Weight Loss Information

It seems like every other magazine at the supermarket checkout has some sort of walking weight loss program. You open up the magazine, and here's somebody who lost 50 pounds, or 150 pounds, just by walking. Not only that, but on one of the pages, there's a box of their walking schedule. A lot of times, a glance at the box shows that their schedule just won't work for you. Either you don't have the time they seem to have, or you KNOW you can't walk that far, that fast without creating more business for the local coroner or heart surgeon.

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Appetite and hunger cravings seem to be one of the new villains in the battle against weight gain and obesity. Nutritional supplement companies, pharmaceutical companies and many new diet books are all targeting the appetite and hunger. In theory this seems like a logical place to look. It sounds like it would make sense to me. Don’t hungry people eat? Doesn’t a bigger appetite mean you will eat more food? The truth is these aren’t the only factors contributing to north Americas none stop feeding frenzy.

Appetite and hunger are only 2 of many factors contributing to our need to feed. And I would say maybe not even the most important ones.

Recent research shows that other social and psychological factors have a huge impact on not only when we eat, but how much we will eat. For starters the size of the plate, bowl, box or bag you eat food from will determine how much you will eat. A study done on people eating popcorn at the movies showed that people eating from the jumbo sized bag compared to the small bag caused people to eat more. This result was consistent with all sorts of containers. People eat more from bigger bowls and larger plates. The troubling part about this research is that these people are completely unaware that they are eating more. They actually think they are eating the same amount as the people who were eating less with the smaller bowls, plates, and bags.

Other research shows that as long as food is within arms reach we will continue to eat it even if we’re not hungry. We have a better chance of eating less if food was more difficult to come by and took more effort. Even having to walk across a room will slow us down. But if that bowl of chocolate covered almonds is close enough to reach without moving, look out, it’ll be gone before you know it!

In the battle of the bulge, appetite and hunger are factors, but research is showing they definitely are not the only factors. And I would argue they less important that the nutrition researchers, pharmaceutical and supplement companies think. Things as simple as a bigger container or being within arms reach of food will make us eat more. These influences have nothing to do with hunger. They are lifestyle choices that are much harder to control. In fact many of them are out of our control. For example there is no extra extra small bag of popcorn at the movies. All you have to choose from is huge, or super huge!

The bottom line is that fancy diets and products designed to kill your appetite and get rid of hunger cravings will leave most people very disappointed and wondering why they still can’t lose weight.

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