Study says avoiding these 2 activities can help you lose weight

Beyond just providing sustenance and energy, food is a cultural pillar. From Venice to Vancouver and Milan to Minsk food brings us together, maintains traditions, and enriches daily life. And, as life has continued to change and adapt to modern conveniences, so has how we encounter and interact with food.

There’s no better example of this than the recent rise of food-centric TV programs. From the late great Anthony Bourdain’s extensive work traveling the world and trying out new dishes to the ever-expanding list of popular “celebrity chefs,” there’s been no shortage of food programs to watch over the past few decades.

These programs are often fun to watch, but according to a new study, you may want to turn on a crime thriller or horror movie instead if you’re looking to eat less. Researchers from the University of Surrey report that watching other people prepare and cook food usually results in the viewer eating more and desiring to eat more.

Similarly, study authors say the same also holds true when it comes to preparing food. If someone spends hours in the kitchen preparing dinner for themselves, they’re more likely to eat more than usual. Of course, not everyone gets to pick and choose when they prepare food for themselves and/or their family, but these findings are still worth keeping in mind. At the very least, you can always cite this study the next time you want to avoid cooking. “But, I can’t cook today, it would ruin my diet!”

“We found that actively preparing food yourself or watching someone else prepare food can lead to increased feelings of hunger and to eating more,” notes study co-author Jane Ogden, Professor of Health Psychology at the University of Surrey.

Interestingly, Professor Ogden made it a point to mention that this phenomenon doesn’t always have to be bad. Societally, it’s been drilled into everyone’s heads for so long that “eating less = a better body,” but that isn’t always the case. Plenty of people need to up their daily calorie count, or simply eat more healthy food. In these scenarios, it may be worth keeping the TV on all day.

“The impact of this depends on the kinds of food being prepared. If the food is lacking in nutritional value this could lead to weight gain and unhealthy overeating. However, if people are preparing their own nutritious food or watching others do the same then this could actually be a good influence, particularly if they are cooking with children as it could encourage them to eat more of the healthier foods that they may not have usually wanted to eat,” Professor Ogden explains.

To reach these conclusions 80 female volunteers were separated into four experimental groups. The first was a control group, and the second was an “active food preparation” group, meaning each person was asked to prepare a cheese wrap within 10 minutes. The third group was called “video food preparation” and entailed watching a video of a researcher preparing a cheese wrap. Finally, the fourth group was called the “distraction group.” These volunteers were asked to engage in a 10-minute coloring task.

After all four groups had completed their assigned task, all study participants were told to eat the cheese wrap.

Researchers looked to see how much of each wrap the participants ate, and also asked each person about how much they wanted to eat the cheese wrap. Sure enough, those who had either made the wrap themselves or watched someone else make it both expressed more desire to eat and actually ended up eating more.

The full study can be found here, published in Appetite.