Johannesburg - Shedding those post festive season kilograms is never easy, but a life hack might enable you to squeeze back into those favourite pair of skinny jeans, in no time.
The life hack is simple - just don’t listen to loud music while you eat, and it has been proven by science.
Researchers have found that playing soft or no music in supermarkets and restaurants encourages consumers to eat healthier.
But when loud music was played consumers turned to the junk stuff, selecting greasy and carb loaded food.
Their purchase of unhealthy food even increased by 20%.
Researchers from the University of South Florida who conducted the study that appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Sciences, believe that the reason for music shifting our food choices had to do with increase in excitement, stress and arousal levels.
The study was conducted in a cafe in Stockholm, in Sweden.
What the researchers found was that when music was played at 70 decibels, about the noise level of a normal conversation, slightly over half the items bought were unhealthy. When the music played was dropped to 55 decibels the amount of healthy items bought increased to 32%, while the purchase of unhealthy food stuffs decreased to 42%.
Over the years similar experiments have shown that music plays an important role in what we eat.
Researchers from the university of Aarhus in Denmark found that the speed of the music also had an effect on the selection of food.
In their experiment, one group had to listen to slow music while the other listened to faster compositions that were selected to trigger emotions of sadness and suspense.
The researchers found that the group listening to the slow music were more likely to pick healthier foods. The reason seems to be that that this group was not distracted by negative emotions and gave more consideration to their food choices.
A favourite playlist might not be the only culprit responsible for adding centimetres to your waist line, research has shown that watching TV could just be as bad.
Studies have found that eating a meal in front of the television makes people eat more. This was blamed on distraction caused by noise and visual stimuli.
Naturally restaurants and food shops are interested in getting the right music selection so that their customers are in the mood to spend and eat.
But for the rest of us, the experts say the best is to turn the music right off and enjoy a meal in silence. Then with a little will power, those skinny jeans are finally out of the cupboard and fitting perfectly where they belong.