Cornell University. US: Skipping meals
can sabotage your shopping – and your diet, according to a new Cornell
study. Even short term food deprivation not only increases overall
grocery shopping, but leads shoppers to buy 44,8% more high calorie
foods, according to the study published in JAMA Internal Medicine.
“People skip meals for all sorts of reasons – dieting, fasting,
insane schedules that make you forget to eat,” says Aner Tal, PhD, from
the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, lead author of the study. “But it
doesn’t matter why you skipped a meal, it can still make your
nutritionist cry - making you buy more potato chips and ice-cream and
less baby carrots and skim milk.” Even a short period of deprivation can
have far-ranging effects on your diet.
In one study, 68 meal skippers (who were asked to fast for five
hours before the study) were either given food (wheat thins) to reduce
their fasting-induced hunger or not given any food to keep them hungry
following the fast, and then asked to make purchases at a simulated
grocery store. The hungry shoppers that did not eat the wheat thins
bought 18.6% more food – including 44.8% more high calorie foods. At a
follow-up study researchers observed late afternoon shoppers at an
actual grocery store during the hours between lunch and dinner –the
hungriest hours—and the hours just after lunch, when people tend to be
satiated. Late-afternoon shoppers purchased 26.7% fewer low-calorie
foods proportionate to their overall purchases, than those shopping
after lunch.
The problem with these effects are that skipping a meal can cast a
curse on your whole week, filling your pantry, fridge - and
subsequently, belly - with more fattening foods. The best advice to
avoid this from happening? “Make sure you don’t skip a meal, or at least
have a snack like apples or string cheese in your office,” says Brian
Wansink PhD, co-author of the paper. “Breakfast is the most skipped
meal, and even having something for lunch that has protein will cut your
hunger edge.” Having a snack before shopping to curb your hunger may be
all that’s needed to curb the effects of hunger on your shopping
basket.