Many people have made a wish to lose weight in a healthy way. But the key is how to put it into practice and keep it going.
Here, we introduce you to a few simple and easy to do mental training to help you realize this wish.
According to the World Health Organization, the global overweight population has reached 1.9 billion, a threefold increase compared to more than 40 years ago.
But researchers at Yale University say it’s not hard to eat healthy, it depends on the awareness your brain develops when making food choices.
Therefore, they recommend several techniques that will allow you to easily improve your eating habits while also allowing you to lose weight.
Moreover, these methods have been proven to work.
Think about the downside of unhealthy foods
In the experiment, the researchers asked the participants to look at non-healthy foods for up to 6 seconds. During these 6 seconds of gazing, the participants had to focus on the bad things about these foods, such as how many calories the meal had, how unhealthy it was, and so on.
Not only that, but also to give association, including the taste and texture of the food.
The researchers then asked the participants to fill in how much they wanted to eat the food, and compared to the control group, people’s cravings for the food decreased by 20%.
Reducing cravings for non-healthy foods is the first step to success, as the study found that the desire to eat non-healthy foods was closely linked to people’s eating habits and body weight.
Imagine the benefits of healthy food
The next experiment was the opposite, this time, the scientists asked the participants to stare at the healthy food for 6 seconds and try to think of their benefits.
The result was a 14% increase in appetite for this healthy food.
This short period of staring at healthy foods and actively thinking about their benefits was enough to make people more likely to choose foods that are good for their health.
Brain exercises before meals
Yale University scientists also studied whether people should begin to do mental preparation before eating in order to choose food in favor of healthy food issues.
The experiment allowed people to read about the negative effects of junk food 15 minutes before they ate, and to make mental cues about the harmful effects of eating such junk food.
For example, looking at pictures of non-healthy meals, and then think about the consequences of eating these things.
Later, the researchers then let them choose between healthy and non-healthy food, there will be more people willing to choose healthy food.
The benefits of feeding the brain healthy foods ahead of time
Similarly, scientists asked participants to read an article about the benefits of healthy foods 15 minutes before a meal, accompanied by a picture.
At the same time, the brain had to concentrate on imagining the benefits of healthy foods.
After this training, more people will also choose those healthy foods when choosing food later.
Start with small things
As with everything, it’s important to start small. Participants in mental training like the one mentioned earlier consume an average of 107 fewer calories after such training.
Do not underestimate these 107 calories, a person needs to run an average of 10 minutes to consume it.
Yale Research Group’s Kobel said that even if you can make one healthy choice about food in a day, in the long run can help you lose a lot of portions.
It has been proven that once those who diet and lose weight resume their daily ration, 70% of them will gain back all the weight they lost within 3 to 5 years.
Therefore, this new technique is very valuable, it can help people take in a little less calories every day, and over time will have a significant effect.
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