Top dieting tip – just imagine you’re full up!

FOR those who struggle to keep away from the biscuit tin, there could be a calorie-free way to satisfy your hunger.

Simply thinking back to lunch, and imagining you ate twice as much as you did, can help to reduce snacking, scientists suggests.

The memory of a huge meal, even if it is false, could make people believe they are full. Researchers gave 151 people a standard-sized lunch before starting the study three hours later.

The volunteers were split into five groups, with one group asked to imagine eating twice the amount of lunch until they were ‘so full you could hardly move’.

They were then given biscuits, and allowed to eat as many as they liked. Those who imagined having had a huge lunch ate almost a third fewer biscuits – around 122 fewer calories.

Dr Joanna Szypula, from the University of Cambridge, wrote in the journal Appetite: ‘Thinking about lunch makes people more aware of the feeling that they are still full.’