“You are what you eat” is one of the oldest axiomatic truth in life – the notion that how lean or large you are is determined by the kinds of food you eat.  But could “you are what you smell” be just as true – the notion that what we sniff can affect our appetites?

As anyone who’s driven by a family cookout knows, food aromas have a way of whetting our appetites. And it’s these same scents that researchers from the Netherlands believe can be manipulated to help curb the epidemic that is obesity.

The study’s lead researcher, Rianne Ruijschop, and her team of researchers developed various scents and aromas that were likened to carbohydrates, fat and proteins.  The more complex the scent was—basically if the scent took longer to develop because it was designed to produce a more rich scent—the more “full” people felt.

The full details of the study can be found in the November issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

The researchers want to perform some long-term studies to see if there can be real weight loss through the manipulation of scents.  If their long term findings prove as beneficial as their short term ones, it could signal a new wave of food development, where food is manipulated in the production process to elicit a stronger scent.

It’s a fine thing that these researchers are investigating what can be done to minimize the blight that is obesity on society.  But I’m hesitant to wrap my arms around the idea of manipulating food.  For starters, how would they even go about doing this?  And when in the food making process will these scents be infused?  When the seed is planted?  At food manufacturing locales?

The bottom line is this: There is no aroma, magic pill, or anything else that will ever be as effective as exercise and eating properly for weight loss.  Try as they might, there’s no “scent shortcut” to weight loss.  It’s all about energy in, energy out.

But it’s also about knowing yourself and your weaknesses.  So don’t put yourself into situations that will cause you to overweight.

For example, there’s a tendency for some people to want to eat everything on their plate that they dish out.  You can still do that, but do it with a smaller plate.  The proportion of food in relation to the plate has a way of tricking the brain into thinking it’s getting a full helping.

Second, if you’re a fast eater, slow down!  This not only allows you to enjoy your food more, but it gives the stomach and the brain the time to recognize whether or not it’s full.  It takes about 20 minutes for the brain to make that hungry or not connection.  An easy way of slowing down your eating is by putting down your fork or spoon after every other bite.

Finally, whatever you do, DON’T skip meals.  This may be tempting to do, but trust me, skipping meals only sets you up for splurging at the next meal because you’re famished.  Slow and steady wins the race, so eat several small meals throughout the day (every three to four hours).

Sources
msnbc.msn.com
Balch, Phyllis A. “Prescription for Nutritional Healing.” 4th Edition. 2006. New York: Avery