Fantasy food aids slimming
The trick is to visualise gorging non-stop on the food, rather than conjuring up an appetite-whetting single image.
This feeds into natural mechanisms that control consumption and prevent over-indulgence, say the researchers.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdStudy leader Dr Carey Morewedge, from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, said trying to suppress thoughts of desired foods to curb cravings was a "flawed strategy".
"Our studies found that instead, people who repeatedly imagined the consumption of food consumed less than people who performed a different task."