Four ways to avoid unhealthy foods.

Four ways to avoid unhealthy foods.

In a few simple ways, you can make significant changes in your thinking that will encourage you to eat healthier foods.

Overeating is a dangerous and growing problem. Ninety-nine billion people worldwide are affected by obesity, and according to the World Health Organization, this number has tripled since 1975.

Researchers at Yale University in the US say they have found a solution to the problem that could combat obesity.

Described below are four recipes that encourage healthy eating.

1. Before eating, think about negative thoughts about unhealthy foods

People in the study were asked to look at a specific food for just six seconds. But in the meantime, he was asked to keep in mind the negative effects associated with food.

This involved not only thinking about how bad this food is for health, but also thinking about everything that might not be liked, like its taste, etc.

When people in the study were told about their cravings for the food, they had a 20 percent reduction in their cravings for the food compared to other people.

Reducing the demand for unhealthy foods is important because it ultimately affects people's habits and weight.

2. Before eating healthy foods, think positive thoughts

The scientists then reversed the experiment and asked the subjects to think positively about the healthy food.

This led to a significant increase in demand and saw an increase of 14%.

Just thinking about healthy foods for a short time can lead to cravings for those foods.

3. Train the mind to avoid foods that are harmful to health

Scientists at Yale University also looked at how much preparation you do to make better food decisions.

People involved in the research first read about unhealthy foods and were then trained to think about the harms caused by such foods for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, they were shown pictures of unhealthy foods while they were thinking about the harm caused by eating them.

Later they were asked to choose the food for themselves. As a result, their probability of choosing healthier foods increased by 7.6%.

4. Train the mind to already choose healthy foods

The researchers flipped the experiment again and tested whether people would make healthier food choices for themselves.

People read about the benefits of healthy foods and then looked at pictures of them and thought positively about those foods.

It also had an impact on thinking and the rate of healthy eating choices increased by 5.4%.

Small changes add up to big changes

The change may seem small, but after participating in the experiment, the foods the subjects chose were on average 107 fewer calories.

A normal person would have to run for 10 minutes to consume that many calories.

Heidi Kober, associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at Yale University, who was among the researchers, says, "This result is similar to the results obtained with obesity treatment, although it requires less time than the treatment."

He also said that if even one decision about food during the day is improved, weight can be reduced in the long run.

After dieting to lose weight, 70 percent of people regain the weight they lost within three to four years. So any recipe that reduces calories moderately can be beneficial.