Friday, November 13, 2009

What Colors Suppress Appetite

Certain colors suppress your desire to overeat.


Your weight loss goals likely focus on restricting calories and exercising, but less burdensome tricks can also help you lose pounds. Using color therapy to suppress your appetite and reduce cravings is a way to make dieting fun. Different colors affect your eating habits in different ways. Some colors stimulate your desire to eat, while others suppress it. Incorporating color into your dining experience can be used to help you consume fewer calories.


Blue Food








Blue suppresses the appetite more than any other color. Aside from blueberries, which are actually purple, there are no naturally blue foods. In the past, when humans foraged for food, blue was a warning of spoilage or danger. The lack of natural blue food and the danger signal it communicated limited our appetite's response to blue food. People gravitate to colors that commonly occur in nature, like green, red, yellow and orange. The aversion to blue can help you eat less by suppressing your desire to overeat. High-calorie foods such as russet potatoes, pasta, sour cream, cheese and butter are usually light or white. This makes it easy to alter the color with a few drops of blue food coloring. Spreading blue-tinted butter on your bread discourages your desire for more than a few bites.


Serving Your Food


If forcing yourself to eat dyed food seems unappealing, incorporate blue into your meals in other ways. Serve your food on a blue plate, set on a blue table cloth with a blue napkin. Surrounding yourself in the color will subdue your appetite and help you feel calm and focused on your food. Blue is a gentle, soothing color and it helps you feel relaxed. Black, green and lavender also suppress a desire to overeat. The more you can focus on your food and take your time dining, the less likely you are to overeat.


Color Your Dining Space


The environment in which you eat plays a major role in your dining habits. Nutritionists recommend meals be eaten at a dining table, without distractions such as the television. This allows you to focus on your eating and understand your feelings of hunger and satisfaction. Creating a peaceful environment in which to eat is an important part of weight loss, and if you plan to use colors to suppress your appetite, use them in your dining space. Blue, light green and lavender have a calming effect, while red and orange stimulate the appetite. Decorate your dining area with the calming colors to have an easier time controlling your food intake.


Color Therapy


You can use color therapy throughout your day to help you cope with food cravings and the desire to overeat. Replace the light bulb in your refrigerator with one that is blue-tinted, suppressing your desire to snack every time you open the door. Get motivated to drink water by adding red or orange food coloring or serve it in a red or orange glass. These colors stimulate your emotions and appetite, encouraging you to reach for the water frequently. This will keep you hydrated and fill your stomach, preventing you from consuming excess calories. Color therapy is not an exact science because it involves human emotion. Experiment with different color flatware and glassware, as well as different shades of food, to see which ones help you stick to your diet.

Tags: your desire, desire overeat, your dining, blue food, suppress your, your appetite, your food