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A food craving is an intense desire for a particular food . Among the most common foods we tend to crave are those that are high in fat, salt, and sugar. Frequent cravings for ice cream, potato chips, pizza, French fries, chocolate, and cookies can hamper goals of eating a healthy diet and keeping weight under control.
According to a study conducted by researchers at the University of South Florida, There is a technique that can help you curb cravings without adding calories.
Usually the aroma of a food can make you crave it, right? Think of the smell of freshly baked bread, cookies, pizza, hot dogs, or tacos. But it is precisely the smell that can act as a deterrent, according to the study published in the Journal of Marketing Research.
Study shows that breathing in the odors of fatty foods for more than two minutes is enough to decrease craving of people. It is suggested that prolonged exposure to these initially attractive aromas can trigger a reward in the brain that then leaves us satisfied.
“The olfactory and The taste buds are strongly interconnected and the reward centers in the brain do not distinguish between stimuli encoded by different sensory systems, ”said Dipayan Biswas, director of the study.
Experiment participants who smelled food aromas such as pizza or cookies during 30 seconds tended to have more craving for food than those who inhaled the aroma for a full two minutes.
The researchers note that managers are using ambient scent as a strategic element and food-related scents are especially common . According to the results of their experiments, prolonged exposure to an indulgent ambient aroma of food leads to fewer purchases.
Hunger or craving
Unlike a craving, physical hunger appears gradually and can be postponed, it can be satisfied with any meal and you can stop eating when you feel satisfied.
Avoid hunger and distract yourself to reduce cravings
Being satisfied will help curb cravings. “It’s easier to eat less of the food you crave if you’re not ravenously hungry,” shares Mayo Clinic. He also advises going for a walk, talking to someone, or finding another way to distract yourself, since food cravings generally disappear after 20 minutes.
Reduces stress. Taking refuge in food when stressed, sad, bored, or angry is something that happens a lot. Eating emotionally can not only put on a few pounds, it can also affect your health.
Drink water. Lack of water can be confused with hunger and sugar cravings. Your cravings for a treat, a bread or a cookie can be a sign of dehydration.
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