Buzz for Thursday 1/17/08 - Variety and your diet
Welcome to the Morning Buzz on scnow.com! This is a place where we can talk about the stories making noise around the Pee Dee, The Grand Strand and beyond. I would love for you to voice your opinion by posting comments here!A new study says if you think about the specifics of what you are eating, your diet will become more enjoyable and less repetitive… And, that can help you stick to your diet plan.
From WebMD.com:
Dieting for the new year? Paying attention to the details of what you eat may help you stick with your diet plan.
"Consumers can enjoy themselves more by focusing on the details during their experiences," reports University of Minnesota marketing expert Joseph Redden, PhD, MBA. "This could help people following a repetitive regimen," such as a diet.
"People usually like experiences less as they repeat them; they satiate," Redden writes. Satiation, he says, "makes it hard to follow a diet."
Sound familiar? Then get specific about what you're eating.
For instance, instead of thinking "yet another salad," think "spinach salad with salmon." Or stop thinking "fruit for dessert again," and start thinking "apple," "banana," or whatever specific fruit you plan to eat.
Redden tested the detail-driven approach using jelly beans in five flavors: cherry, orange, peach, strawberry, and tangerine.
Redden gave 135 people 22 jelly beans, one at a time. As each jelly bean was dispensed, information about that jelly bean was displayed on a computer screen.
Some people saw general information, such as "jelly bean #7." Others saw flavor details, such as "cherry #7."
People got bored eating jelly beans faster if they saw the general information. And they enjoyed the experiment more if they saw the flavor details.
The message: Details cut down on that repetitive feeling and boost enjoyment, which in turn could help you stick with a diet.
(The study appears in February's edition of The Journal of Consumer Research.)
What do you think? Plan on giving it a try? Let’s talk about it this morning over breakfast!
Posted by
on 01/17 at 03:56 AM
Let me get this right..
You walk into a crowd of 135 starving dieters..with 2970 jelly beans..
..then hand them out 1 at a time..
..walk away from this without a scratch..only to figure out that people got bored when they werent given the specifics on the individual jelly bean..
I’m a highly educated person..I completed my studies and obtain a degree from the University of Turbeville..and went on to study Media Interference at the little school over in Marion..
So to suggest to me that this study actually helps you stay on your diet is absurd..
The moment you placed the jelly bean in your mouth..you were no longer on a diet..