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The psychology of eating: what really makes us gain weight

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The psychology of eating: what really makes us gain weight

Forget everything you thought you knew about dieting - a number of new studies show: It's not what or how much we eat. Rather, it is where, when, and from what kind of plate we eat determines whether or not we gain weight. The good news: With a few simple tweaks, we can change our eating habits.

Dieser Beitrag ist auch verfügbar auf: Deutsch

A careful look – that’s all Brian Wansink needs. His trained eye can detect in a fraction of a second where invisible fattening foods are lurking in our homes or in the office canteen.

The astonishing thing is that psychologists are not at all interested in what we eat or how much. A quick inspection of the premises is enough for him to be able to tell who will weigh more kilos at the end of the evening and who has eaten the right amount. But how can this work?

“It is easier to change our environment than to rewire our brain”

After more than 25 years of research and hundreds of studies, the 56-year-old behavioral psychologist from Cornell University in New York State has discovered secret psychological factors that he believes play a crucial role in the development of obesity – but are still underestimated. “We make 250 food decisions every day,” Wansink calculates.

“Chips or salad ? Large or small portion? Scrape the plate or put it away straight away? The fascinating thing is that in most cases we are tempted to do this by millions of subliminal triggers that we barely notice.” Wansink therefore doesn’t put much stock in the usual diet tips. “We tend to focus on the food and not on our surroundings,” says Wansink. “We are usually far too concerned with eating less of one and more of the other, or we cling to grueling fad diets and fitness plans.”

Dangers lurk everywhere

His realization: Even the most intelligent, disciplined calorie-counting dieter can be manipulated by his environment just as easily as the rest of us. But you don’t have to accept this: the latest research proves that just a few small changes are enough to avoid falling into these traps.

Brian Wansink has put together some tips that we can use to turn the tables and trick our psyche into losing weight instead of gaining weight. His most important advice: “You shouldn’t listen to your stomach to see if you’re full – it can lie.”

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