Blog #3: New Weight Loss Strategy: Postponing a Snack

Studies have shown that people who hold off on eating a snack that they are craving will desire it less later on. Also the studies showed that they will eat less of that food in the next seven days. Nicole Mead, PhD, an assistant professor at Catolica- Libson School of Business and Economics in Portugal, conducted a study where she invited 99 men and women to watch film clips. She put a bowl of candies in front of each participant. There were three different groups of participants. In one group she told them they could eat the candies as they please. The second group she asked them not to eat any candy. Finally the third group was told they could eat the candy but to wait until later. The participants did not know what she was observing and she would ask them questions to throw them off as to what she was looking for. After the video clips she then told everyone they could now eat the candies. The group that was told not to eat the candies ate the most. The postponing group ate the least of the three groups. Mead also did a follow up of the participants and asked how much chocolate they ate in the next week. The people who were in the postponing group only had chocolate one time throughout the next week. The participants who were told not to eat the candies had four and a half times as much chocolate as the postponing group the following week.

In America, 33.9% of adults over the age of 20 are obese and 34.4% are overweight. At least five of the top ten leading causes of death in the US are caused by being obese and overweight. For this reason I think obesity is considered a social problem in the United States. Not everyone has the capability of being able to go to the gym and exercise everyday so I think little strategy’s like postponing a snack may be helpful for these people. If people who are overweight try this technique and it works for them, they are reducing their risks of heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, respiratory diseases, and stroke. Postponing a snack is not the only thing an overweight person needs to do in order to lose their extra weight and get a six- pack but it may be the start they need to get themselves healthy and active.


http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20120130/new-weight-loss-strategy-postponing-snack