Washington D.C.: According to a recent study, there are a lot of things that the people struggling with their weights can learn from the mindlessly slim ones.
New Cornell Food and Brand Lab research has helped to uncover lifestyle secrets of the "mindlessly slim." The Food and Brand Lab researchers created the Slim by Design Registry (now called the Global Healthy Weight Registry) to survey adults who have successfully maintained a healthy body weight throughout their lives.
Those who voluntarily signed up for the registry answered a series of questions about diet, exercise and daily routines. The infographic included in this release illustrates initial findings from all registry respondents.
The researchers wanted to see what health behaviors differed between those struggling to lose or maintain weight and the mindlessly slim, explains co-author Brian Wansink, adding that they wanted to find the small or simple behaviors that might have a big impact.
The researchers found that mindlessly slim individuals were more likely to use strategies that differ from traditional recommendations for weight loss or maintenance. These strategies include: eating high-quality foods, cooking at home, and listening to inner cues in order to stay slim. Also they didn't indicate feeling as guilty as the other group about overeating. Furthermore, mindlessly slim people were more likely to have an enjoyment-based, internally informed approach to food and eating.
Lead researcher Anna-Leena Vuorinen noted that these results are encouraging because they imply that instead of putting restrictions on one's diet and avoiding favorite foods, weight gain could be prevented early on by learning to listen to inner cues and putting emphasis on the quality instead of the quantity of food.
The findings have been presented at Obesity Week 2015, Los Angeles.
