A simple android game that takes less than 10 minutes per day trains the brain to eat healthy food instead of junk foods promises a pain-free dieting plan. Scientists say that the game teaches the brain to select healthy food over chocolates, biscuits, or cakes and is scientifically proven to lead to weight loss and cut calorie intake by 200 a day. Dr Natalia Lawrence's Food Trainer app uses neuroscience to take away "mental reward" of sugary and fatty foods to cut calorie consumption.
The app can be played for free using Android service is being launched this week. The main mechanism of the game is to let the user choose pictures of healthy food as it randomly flashes images of both good food and junk food. The user should react positively towards healthy food by pressing a button as its image is flashed on the screen.
Points are rewarded for choosing pictures of healthy food in this pain-free dieting method. The act of ignoring unhealthy foods, and receiving points for choosing healthy foods is said to retrain the brain into desiring healthier food options. The science behind it relies on the brain's predictable craving for sugary and fatty food options since these kind of foods stimulates the reward system of the brain by releasing endorphins, the Telegraph says.
Endorphins make the body feel good, leading the person to crave more junk foods. To test the effectivity of the game app, 83 adults were asked to play the game online four times in a week. At the end of the period, the study said, they have all lost weight, and have also been found to have eaten an average of 220 kcal less per day, the News reports.
Dr. Lawrence is proud of her creation and says that she hopes people will start to learn to select healthier food options in a world abundant of processed and refined food products. The scientists that helped in developing the app have launched a crowdfunding campaign so that the app can be used in iPads and iPhones. They hope that this pain-free dieting that aids with weight-loss strategy, will help in making people involuntarily reach for broccoli instead of biscuits.
