It’s been well over a year since I’ve written here, and despite the fact that I’ve been informed via podcasts and reels and a hint of common sense that blogs are long gone and definitely dead, I’m not ready to give up on my hobby of writing things for fun just yet. If only for myself. Plus, I’ve been writing weekly contributions to Industry Athletic’s daily email for quite a while now - so I thought, in case one or two people find their way over, why not share them here? :) So, without further ado…
Milkshakes and Mindset
Now that I’ve gotten your attention with a top five dessert option, I wanted to share one of my favorite studies at the intersection of psychology and nutrition. I know, I know “...favorite research study?” you may be thinking, “shouldn’t favorites be reserved for topics like hero workouts, hobbies and sandwiches?”
Perhaps. (And now I’m tempted to suffer through Holleyman before eating a Mushroom and Goat Cheese Panini, yum). But hear me out on this one, because the topic is truly fascinating AND the findings have implications for how you think about eating.
This 2011 study has become quite well-known over the past few years, so perhaps you’ve heard of it: Mind over Milkshakes: mindsets, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response (Alia J Crum et al.). It took place at the Yale Center for Clinical and Translational Research, where Crum and her team told participants that they would be consuming milkshakes on two separate occasions, one week apart.
Participants were misleadingly informed that the shakes varied significantly in nutrient concentration, as they were designed to meet distinct metabolic needs of hospital patients. One was labeled as a 620 calorie “indulgent” shake, high in fat and sugar; the other a low fat and sugar, 140 calorie “sensible” shake. In reality, both were the same - falling somewhere in the middle at 380 calories.
Gut peptide responses were measured by looking at ghrelin levels. Ghrelin is commonly known as the ‘hunger hormone’ - when levels rise, your brain prompts you to seek out food. When levels fall, hunger dissipates and metabolic activity increases for improved digestion. Participants’ hormone levels were measured three times: once upon arrival, again after reading the nutrition labels, and once more after consuming the shake.
Here’s the fun part: Findings showed that when people *thought* they were consuming the “indulgent” milkshake, ghrelin levels dropped THREE TIMES the rate of when they *thought* they were consuming the “sensible” milkshake. Which is to say: Due to participants’ mindset about what they were consuming, their bodies responded as if they consumed more food - despite the fact that the shakes were nutritionally identical.
“Participants’ satiety was consistent with what they believed they were consuming rather than the actual nutritional value of what they consumed....The effect of food consumption on ghrelin may be psychologically mediated, and mindset meaningfully affects physiological responses to food.”
This was one of the first studies to show objectively that your belief system about a food does indeed affect your physiological/metabolic response to eating that food. If you currently have or have ever experienced digestive distress surrounding the consumption of a personally or culturally demonized food, it may be worth considering to what extent mindset played a role in your physiological response. Something as simple as a personal check-in before and after - Do I feel anxious, bloated, uncomfortable, etc.?
Crum discusses (here, too) how these findings changed her own perspective on how to approach eating - that contrary to what she originally believed, thinking you’re eating healthfully may leave you still feeling hungry and unsatiated. The implication here being (my words, not hers) that ‘healthful’ is often synonymous in our culture with ‘restrictive’. It then follows that in order to promote fullness, the belief that what you are eating is satiating plays too significant of a role to ignore.
From a practical standpoint, this means choosing recipes and meal options that boast whole, nutrient dense foods AND sound delicious. This may mean experimenting and compromising, especially at first, and especially if you are not used to variety or venturing out of your comfort zone, but in that intersection of nutrient density and deliciousness lies the perfect recipe for a satiety-promoting mindset that fuels happy digestion.
