Unusual study: stop cravings with information diet!

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Finally Revealed: Stop cravings – in a completely unusual way. Information diet is the new hit!

How does the image we form of our world affect our appetite?

It feels like 80% of all news on television, in the press, and on relevant Internet news portals is negative.

It often seems to me that there is a constant competition for which stories are best suited to frighten and intimidate people.

As if there were an unwritten rule that headlines had to be negative.

Can it be that our perception of the world, our reality, also has a measurable influence on our health, eating habits, and thus on our dream body?

Researcher: In “hard times”, we reach for calorie bombs

How does the perception of our own environment influence our eating habits? Researchers at the University of Florida got to the bottom of these questions in a recently published study.

To do this, they first put forward the thesis that people who found their environment “difficult” also lived with the subconscious feeling that food was scarce and, as a result, ate more energy-rich foods.

In other words, do people exposed to negative information eat more calories?

The scientists carried out several test series in which they first confronted the subjects with posters or computer screens that either

bad,
neutral or
positive

words showed.

In the second step, the participants were allowed to serve themselves from two bowls of M&M’s.

Although both jars contained the same candy, the contents were advertised differently by the researchers.

The subjects were made to believe

Bowl 1 contains low-calorie M&M’s with conventional ingredients, while
Bowl 2 contains a potent M&M variant with extremely rare ingredients.

The surprising result of the study: Test persons who were previously exposed to terms such as “misery”, “hardship”, or “survival” reached for the supposed M&M calorie bombs in bowl 2 much more frequently.

According to scientists, enjoyment is not the only reason people reach for energy-rich foods. Another reason would be that people want to make provisions for “bad times”.

Stop Cravings? Information Diet!

Okay, got it: Bad news in excess can ultimately lead to cravings for sweet calorie bombs.

So what to do?

Anthony Salerno, one of the study’s two authors, recommends going on an information diet and completely abstaining from consuming the news for a few weeks.

I like the thought!

The info diet is not new, and I first heard about this idea when I read Timothy Ferriss’ book “The 4-Hour Week“a good three years ago.

I was so fascinated by the idea at the time that I completely abstained from any news media – initially for 30 days. On the one hand, that was a big step for me – up to that point, I was dependent on the “needle” of FAZ & Co. on the other hand, it was an incredibly positive and liberating experience.

And since then, this “diet” has become a kind of lifestyle for me, which has given me a lot of space for the things that I consider to be much more important in life than being informed about the (mostly negative) things as quickly as possible happening in the world right now.

Today I consciously select the news that me

inspire,
motivate,
lead closer to my goal,
make laugh,
help me to master a current challenge,
are positive
to “feel” good
be FREE!

For me, this includes – surprise! – e.g. news on the topics of strength training, running, fitness, nutrition, psychology, and motivation.

Since then, I have only “consumed” news from politics, current affairs, tabloids, and business very carefully.

One experience I’ve had is that it’s almost impossible to avoid the information in the Daily News that “one” needs to know: an acquaintance, friend, or colleague will report on it.

If necessary, a specific question is sufficient over a meal, such as “Which current news item concerns you the most?”

Findings from 30 days with no news – My personal information diet

The information diet gave me three major aha moments and new perspectives:

Are news a mirror of the world? No! The daily news reflects only part of the reality, which is mostly negative. The spotlight goes over the many beautiful things that happen daily in our world and highlights grievances, catastrophes, and misfortunes that we cannot influence 99% of ourselves.
In which world do you live? Do you think the world we live in is good or bad? I’ve concluded that the answer to this question is a choice. For me, it’s a choice to live a happier, more relaxed life: the world is good! This basic assumption is by no means naive to me. It influences the way I meet people at first: not suspicious, reserved, and suspicious, instead friendly, open, and curious.
Fewer messages = more time. How much time do you spend consuming the news every day? What specific (=measurable) benefit do you derive from it? How does this information affect the decisions you make to achieve your goal? For me, stopping the information drug meant one thing above all: more time! More time for training, cooking, friends, and building a home gym, and a new meditation room, in short, for the things that are important to me.

At this point, the scientists at the University of Miami would certainly add a fourth point:

“Stop Cravings? No problem!”

Conclusion: When do you go on the information diet?

More time, relaxation, happiness, and focus on the essential things in life – all this promises the 30-day information diet.

Incidentally, this does not mean complete isolation and renunciation of information.

A good diet is not the same as completely abstaining from food. Instead, it is about putting together the best, healthiest, and at the same time, tastiest foods into an overall composition that lets your body run into top form.

The Information diet gives you the right (hopefully mostly positive) food for your mind. It lets you become aware of what is important to you – and what is good for you.

Healthy thinking leads to a healthy body – and we now know that “good news” eliminates the appetite for high-calorie foods.

How about putting down the newspaper in the morning and instead spending more time with your partner, preparing a delicious breakfast, or putting in a crisp morning workout?

Maybe you also use the time to deal with things that make you feel much better than the latest economic figures or bad luck reports from the other hemisphere?

And maybe you find that you were able to stop your cravings along the way?