Case study. Mind over smoothies

The Mind-Body Connection in Satiety

To explore how much our mindset can influence our physiology, Alia Crum designed an ingenious study focusing on the body's response to food.

The question was: is our feeling of satiety dependent only on the nutrients we consume, or also on what we think we've consumed?

The Deceptive Smoothie Experiment

In the study, all of the participants were given the exact same 380-calorie smoothie.

However, they were split into two groups and presented with different labels.

One group was told they were drinking a 620-calorie, "indulgent" shake called the "Sensi-Shake."

The other group was told they were drinking a 140-calorie, "sensible" shake called the "Indulgence." calories.

Measuring Physiological Response

Researchers measured participants' ghrelin levels before and after drinking the shake.

Ghrelin is known as the "hunger hormone"; Its levels rise when we're hungry and drop dramatically after a satisfying meal, signaling to the brain that we're full.

Amazing Results

The results were astonishing.

The participants' bodies reacted not to the actual calories in the shake, but to the calories they thought they were consuming.

The group that believed they had had the indu