A Blue Home May Make You Lose Weight

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

30 Jul 2008 11:19 AM

If you find yourself hungry all of the time, consider painting and accessorizing with blue. Experts tell us that the color has real influence over our appetites. Blue kitchens, blue dining rooms, blue tablecloths, blue plates and blue napkins can help us fee full.

How does this work?

A color theory professor explains that our brains are turned off by the association of the color blue and food. Food generally does not come in blue (even blueberries are mostly purple). When food is blue in nature, it generally means that the food is spoiled with mold and may contain harmful toxins. So when we see blue food or food the is served surround by blue (such as on a blue plate), an instinctive response may be triggered in our brains that suppresses our hungry or desire to eat. It is possibly nature's way of protecting us from harmful food.

Perhaps painting your bedroom blue might serve two purposes. It is a color that relaxes and also may curb midnight snacking.

If you want to eat do the following instead.

If you find that you want to enjoy your meals more, gain weight, or create an environment for entertaining with food, such as through dinner parties, then pick red, orange and yellow. These are colors that stimulate our nervous systems and prompt us to salivate and become hungry. We tend to order more, take more and eat more when we are surrounded by these colors. Marketing people for fast food chains and restaurants have known this for many years. That is the reason that most logs and signs for restaurants contain one or all three of those colors.

So if you want to create the impression of being a good cook or inspiration to do the cooking at all, paint your kitchen and or dining area in those hot colors. Serve your food on red plates surrounded by orange napkins and tablecloth.

What do you think?

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. Starting June 1st, don't miss her articles in the Baby Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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Dale Harcombe (10399) 30 Jul 2008 09:55 PM

I have to say I'm more than a little sceptical of this. My kitchen is blue and cream. Blue is the predominant color in our home and in the home before this in dining areas , tablecloth etc , and I haven't noticed any weight loss or change in appetite from years ago ( the 70s) when I had an orange kitchen.

Beth McHugh (13216) 30 Jul 2008 10:59 PM

Colors do have an effect on mood, and the psychology of color is used even in prisons. But in terms of eating, red is the most common color used in restaurants and it's there for a reason!

Mary Ann Romans (26886) 31 Jul 2008 04:41 AM

We moved in to a home with mostly blue walls (with the exception of the dining room and kitchen), and we haven't renovated it completely yet. I do find that we have no desire to eat in any of the blue rooms, although in our old house we would occasionally eat in front of the TV for a pizza night.