Why Diet Resolutions May Fail

According to a January 26, 2010 broadcast of National Public Radio, called: Listen to Cake Topple Your Brain, 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure, says British psychologist Richard Wiseman. Those are his findings from a 2007 University of Hertfordshire study of more than 3,000 people. Listen to the audio.

Why are so many people trying to have willpower when it comes to food choices, but eventually lose both their will and their power? In NPR's Radiolab excerpt on Morning Edition, January 26, 2010, the radio show describes an experiment involving the prefrontal cortex, located just behind the forehead. It's the brain area largely responsible for willpower. Why is willpower so weak when it comes to eating food out of habit? It's because the brain lacks a type of flexibility or muscularity. Check out Blayne's review of How We Decide.

In the book, How We Decide, by Jonah Lehrer, published in 2009, and reviewed in a recent Wall Street Journal article, Lehrer writes about an experiment by Stanford University professor Baba Shiv, who collected several dozen undergraduates and divided them into two groups.

According to the National Public Radio broadcast of January 26, 2010, in the WSJ article, Jonah Lehrer writes, "One group was given a two-digit number to remember, while the second group was given a seven-digit number. Then they were told to walk down the hall, where they were presented with two different snack options: a slice of chocolate cake or a bowl of fruit salad."

And then he writes, according to the NPR article, Listen to Cake Topple Your Brain:

"Here's where the results get weird. The students with seven digits to remember were nearly twice as likely to choose the cake as students given two digits. The reason, according to Professor Shiv, is that those extra numbers took up valuable space in the brain - they were a "cognitive load" - making it that much harder to resist a decadent dessert. In other words, willpower is so weak, and the prefrontal cortex is so overtaxed, that all it takes is five extra bits of information before the brain starts to give in to temptation."

The reason why so many dieters give in to the temptation to choose chocolate cake over a fruit salad, according to Lehrer's book, is that, the part of our brain which is most rational is easily toppled by the lure and habit of sweet, addictive chocolate on and in the cake.

Could it be because as babies, adults gave us sugary juices or chocolate milk, which released the dopamine in our brains in response to sweets on the tongue? And once the pleasure hormones reach the baby's brain, the sugar might have addicted us forever? So when we grow up and our will is weakened by stress or fatigue, we go for the gooey, sweet cake instead of crunchy, tart, acidic fruits that take longer to chew? Think about it, when tired, would you choose less acidic, sweeter mango chunks or those sour orange slices?

It's all about the brain not wanting to do extra work. Knowing something is the right thing to do takes extra brain work. But the brain may not have the energy or is too tired at the moment.

Suddenly, the resolution is gone. Sometimes it only can take having to remember an extra five digits or similar facts that becomes the 'straw' that breaks the resolution.

You need to be aware of why your brain won't persist against the sweet food habit. It's like an addiction.The way out is to be aware of what message your brain is giving you in the face of temptation. That's why people are told not to go shopping in a supermarket when hungry and tired. You might by habit reach for the familiar, sweet or creamy comfort food.

When the brain is stressed, the food gets sweeter and more comfort-oriented and creamy, chocolate-tasting. That's why when not given sweets, comfort foods such as macaroni and cheese or pizza or even a sizzling burger and ketchup-drenched fries might be chosen over crunchy, sour salads such as red cabbage and spinach drizzled in apple cider vinegar or less sweetened fresh fruit salad.

When given a choice between tiny organic blue berries with less sugar content over the large, commercial berries with more sugar content, you'd probably go for the larger, sweeter berries, perhaps covered with cream. The four most addictive foods are sugar, chocolate, cheese, and meat.

The experiment surmises that our brains can't even hold more than seven numbers at a time. Add five extra digits, and good sense is no longer in your brain. Habit and sweet cravings take over, and the cake is gobbled instead of the more sensible and healthier fruit salad. Reason about diet or resolutions is put on the back burner.

Fatigue may explain why, after a long day at work, you're more likely to indulge in a pint of ice cream, or eat one too many slices of chocolate, granola full of raisins, dates, and nuts, melted cheese on bread, or any other tempting treat. Listen to the National Public Radio broadcast on why diets go out the window along with resolutions when the brain is stressed with more items to remember than it wants to handle at the moment.