Trying to Lose Weight? Skip the Food Boards on Pinterest
Seeing yummy photos of food—on Pinterest, an ad or in a magazine—can make you feel hungry.
We all love food. And looking at yummy photos of food—even healthy dishes—on Pinterest (our new obsession, by the way), in an ad or on TV, can be fun. But if you’re trying to lose weight, it may not be the best idea. I know, sad face.
According to new research from the journal Obesity, just looking at images of delicious food can increase the amount of ghrelin in your system. Ghrelin, which I always read as “gremlin,” kind of is a gremlin. A little gremlin that when released in your body makes you hungry, hungry, hungry. Previous studies have found that smelling food can make you hungry, but this is one of the first pieces of research to find that simply looking at images can have a similar effect.
So the moral of this story? If you’re trying to lose weight—and listen to your true hunger (which we all should be doing!)—skip the cooking shows on TV, flip the page when you see an ad for unhealthy food in a magazine and stick to the more fitness-minded boards on Pinterest, okay? And if you are going to look at images of food, try to pick only the healthiest ones if you can. After all, there’s not much wrong with craving kale. Food is a fabulous part of life, but you don’t want that gremlin ghrelin causing a ruckus because you saw an image of chocolate cake, when really—15 minutes ago—you could not have cared less about chocolate cake.
What do you think about this research? Will it change how you use Pinterest? Flip through magazines? Let’s discuss! —Jenn
Comments
I think this is a funny study because I feel it’s something that is so intuitive to all of us, when you look at some really delicious food you are going to want to eat it. I try to limit looking around on yelp & food blogs and even grocery shopping until after I have eaten so I don’t let myself get carried away.
So i’s not enough to stop eating fattening foods, we can’t even LOOK at them? I’m sorry, but this stinks! 🙁
I agree with this article and can say from experience that if you don’t have the mindset to actually lose the weight, nothing will help you.
I personally can’t count how many times I asked myself how I could lose my weight. I was just wasting my time talking and never acting. Actually I tried a lot of crappy diet plans and fake fat loss pills that did nothing for me but empty my wallet. I eventually came across one easy and natural method and decided to try it out http://easyfreediet.weebly.com To be fair, it didn’t shave off 70 pounds the first week like everything else guarantees. But after 3 months passed I easily lost 120 pounds. Yes, I know, 40 pounds a month may be not too much for some people, but for me the method is very effective.
Now I’m looking at my body and I feel proud and happy for the first time in my life. 🙂 Of course I am still using this method to keep it that way.
The most important thing to remember is you must never give up! Don’t waste your time just reading and looking for a miracle to happen. Just stick with one method for 2 -3 months to see great results.
And the bottom line is that if you want to be healthy you should avoid eating “junk food”. Good luck.
this is funny b/c i actually got off pinterest in part for this reason – it was like being bombarded by commercials – made me want want want want – food, clothes, houses, THOSE children, THAT man – just too much – and i was hungry when i was looking at it!!!
While I understand this is probably true for many, if not most, women, I have actually found the opposite to be true for myself. I started losing weight by cutting calories almost a year ago and I found an outlet in watching shows like Best Thing I Ever Ate and pinning beautiful food on Pinterest. It actually satisfied a big part of my craving for food. I’m down over 75 lbs so I don’t think I’m sabotaging myself too much 😉
However, when I do pin food, I pin highly caloric food to one board and healthier, low calorie food to another. That way, when I am looking for a new recipe to make for myself, I see only the healthy options.
It’s funny – after I started looking at sites like foodgawker, tastespotting and other food blogs regularly (mostly for dinner ideas and such), I’ve found myself eating a lot more. There might just be something to this. Will have to try not looking at them for a while to see!
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