You’re what you THINK you eat.

Researchers at the Stanford Mind and Body Lab conducted a study called ‘Mind Over Milkshakes’ in which they served two groups of participants two milkshakes. They told one group that their milkshake was a “light and sensible shake” containing just 140-calories. The other shake was described as an “indulgent” shake containing 620-calories. The truth was that both shakes were exactly the same, containing the same amount of calories; 380 to be exact.

After both groups drank their shake, the researchers measured the participants’ self-reported level of satiety (fullness) and their blood levels of the appetite hormone; ghrelin. When grehlin is high, you feel hungry and when levels are low you feel full.

Despite both shakes being the exact same, the participants that drank the “indulgent” shake, reported higher levels of fullness and their hormone grehlin levels dramatically declined.  Conversely, the participants who believed they drank the “sensible” shake, reported blood grehlin levels that stayed relatively the same.

The results concluded that an individual’s beliefs about what he or she is eating may dramatically impact how your body responds to it. What this tell us is that mindset matters in the types and amount of foods you choose to consume and your body’s physiological effects from it.

Your perception of your food, whether it be veggies, milkshakes or a burger matters. If you find veggies boring and unsatisfying, then they will be and you will think you need to consume more calorie dense foods to feel full.

By changing your mindset to become less critical and more positive about the foods you consume, you may be more motivated to eat healthier foods, and your body will also respond better to those foods. This gives you greater power to improve your health. 

How do you perceive your food? If you have negative beliefs around food, you might benefit by focusing on becoming a master of your thoughts before trying to focus on changing your diet in order to achieve better results.

Get in touch to learn more about my Mastering Your Mindset consultations.