The crazy hamster in your brain, or why to delete Candy Crush
yirara
Posts: 10,076 Member
A while ago I saw an investigative journalism tv programme on why children are getting more and more overweight. There was a lot on easily available fast food, supermarkets outside school, the usual. A boy featured in this programme who has a genetic variation that makes the hamster in his brain go wild if he sees any food. And this hamster tells him that he has to eat now. Gladly the majority of us won't have to deal with this. However...
The programme makers went on to schools and did various experiments with the children there. Shows a video games where a McDonalds logo was in the background, or influencers testing a sweet drink or crisps. A while later the childen were asked which of various drinks or crisps they preferred, or which burger. And in 8/12 the kid chose the products shown to them. More tests, this time with healthy food and 'unhealthy' snacks. The majority again chose the snacks. Without this visual input most kids chose the sensible options. However, some research was mentioned where people didn't specifically eat healthier overall after being shows such videos. The trigger only seem to work on sweet/generally unhealthy stuff.
This made me think... There are periods where it's impossible to resists candy for me, especially lately. Why? No idea. Watching this programme I absent-mindedly grabbed my phone to play a round of Candy Crush. And that's when it dawned me: there are periods where I've been playing this game far too much. After some testing now I am certain that these periods coincide with my hunger for candy. I deleted the game, and my appetite for sweet stuff was gone the next day. This tv programme has also shown that it's probably best to avoid other games with snacks, influencers that advertise for snacks, candy, fastfood and the likes or to avoid tv programmes inbetween which such adverts are common.
Something to consider. I mean, us regulars often tell people that can't resist to just not get snacks into the house, or only in small portions. But even if there are no physical snacks, the images of those still might get into our homes and make our lives more difficult.
The programme makers went on to schools and did various experiments with the children there. Shows a video games where a McDonalds logo was in the background, or influencers testing a sweet drink or crisps. A while later the childen were asked which of various drinks or crisps they preferred, or which burger. And in 8/12 the kid chose the products shown to them. More tests, this time with healthy food and 'unhealthy' snacks. The majority again chose the snacks. Without this visual input most kids chose the sensible options. However, some research was mentioned where people didn't specifically eat healthier overall after being shows such videos. The trigger only seem to work on sweet/generally unhealthy stuff.
This made me think... There are periods where it's impossible to resists candy for me, especially lately. Why? No idea. Watching this programme I absent-mindedly grabbed my phone to play a round of Candy Crush. And that's when it dawned me: there are periods where I've been playing this game far too much. After some testing now I am certain that these periods coincide with my hunger for candy. I deleted the game, and my appetite for sweet stuff was gone the next day. This tv programme has also shown that it's probably best to avoid other games with snacks, influencers that advertise for snacks, candy, fastfood and the likes or to avoid tv programmes inbetween which such adverts are common.
Something to consider. I mean, us regulars often tell people that can't resist to just not get snacks into the house, or only in small portions. But even if there are no physical snacks, the images of those still might get into our homes and make our lives more difficult.
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Replies
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That's an interesting thought. I've been struggling to eat the last few days. A dear friend passed away very suddenly and I tend to lose my appetite when I'm stressed (or in this case, grieving). It occurs to me now that I also haven't turned the tv on since at least the weekend. Now I wonder if the lack of media influence has contributed to my malaise as well....
I guess if this lack of appetite lasts another day or two, I will be FORCED to retire to the couch for some binge-watching. You know, for my health
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The power of suggestion can be strong.
Honestly, sometimes I have to stay off these boards if I don't want to get the urge to eat. So much food talk.4 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »The power of suggestion can be strong.
Honestly, sometimes I have to stay off these boards if I don't want to get the urge to eat. So much food talk.
That's interesting! Overall, I'm fairly immune to these forums but I think it's largely because I never cared about fastfood or Oreos 2 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »The power of suggestion can be strong.
Honestly, sometimes I have to stay off these boards if I don't want to get the urge to eat. So much food talk.
That's interesting! Overall, I'm fairly immune to these forums but I think it's largely because I never cared about fastfood or Oreos
Yeah, me neither...I don't crave the SPECIFIC food being discussed, but even a thread about vegetables, or just a discussion about calories, eating styles, etc, can make me want to eat for some reason.
I'm on the boards right now because I'm actively eating my lunch.0 -
Interesting. I play Candy Crush Saga (not the original) a lot . . . but mostly when stationary biking. I wonder if that's an antidote, because I haven't noticed any effect on candy cravings. Salty things and cheese are bigger deals for me than sweets, though, mostly, so maybe it's relative immunity.
(I'm just joking around: I can see how something like that could be a subtle trigger, even though I don't seem to be wired that way.)
They're not particularly triggering for me, but I do stay out of threads here like the "If it didn't have calories" thread, and some others about cravings, etc. So much of the stuff in there looks kind of disgusting to me, TBH - not things I would've been eager to eat when obese, in many cases. Not a fan of goopy, super-sweet, little-other-flavor-but-sweet stuff. And if I did want to eat those foods, I wouldn't need to be constantly reminding myself of their existence. I guess the effect is different, for other people, because they're popular threads.
The produce thread though . . . yum. Also the cheese thread, which is much less popular. I do crave that, but can moderate.
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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »The power of suggestion can be strong.
Honestly, sometimes I have to stay off these boards if I don't want to get the urge to eat. So much food talk.
That's interesting! Overall, I'm fairly immune to these forums but I think it's largely because I never cared about fastfood or Oreos
Yeah, me neither...I don't crave the SPECIFIC food being discussed, but even a thread about vegetables, or just a discussion about calories, eating styles, etc, can make me want to eat for some reason.
I'm on the boards right now because I'm actively eating my lunch.
Obviously you all must've skipped the 'what I'd eat right now if it didn't have calories' thread.
Nothing makes me drool like that topic does. Nothing..... 1 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »The power of suggestion can be strong.
Honestly, sometimes I have to stay off these boards if I don't want to get the urge to eat. So much food talk.
That's interesting! Overall, I'm fairly immune to these forums but I think it's largely because I never cared about fastfood or Oreos
Yeah, me neither...I don't crave the SPECIFIC food being discussed, but even a thread about vegetables, or just a discussion about calories, eating styles, etc, can make me want to eat for some reason.
I'm on the boards right now because I'm actively eating my lunch.
Obviously you all must've skipped the 'what I'd eat right now if it didn't have calories' thread. Nothing makes me drool like that topic does. Nothing.....
I actually used to participate in that thread. But it’s way too over-the-top sticky sweet stuff now and it kind of grosses me out.1 -
SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »SuzySunshine99 wrote: »The power of suggestion can be strong.
Honestly, sometimes I have to stay off these boards if I don't want to get the urge to eat. So much food talk.
That's interesting! Overall, I'm fairly immune to these forums but I think it's largely because I never cared about fastfood or Oreos
Yeah, me neither...I don't crave the SPECIFIC food being discussed, but even a thread about vegetables, or just a discussion about calories, eating styles, etc, can make me want to eat for some reason.
I'm on the boards right now because I'm actively eating my lunch.
Obviously you all must've skipped the 'what I'd eat right now if it didn't have calories' thread. Nothing makes me drool like that topic does. Nothing.....
I actually used to participate in that thread. But it’s way too over-the-top sticky sweet stuff now and it kind of grosses me out.
I must have made the mistake of posting in it at some point because every day it's in my notifications and every day I have to scroll past that notification.
I wish there was a way to unsubcribe - you know, like most forums permit. *sigh*0 -
cmriverside, cant you untick the little flag thing next to the title of the thread - the one that sets it to notifications.
Wont it then stop notifying you?0 -
Not if you've chosen to be notified about threads you've posted in.
I'm in precisely the same situation, I wish I had never posted in that thread 😛0 -
Is the forum broken and you can't switch it off anymore?0
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Not if you've chosen to be notified about threads you've posted in.
I'm in precisely the same situation, I wish I had never posted in that thread 😛
^^This
and, @yirara I can turn off notifications, but I want to keep up with most of them. Just that one I'd like to delete. In other forums on other sites I can "unsubscribe" to single threads.1
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