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Nom Nom: Time to Stop Eating?
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: May 11, 2016
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It’s long been known that smell is highly associated with hunger and eating habits. Get a wiff of a certain scent and it won’t be long before those hunger pangs role in. This is why some restaurants and theme parks will actually put food scents in the air vents, trying to persuade people to get hungry and purchase more food.
According to a recent study, it might not only be your smell that could trick your eating habits. Except in this case, the result may actually work in your favor—especially as you are working with a medical weight loss program. Researchers found that hearing the sounds of chewing and slurping as you eat can actually dissuade you from wanting to eat more. This is found to hold true even when it is your own chewing that you are hearing.
Mindful Eating and Food Awareness
Becoming more mindful of your food choices can help you develop healthier eating habits. There are a lot of strategies that are encouraged to improve mindful eating. These include:
- Keeping a food journal
- Only eating when seated at a table
- Keeping a log of water consumption
- Counting calories and reading food labels
When you adapt habits like these it becomes easier to make healthy food choices day after day, and transitioning your attitude towards food in this way is the best way to achieve long-term weight loss success. While this has long been understood, the knowledge that hearing yourself eat can actually interfere with your appetite provides a fun and simple trick that you may be able to add to this list of strategies.
The study was a simple one. Undergraduate students were given a bowl of pretzels and a pair of headphones. One group heard loud ambient sounds through the headphones, while the other group heard very quiet noises. The group with the loud ambient sounds could not hear themselves chewing, and so they ate freely. For the other group, however, the sound of chewing was amplified by the headphones with minimal noise coming through, and those participants were found to eat far fewer pretzels. Hearing themselves chew made the snack less appetizing.
So how can this help you? If you know that there is a time of day when you are a lot more prone to indulging in a snack, consider sticking in a pair of headphones without music. This may help curb your desire to eat as you hear yourself chewing.
Nick
Nick's Story
"I wish I would have come here first. We spend all our time reacting to the next great weight loss tip or program. It might work for a while, but does not last and we end up yo-yoing from one fad to the next – as we gain more weight." Read More
Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
"I had no trouble adhering to the meals and they really helped catapult my progress! The classes were so beneficial to me because they helped change my thinking about how I viewed health, nutrition, and fitness.
I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
"The best thing I did was call the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. I have a lot more energy, I'm not hungry, and it feels great.
You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
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Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
