Kitchen clutter makes you fat

Here’s a great new finding from the Cornell Food Lab (the folks who bring us all the best practical nuggets about our eating habits):

Imagine this experiment:

A female volunteer is made to wait for 10 minutes in a kitchen stocked with cookies, carrot sticks, and crackers. She is either first primed to reflect on a time when she felt “in control” or felt “out of control.” Additionally, the kitchen is either made to look messy and chaotic, or else clean and orderly. 98 women total were put through these various conditions. Want to guess what happened?.

When in the messy kitchen…

1. The women ate twice as many cookies.

2. Women primed to feel “out of control” ate more than those primed to feel “in control.” One average, they ate 100 calories more.

Whoa! That all took place in just 10 minutes–that could add up fast!

Luckily, there is an easy fix: Tidy up your kitchen! …especially when stressed or feeling out of control.

You can read the full article here: http://foodpsychology.cornell.edu/discoveries/clean-kitchens-cut-calories