Dieters could help themselves to lose weight by thinking about food, according to a new study.
A small-scale study in Science showed that people who had imagined they were eating chocolate wanted it less than those who had not been thinking of it. The researchers said that imagining eating a favourite food could be a substitute for actually eating it, thereby reducing the desire for it. A psychologist said this might not work for those with strong cravings.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania divided 51 people into three groups. One group imagined eating 30 M&M chocolates, the second group imagined eating three M&Ms, while the third group did not imagine eating any.
When a bowl of the sweets was subsequently presented to the group, those that had thought most about eating the chocolates ate the fewest.