Researchers argue that paying attention to what you eat while you eat a meal will reduce the size of the portion eaten and prevent you from consuming excessive amounts of calories with subsequent meals. If you remember what you ate and that you ate it, then you will eat less in your next meals.
Awareness, attention-focusing, memory what we eat and distraction according to researchers, it is the most important cause of excessive food consumption and, as a result, overweight and obesity.
Liverpool researchers conducted a study involving 12 overweight and obese people. Each participant received a phone application to help control what he was eating. The participants took photos of the dishes and products they ate. They then received short text messages to remind themselves of what they ate. They also received thought-provoking information, such as whether you eat consciously, carefully, what you can do to make it so, etc. It was found that by using the phone application, participants lost 1 kg within 1,5 month.
Did you take a picture of the meal?
The application is simple and works as follows:
The participant performs photos food and drink (whatever) he intends to eat. When he accepts the photo, a text message is sent like: “Before you eat your next meal, remember what have you eaten today?” It reminds you of what he ate that day, before he starts eating the next meal. The application presents a short slide show of the meals eaten.
You are full?
After eating the meal, the participant answers the question whether he has eaten everything and whether he is full. The participants could see in chronological order what they ate today on the basis of the photos they took. After watching this, the app reminds participants to eat carefully and with focus, without being distracted by other activities such as watching TV, and to remember to take pictures of each meal.
The study was conducted on a small group of people. However, the first results are promising. As it turns out, the smartphone also becomes useful in terms of weight loss.
This study gives hope to fight obesity by using new technologies. Working on changing eating habits is not easy, so maybe your phone will soon help you work even better on the aspects of conscious eating. Psychologists will continue their research. We will surely find out about their results.
Źródło: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
Control what you eat with our diet and phone application: Give it a try