DEPRIVING YOURSELF OF TREATS REALLY DOES MAKE YOU CRAVE THEM MORE - study shows

Depriving yourself of your favourite things can make you obsessed with them, according to a study from the University of British Columbia. Researchers found that by forbidding a pleasure - such as a bar of chocolate - it heightened the brain’s awareness of it.
But they also found that people did not become fixated if they knew that other people were not able to enjoy their favourite thing.

The study's most important finding, though, is that obsession is not as strong if others are also denied: when an object is forbidden to a group, the allure of the object reduces dramatically.
Scientists say that this helps to explain why group diet techniques such as Weight Watchers can be more successful than dieting alone.

For the study, entitled An unforgettable apple: Memory and attention for forbidden objects, participants were shown images of everyday objects and told the objects were either theirs, someone else's, forbidden to them or forbidden to everyone.
Using electronic brain imaging and memory tests, researchers found the forbidden objects were recognised as well as self-owned objects. This was interpreted as a sign of unnecessary heightened concentration.

"Since the days of Eve and the apple, scholars have been interested in [mankind's] attraction to items we should avoid," says Professor Todd Handy who also took part in the study.
"Today, it is things like jumbo soft drinks, fatty foods and illicit substances. These new findings help to explain how our brain processes forbidden objects and suggests that, for resisting temptation, there's strength in numbers. It's harder to go it alone."



Sources: http://news.ubc.ca/2013/06/05/ , http://www.newsx.com, http://www.vancouversun.com/