Have you ever considered how your beliefs and assumptions about a domain or category of things orient you to expectations, explanations, and goals? These core beliefs are what people refer to as mindset. Mindsets are responsible for shaping how we interact and react to the world around us. They come from our upbringing, culture and media, influential people in our lives, and our conscious choices.
In a podcast, Andrew Huberman, a neuroscientist and professor of neurobiology at Stanford University, had a discussion with Dr. Alia Crum, an associate professor of psychology and director of the Mind & Body Lab at Stanford University, on how mindset shapes how we interact with our environment and how our physiology reacts to our surroundings.
The name of the original study is “Mind Over Milkshakes: Mindsets, Not Just Nutrients, Determine Ghrelin Response”.
The study was conducted by Alia J. Crum and Ellen J. Langer from Harvard University and was published in the Journal of Health Psychology in 2011. The goal of the study was to explore the role of mindset in the physiological response to food. Specifically, the researchers wanted to investigate whether participants’ beliefs about the calorie content of a milkshake would influence their levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin.
To conduct the study, the researchers recruited 46 participants and randomly assigned them to one of two groups. Both groups were given a milkshake that contained the same number of calories, but they were told different things about the milkshake they were drinking. The first group was told that the milkshake was a high-calorie milkshake, while the second group was told that the milkshake was a low-calorie milkshake.
Before and after drinking the milkshake, the researchers measured the participants’ levels of ghrelin, a hormone that is known to regulate hunger. The results of the study showed that the participants who believed they were drinking a high-calorie milkshake experienced a greater reduction in ghrelin levels compared to those who believed they were drinking a low-calorie milkshake.
The study suggests that our beliefs and mindset about food can have a powerful impact on our physiological responses to food. This has important implications for weight management and health behavior change, as it suggests that changing our beliefs and mindset about food may be a powerful tool for promoting healthier eating habits.
Overall, the study “Mind Over Milkshakes: Mindsets, Not Just Nutrients, Determine Ghrelin Response” provides intriguing insights into the complex interplay between our beliefs, mindset, and physiological responses to food.
This groundbreaking study showed three important things:
- Mindset can influence our physiological response to food: The study found that participants who believed they were drinking a high-calorie milkshake experienced a greater reduction in the hunger hormone ghrelin compared to those who believed they were drinking a low-calorie milkshake, even though both milkshakes had the same number of calories. This suggests that our mindset and beliefs about food can have a significant impact on our physiological responses to food.
- Changing our beliefs and mindset about food may be a powerful tool for promoting healthier eating habits: The study’s findings have important implications for weight management and health behavior change. By adopting a positive and mindful mindset about food, we may be able to influence our eating behavior and make healthier choices.
- Our beliefs about food may be more important than the actual nutritional content of the food: The study suggests that our beliefs and mindset about food may have a powerful influence on our physiological responses to food, and may even override the actual nutritional content of the food we eat. This challenges the traditional view that the nutritional content of food is the most important factor in determining its impact on our health. In other words if you believe you’re treating yourself and eating indulgently, you will feel more satiated.
