Life is a constant struggle for people who are overweight, and why wouldn’t it be when everything around them is a constant reminder of their size? We live in a cruel world where if someone doesn’t check all the boxes of being a “perfect woman” or the “perfect man”, that person is subject to ridicule. The main factor is weight. What doesn’t help is the constant feeling of not being good enough when all you see when you switch on your television are size zero models with clear skin and perfectly petite waists.

There are so many struggles people go through in order to stick to a diet plan and to not overeat to avoid gaining excess weight. Would you believe if I told you that eating in the dark helps you lose weight? I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t. And I am most definitely not trying to feed you a fable. Let me make it more believable for you by telling you about some studies.

Studies have shown that eating in the dark prevents the stage of digestion called “cephalic” which in easier terms means salivation and release of various gastric juices upon the sight of food, which lessens the desire to eat more than the amount that one’s body requires.

The University of Konstanz conducted a study that consisted of 90 people, 50 of whom were blindfolded. When hungry, the participants were presented with 3 95g bowls of cherry, caramel and vanilla ice cream to eat and were given only 15 minutes to do so. When they were finished, the bowls were then taken away to measure how much was eaten and how much was not. What was concluded from this study was that the people who were blindfolded overestimated how much they ate. They only consumed 105g each on average, whereas the people that weren’t blindfolded consumed 116g of ice cream.

So, to conclude, the lack of sight caused the people to only eat the amount their body required, whereas the people who could see what they were presented resorted towards the “I need to finish my plate” approach. Blindfolding yourself while eating can help you lose weight. Though the idea sounds somewhat comical, it is proven to work. Therefore, you should try it and see the results and you might just be surprised at how effective it proves. If blindfolding is not your thing, start eating in the dark from now!