In recent years, people’s interest in food has increased considerably. We now care about the food we eat and make sure we follow good dietary guidelines that allow us to have a healthy nutrition. However, eating is not a purely physiological process, our mind plays an important role and determines our preferences.
In fact, when we eat we are not only nourishing ourselves, we also experience different emotions. We feel pleasure when we like the food but we can also feel guilty when we break our diet. In addition, our mood will not only influence the amount of food but also the choice of food.
Therefore, in order to follow a healthy diet, it is essential to understand the psychological mechanisms behind food.
1. You don’t know when you’re truly full
We think that the amount of food we eat corresponds to the magnitude of hunger we experience. However, in reality, appetite is only one factor in the equation. The amount of food we can eat also depends on the size of the dishes and even the light and colors in the room.
In a curious study conducted at Cornell University, researchers used a soup bowl that filled itself automatically through a hidden mechanism. People who used this bowl ate almost twice as much soup, but did not feel any more satiated than those who ate from a normal bowl.
This tells us that the connection between the stomach and the brain works slowly, the satiety signal takes about half an hour to be processed by our mind. Therefore, the feeling of satiety is closely linked to the quantities we see, rather than to what we actually eat.
2. You may like foods more or less, depending on the time of day
We tend to think that foods have an intrinsic taste, which we may like more or less. However, this is not really the case. A simple experiment shows us that the perception of flavours not only changes throughout life but also during the same day.
In fact, even if you like carrots with vegetables and meat at dinner time, you probably won’t be able to eat them at six in the morning for breakfast. The context in which food is presented greatly influences its taste.
Over the years we have associated certain foods with certain times, so when they are presented to us at unusual times, we resist and may even dislike a flavour that we normally like.
3. Trying to suppress thoughts about food leads to binge eating
It may seem like a contradiction, but it has been shown that trying to suppress certain thoughts has a rebound effect. In practice, when we try to eliminate a thought from our mind, it adopts a hypervigilant attitude and the opposite effect occurs: the idea becomes even more recurrent.
The same goes for food. In an experiment conducted at the University of Florida, researchers analyzed the eating habits of overweight people and their daily thoughts. They found that the people most likely to give in to cravings and binge eat were precisely those who tried most to suppress thoughts about food.
In fact, it is now known that overly restrictive weight loss diets cause emotional loss. These people, once they abandon the diet, not only regain the weight they lost but gain a third more.
4. Bad mood makes you choose unhealthy foods
The concept of “emotional hunger” is an old one. In fact, many people do not eat because they feel hungry but simply because they feel anxious. Therefore, the emotional factor is fundamental in any diet to lose weight.
However, it has also been noted that when we are in a bad mood, we tend to choose foods that we would not otherwise eat. In fact, when we feel irritated, stressed, angry or depressed, we tend to reach for sugary snacks and foods with a high fat content.
The main problem is that when we are in a bad mood, we are not able to exercise self-control, which is a limited resource, and we are more likely to give in to temptations. In addition, these types of foods generate a very intense response at the brain level, which activates the pleasure centers. Therefore, they become a kind of natural compensation.
5. Product labels determine how much you will like them
The perception of flavours varies depending on many factors, many of them psychological. For example, it has been proven that when people are presented with the same wine but with different labels, they prefer the one that has been “socially” classified as better, even though in reality both wines are the same.
A particularly interesting experiment conducted at the University of Sussex demonstrates this fact convincingly. Researchers told participants that they were evaluating the taste of a new food and how well it would be accepted in the market. Some were told it was a smoked salmon-flavoured ice cream, others were told it was a salty mousse ice cream. Although it was the same product, people who were told it was ice cream rejected it, those who were told it was a mousse loved it.
The expectations we have about products, created largely by labels, food critics or even the people around us, will influence the acceptance or rejection of certain flavours.
References:
Barnes, RD & Tanleff, S. (2010) Food for thought: Examining the relationship between food thought suppression and weight-related outcomes. Eating Behaviors ; 11(3): 175–179.
Yeomans, M.R. et. Al. (2008) The role of expectancy in sensory and hedonic evaluation: The case of smoked salmon ice-cream. Food Quality and Preference ; 19(6): 565–573.
Wansink, B. et. Al. (2007) Fine as North Dakota wine: Sensory expectations and the intake of companion foods. Physiology & Behavior ; 90(5): 712-716.
Wansink, B. et. Al. (2005) Bottomless bowls: why visual cues of portion size may influence intake. Obesity Research 13(1): 93-100.
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