That darn sweet tooth can really ruin even the best prepared diet plans. Well, a study out of Cornell University has shed some light on how you can cut down on candy and deal with your sweet tooth in a more healthy fashion. The obvious answer is to eat less. But the ‘how’ bit is the best part: Change your candy dish so that it has a lid, is opaque, and is out of easy reach. The researchers found that those three factors make people eat less candy.
I suppose we are also lazy creatures, which would explain the part about the lid and being out of reach. If it’s more effort to get the candy, then we are less likely to want to get some. And if you can’t actually see the candy — hence the non-clear dish — you will be less likely to want some. The study wasn’t simply for fun; it was to help people who were trying to lose weight attempt to fight off the effects of a sweet tooth. The researchers also previously investigated portion sizes and other diet-related issues as well.
Here’s how the study went down: 40 women on staff at the University of Illinois volunteered. Every day for one month they received bowls of chocolate “kisses” in their office. Researchers said they would refill the bowls each night, using different bowls, and switching the bowl’s location. Some bowls had covers, some were clear, and some opaque. Sometimes they were placed right on the women’s desk, and sometimes seven feet away — just far enough that they’d have to get up in order to have some candy.
At the end of each week, they asked each woman to guess how many chocolates she’d eaten. Every single one of them underestimated the amount. They ate the most when the bowls were see-through and placed on their desks. The numbers broke down as such:
– Clear bowl on desk: eight pieces a day — Opaque bowl on desk: six a day — Clear bowl set farther away: five pieces a day — Opaque bowl set farther away: three pieces a day
More than just a study about snacking on the job, the findings are important for people who want to be accurate in monitoring and controlling the amount of food they eat — especially when it comes to sugar and calorie-filled munchies. The women underestimated, for example, the amount of kisses they took from the bowl that was seven feet away. That’s because they tended to take several pieces each time in order to make the trip worthwhile. Then they forgot about eating the extra pieces.
An interesting idea is that if proximity and visibility make people eat more chocolate, then it could work for fruits and vegetables, too. “What makes the candy dish nutritionally dangerous might bring the fruit bowl back in vogue,” the researchers wrote.
Next Post: Get A Daily Dose and Reduce Your Risk of Stroke
Previous Post: Relief in a Cup for Bladder Inflammation?
Tags: healthy fruits
