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Better Eating Habits: How to Manipulate your Brain
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We may retrain our brains to be more appreciative of food by eating with our hands, taking a large initial mouthful, and then talking about the carrots.
My friend insists on asking the host to elaborate on each dish before digging in, which is a nice touch that shows she appreciates their efforts. It’s a gesture of gratitude, but according to the science of food psychology, she may also be encouraging herself and her fellow diners to eat more mindfully in the process.
Prof. Charles Spence of Oxford University’s Department of Experimental Psychology studies what influences our food preferences and how we evaluate our dining experiences. His study emphasises the significance that sensory cues, such as the appearance and aroma of food, as well as other factors like forks, fingers, and even music, play in determining whether or not we make healthy food choices. The following methods will assist you in “tricking” your brain into choosing healthier choices for your physical being.
Use bigger or no cutlery.
Serving food on a smaller plate, which tricks our minds into thinking there’s more food there than there really is, is a common practise for limiting portion sizes. But the brain may be tricked by the tools we use: heavier cutlery boosts our enjoyment of food, and eating with our hands stimulates our senses and makes us more aware, both of which have a positive impact on satiety (how full you feel). Spence adds, “With a fork, you don’t have to worry about it.” In order to get diners to “think more about how they engage with their food,” he offers the example of Andoni Aduriz, chef at the world-famous Mugaritz restaurant in Errenteria, northern Spain, who has banned cutlery at all of the restaurant’s meals.
Create a multi-sensory meal.
According to Spence, “whatever you can do to pay more attention and eat more slowly, to be more conscious in the time,” would certainly improve the feelings connected with eating, leading to satiety with less food. This will have an effect on your ability to feel full and may also encourage you to seek out and appreciate more healthful options. Assuming that our sense of smell accounts for between 75 and 95 percent of our overall sense of taste, fragrance is crucial.
Many of our eating habits, however, are not set up to do that. He believes that you’re losing out on something special by not savouring the scent of your coffee when you cup your hands around a lovely mug rather than a lidded takeout cup. If you can really appreciate your first cup of coffee in this way, you may not be as interested in a second. This illustrates the power of touch in triggering feelings of fullness and contentment. The ability to pick up a bowl of food and bring it closer to you, says Spence, “feeling its weight and warmth, breathing in the aroma – it helps to maximise the multisensory experience.”
Observe as you cook – and eat.
We eat with our eyes first, and that’s a fact that’s been verified by food psychologists, just as the Roman gourmet Apicius memorably stated. Indeed, it has been established that the appearance of foods influences what we taste when we consume them by forming our expectations; therefore a large, gorgeous salad with a variety of leaves, colours, and textures will not only look better than a handful of spinach, but will also taste better.
Spence reminds us that we do, in fact, consume with our eyes, especially when it comes to prepackaged food, and that this is especially true for asymmetrical presentations (or without a uniform appearance). Despite the intense debate over whether or not to flip a chocolate digestive before eating it, it turns out that eating it chocolate side up maximises our sensory experience, perhaps because the energy-dense, chocolaty top is what our brains find most enticing.
Put the first bite in your mouth first.
One reason the first bite of a chocolate bar always seems so much better than the rest is because our taste receptors are so excited by the novelty of the experience. “Even though the flavour of each bite or slurp is somewhat changed, if it appears the same, our brain tends to infer that the taste also stays the same,” explains Spence.
On the other hand, we may exploit this response to our advantage by cramming as much of the harmful food into the initial bite as possible, so decreasing our overall intake. While this is more difficult to achieve in the kitchen, it is becoming a factor in the creation of prepackaged meals. According to Spence, “some corporations are increasingly producing dishes with asymmetric components,” such as the practise of sprinkling salt on opposite layers of ready-made lasagnes at Unilever Research.
Pick your tunes wisely, then tone it down a notch.
Music may influence people’s eating preferences, according to Spence, who cites research from the field of sensory marketing. For instance, rapid and loud music causes a 30% increase in consumption. New study suggests that noisy environments encourage less healthful eating patterns, maybe because “you can’t truly taste what you’re eating” under certain conditions. It’s important to keep in mind the kind of music you’re listening to when grocery shopping, since listening to jazz or classical music tends to improve people’s preferences for healthful savoury meals more so than, say, American rock, which tends to steer us more towards burgers and chips.
A recent study by Portuguese researchers found that when a supermarket played the sound of the sea near the fish counter, sales of fish increased considerably, piqueing Spence’s curiosity in whether natural sounds may affect our decision to eat better. We know that spending time in nature is beneficial to mental health, so I can’t help but wonder whether these soundscapes tap into it.
The fact that we enjoy food better when we share it with people is undeniable, yet “one doesn’t want to promote dining alone,” as Spence puts it. There are methods to make a group lunch more enjoyable for diners by drawing their attention to the food and the discussion around the table. One way to do this is to include the diners in the preparation process by, for example, putting the food out in separate dishes so they may assist themselves, or by letting them choose their own herbs and spices to put on their plate. The so-called Ikea effect is triggered.
A sense of pride in the food they consume develops in them. Having many smaller meals instead of one large one helps individuals relax and take their time remembering what they ate. At last, my pal Lizzie has an ally in Spence. I’ve had the thought, “How great it would be if they were to characterise, example, the carrots as zingy. It seems like every time you go to someone’s home, they’ve produced food, and we don’t discuss it.” There is much to be argued about merely talking about the food more in order to eat more thoughtfully.
Summary
Professor Charles Spence of Oxford University’s Department of Experimental Psychology studies what influences our food preferences. His study emphasises the significance that sensory cues, such as the appearance and aroma of food, as well as other factors like forks, fingers, and music, play in determining whether or not we make healthy food choices. We eat with our eyes first, and that’s been verified by food psychologists. But eating with our hands can maximise the multisensory experience, says nutrition expert Ian Spence. Touch is key to bringing food closer to you and savouring its weight and warmth.
Music may influence people’s eating preferences, according to Spence. For instance, rapid and loud music causes a 30% increase in consumption. A recent study found that when a supermarket played the sound of the sea near the fish counter, sales of fish increased. It’s important to keep in mind the kind of music you’re listening to. Attempt to make every shared meals interesting and enjoyable.
There are methods to make a group lunch more enjoyable for diners. Include the diners in the preparation process by putting food out in separate dishes or letting them choose their own herbs and spices. A sense of pride in the food they consume develops in them.
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