Researchers at the University of California, Irvine, were able to plant false food memories in the minds of volunteers by asking 58 subjects to create a detailed story about how strawberry ice cream made them ill as kids. Forty-one percent became convinced it was true—and said they wouldn’t eat it at a party. “Memories aren’t etched in stone. The brain is constantly reconstructing them from lots of bits and pieces,” says researcher Elizabeth F. Loftus, PhD. She found that rich details developed into memories, but less intricate ones didn’t. The technique didn’t work with staple snacks such as potato chips and chocolate chip cookies. “There may be too many recent, strong memories attached to frequently eaten foods,” she says. But the flip side is effective. “We’ve had a lot of luck getting people to think they loved asparagus when they were kids,” Loftus says. “Now when they look at the veggie, they want to eat more.” Try the Mad Libs approach to brainwash yourself out of your next food cravings. Just fill in these blanks using lots of sensory details to make it seem as real as possible: “When I was 7, I ate so much [desirable, fatty food] it tasted like [negative description]. Later, I felt so sick that I [negative action verb] all night.” More from Prevention: 3 Ways To Prevent Emotional Eating
