Advertising Makes you Fat - Fact

Is a picture worth a thousand calories? In a word, yes. An explosion in our exposure to food advertising(1) – adult exposure increased by 4% in the last year alone - has seen a similar explosion in our waistlines as we are constantly bombarded with food cues every waking moment. If you are trying to diet, you can help yourself by avoiding places with lots of advertising and food imagery such as the supermarket. Using a calorie-controlled, home-delivery diet plan such as Diet Chef and shopping online for additional essentials is a good plan of attack.

We all have an in-built hunger hormone, ghrelin(2), which is produced in the gut and is triggered by the sight and smell of food. It compels us to eat even when we're not really hungry and is produced every time we see an image of food. Given that an individual watching TV for two hours a day will see over 20,000 food ads(3) in one year, all urging us to eat foods laden with fat and sugar – we just don't stand a chance.

Caron Leckie, Diet Chef nutritionist comments: "Hunger can be triggered by a number of factors including physiological, environmental, even emotional reasons so it can be difficult to know if we're ever truly hungry. Marketing messages are designed to make us want what we see - regardless of hunger and unfortunately these days the majority of advertised foods are high in fat and sugar."

Behavioural psychologist Lorraine Calland explains: "As soon as we see an image of food, we have an association with that food – we start to smell, feel the texture and taste the dish. Clever positioning and imagery convince us that we need that food whilst promotions such as 3 for 2 persuade us to buy multiples of everything. Avoid supermarkets and shop online to escape the aisles of temptation. Surround yourself with positive food images to negate the unhealthy ones. Buying a calorie-counted, easy to follow diet plan such as Diet Chef is a great way to stay in control because all the thinking is already done for you."

1 – Rudd Report 2012 on Trends in TV Advertising
2 – Ghrelin Modulates Brain Activity in Areas that Control Appetite Behaviour
Saima Malik, Francis McGlone, Diane Bedrossian and Alain Dagher
3 – Ghrelin levels increase after pictures showing food
Schussler P, Kluge M, Yassouridis A, Dresler M, Uhr M, Steiger A
Obesity (Silver Spring) 12 January 2012

Diet Chef carefully counts the calories of all meals so dieters on the plan will be averaging less than 1,200 calories per day. The daily menu delivers a tasty and varied, healthy balanced diet allowing dieters to lose weight at a healthy pace. With a free BMI Calculator and the weight loss success stories of others, the Diet Chef website can also help to keep you motivated during your dieting.

Price of £5.57 per day price is based on the Diet Chef 1200 programme on Pay Monthly

For further information, please contact Three Sixty Communications on 0207 580 8360 or dietchef@360team.co.uk

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