Health and wellness has grown rapidly into a multi-billion-dollar business, and one of the foremost reasons is that more people are becoming obsessed with weight. But one researcher says you may not have to spend copious amounts of money to lose weight. Rather, rely on the mind.
Researcher Eric Robinson emphasizes that the mind power to lose weight is just as important as the type of food you put in your body. It's definitely possible to drop significant pounds, but only if you know how to harness your memory of food. For example, can you remember what you've last eaten?
To illustrate the strong impact of memory in your food choices, he cited an experiment with people who have anterograde amnesia. This is a medical condition characterized by the lack of ability to create memories after being diagnosed. Although brain trauma is the usual cause, it may also happen because of a disease. In Robinson's research, his two subjects developed it after a severe herpes infection that damaged the area of the brain responsible for retaining memories.
In the experiment, researcher Glyn Humphreys fed these two patients with cakes and sandwiches, which they finished. However, after only 15 to 20 minutes, they helped themselves to another serving simply because they didn't know they had already eaten the same thing. This, even if both men showed that their sensory-specific satiety, or the need to try other flavors, remained intact.
Cognition also plays a huge role in the world of weight loss. This means that a very simple thing that drives your mind away from the food you're eating may be an enabler, compelling you to eat more. For instance, if you eat while watching television, you stop paying more attention to the food you've already eaten. In turn, you hardly create memories of them and may eat the same thing later.