PT WEIGHT LOSS
of a plate may fool you into
thinking there’s less food
than there really is, Prof
Spence says. A bowl,
especially fi lled to the top,
gives the impression of
abundance, possibly leading
you to eat less.
HOW SMELL MAKES
YOU FAT
Back in 2000, in his research
on iced tea for a food company,
Prof Spence made an
interesting discovery: When
people opened a bot le of iced
tea, they thought it smelled
evocative. But when they
drank the tea, the fl avour
was far more subdued,
disappointing them.
Your brain doesn’t like
having its predictions be
wrong, he says. This may
be why a fast-food chicken
sandwich smells so good but
never seems to deliver.
He also found one way to fi x
the confl ict between smell and
taste: adding sugar. That way,
the tongue experiences the
level of fl avour it had expected
based on scent. For example,
peeling back a package of
Oreos releases such a potent
cookie smell that Nabisco likely
had to dial up the sugar to
meet expectations.
1/ Pick Plain
Choose regular, no-fruit-on-
the-bot om yogurt to cut
added sugar. Then add your
own berries. Incorporate
something that makes you
chew longer, like walnuts or
almonds, to help reduce your
overall calorie intake, says
Prof Spence.
2/ Watch the Booze
You know beer goggles are a
thing, but beer schnozzes?
People under the infl uence
of alcohol tend to eat more
calories, the journal Obesity
reports. Alcohol can sensitise
the brain to food aromas,
inciting us to eat when we’re
not hungry and to overeat.
Order your drink with your
meal, not before.
3/ Lose the Idea of Scent
In 2015, researchers studied
a marketing tactic called
“smellising” – that is, encouraging
people to think about a product’s
smell. Doing this heightened
salivation rates when people
looked at a picture of the
product. If you think you’re being
smell-teased, ask yourself: “Am I
really hungry, or are other forces
at work?”
Why is popcorn so perfect with
a movie? When the loud sounds
of your environment match the
crunchiness happening inside
your mouth, that’s harmony.HOW SOUND MAKES YOU FAT
My all-white appetiser led
into a course of crisp seaweed
spaghet i. The servers gave me a
pair of headphones that emit ed
the sound of people chewing.
The ef ect was amazing: The
pasta seemed crunchier.
Prof Spence says this explains
what happens when people pair
popcorn and a movie or potato
chips and TV. When the loud
sounds of your environment
match the crunchiness happening
inside your mouth, that’s
harmony. But that harmony
is also what can cause you to
snack mindlessly.1/ Focus on Chewing
Try eating a crisp, fresh saladwithout distractions. The simple
sound of chewing will intensify
your satisfaction.2/ Tune Your Fork
Fast-food joints play upbeat
music for a reason. People tend
to synchronise their chewing
to the beat, says Prof Spence.
Here’s yet another reason to cook
at home: Playing slower-paced
music can help you chew slower
and eat less overall. Try some
Leon Bridges or Chet Baker.HOW TOUCH MAKES YOU FAT
One of the night’s fi nal courses
involved whiskey poured into two
glasses. The fi rst glass was thick
and wide-rimmed with parallel
lines up the sides. The second
was smaller and lighter with a
wide bowl that tapered at the
rim. We took a drink from each.
“Are they the same or dif erent?”
Jozef asked.
My sip from the heavier glass
tasted more alcoholic and more
pungent. According to Prof
Spence, heavy weight conveys
bit erness and masculinity. The
whiskey from the smaller glass
tasted sweeter and more intense,
as if its fl avours were more
concentrated. Turns out, both
drinks were Chivas 12.
In a similar experiment, people
were served yogurt in two bowls
that looked the same but dif eredin weight. They were asked to
hold each bowl while deciding
which yogurt might keep them
fuller. The heaviest bowl rated
higher. The brain associates heft
with tastiness. The inverse may
also hold true: When your fast
food arrives in lightweight paper,
you’re being led to lower your
expectations.1/ Buy Heavy Cutlery
Using a heftier knife and fork has
been shown to make people rate
food as higher in quality than,
say, a meal that’s served with
plastic utensils.2/ Cup Your Meal
Having oatmeal? Hold the bowl
in your hands when you eat.
Feeling the weight has been
shown to make you feel fuller
faster, since you at ribute the
heavy feeling to a richer meal.
After the meal, Prof Spence
said something that stuck with
me. “If I had to rank the senses in
order of importance for eating, I’d
choose sight and smell as most
important,” he said. “Then sound
and touch. Last is taste.”
Knowing the dif erent ways
restaurants and food producers
manipulate your senses is your
fi rst step towards smarter
eating. But it’s in leveraging
gastrophysics that you start to tip
the scale to your advantage.Eating fewer calories might
be as simple as holding the
bowl as you chow down.86 JUNE 2017 MENSHEALTH.COM.SG