From sad scripts to multicoloured morsels, we reveal the six secret cues that trigger overeating.

Mood Food

Studies* have found we eat more while we're watching weepy movies. Professor Brian Wansink of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab in the US, found that people who watched the 1970 tear-jearker Love Story ate 36 per cent more salty, buttered popcorn than those who saw romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama. "When they're feeling negative, people tend to go for foods with a lot of sugar or fat," says Professor Wansink.

Spoiled For Choice

It may be the spice of life, but variety can lead to overindulgence. Professor Wansink has found that when faced with 10 colours of M&M's in a bowl, we'll eat 43 per cent more of them in an hour than if we're offered only seven colours.** He says people get excited by a variety of colours and flavours, so they eat more.

Copycat

It's not just what we eat that counts – it's also who we eat with. Most people eat a third less when dining alone, says Professor Wansink. And the bigger the get-together, the more we consume, with most people eating 47 per cent more when eating with two other people.** Research also shows that we're 70 per cent more likely to choose the same food as the person we're dining with.†

Portion Distortion

Next time you head out to a bar, stop and think about the shape of your glass. Most people drink up to 77 per cent more from a short, wide glass than from a tall, narrow one. Similarly, most people also pour more into a short, wide glass≠. This is because we tend to focus on the height of cylindrical objects, rather than the width, explains Professor Wansink. The bad news? Bars have caught on – and many have ditched short, wide glasses in a bid to cut their alcohol bill.

Constant Craving

Imagining familiar sights and smells may help control your sugar cravings, says Flinders University psychologist Dr Eva Kemps. She gave study subjects chocolate bars, asked them to imagine how they would taste and then to focus on a familiar signt or scent unrelated to food. Instantly, their cravings halved¥. "If we do something about those mental images [of food], we can interfere with people's cravings," explains Dr Kemps.

Distance Yourself

Keeping chocolates on your desk is a recipe for mindless eating, warns Professor Wansink, but moving them up to two metres away – so you have to get up to reach them – means you'll snack less.** "The distance is enough to ask yourself, 'Do I really want another chocolate?'" he says. And people who keep the empty wrappers in plain sight will eat about half as many sweets as those who bin the evidence.

*Cornell University Research.
**Annual Review Of Nutrition, Vol. 24, 2004.
† Duke University Research.
≠ American Journal Of Preventive Medicine, September 2006.
¥ Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Applied 2007, Vol. 13 No. 2
Photo: Stepan Popov/iStockphoto.com

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