I can’t even begin to calculate how many minutes a day I spend drooling over food videos on Facebook and Instagram.
I’m a food video addict.
New word: Orgasnom.
noun; the weird satisfaction from watching time lapse food tutorial videos
— Cassie Delaney (@CassieLorraine) May 5, 2016
And while I’ve never actually taken the steps to recreate any of the recipes I’ve seen online, it seems that watching these videos is enough to make me pile on the pounds.
A new Brain and Cognition study has found a link between watching food porn and craving any sort of edible substance.
According to Spoon University, the study claims that there are physiological and neurophysiological changes seen in response to food images that are having an unhealthy effect on our eating habits. When we see a delicious looking picture of food, blood races to the part of our brain’s associated with taste and we experience the desire to want to eat.
So as we scroll through feeds of food, our body is subtly releasing hormones that induce hunger. Scientists have coined the term “visual hunger” for this reaction.
It’s a phenomenon that is rising in digital natives.
Scientifically, our insulin levels rise and our salivary glands even become activated as our body prepares for what it assumes we’re about to eat.
Worse still, it doesn’t matter what type of food we’re looking at, the reaction is the same to a fat-filled gorgeous looking donut and to a simple tasty salad.
So, if you’re trying to shed a few pounds, it seems you need to put down the donut AND your phone.
Grim.
