.

“However, whilst techniques which remind you of what you have eaten reduce food consumption, some practical strategies to put these findings into practice need to be further ­developed.

“Also, the studies which we analysed looked at adults with healthy body mass index so additional work is needed to find out how this might affect people who are overweight.”

The research also found being distracted when eating a meal leads to increased consumption of the immediate meal, but has even more of an effect on later eating. Distractions ­affect ­awareness of the food people are eating and results in over-
consumption.