Weird Weight-Loss Tricks That Really Work

Get a Whiff of Peppermint

The scent of peppermint might help decrease your hunger and cut calories. According to research conducted at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia, individuals who sniffed peppermint scent every two hours not only weren’t as hungry as non sniffers, but they even took in 2,800 fewer calories over the course of a week. Bryan Raudenbush, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, who conducted the study, explained the peppermint is “distracting you from your hunger pains, and you don’t feel as inclined to eat as much.” To reap the minty benefits, dab peppermint oil on a wristband or use an inhaler (which is what Dr. Raudenbush used for the study). In other words, sniffing a candy cane won’t do it.

Lose With Blue

You may have read that the size of your plate affects how much you eat. But according to a study by Val Jones, MD, and the Parsons School of Design in New York, color may provide some weight-loss benefits. In the study, researchers set up three rooms bathed in three different colored overhead lights (yellow, red and blue) and participants were given identical plates of snacks. The most food was consumed in the yellow room and the least in the blue room. In fact, about 33 percent fewer snacks were eaten in the room bathed in blue light. “This could have implications for choice of paint colors in the home, especially in the kitchen or eating areas,” said Dr. Jones, CEO of Better Health LLC. (www.getbetterhealth.com). At the very least, you can try blue plates, placemats or tablecloths as weight loss tools.

Massage Your Earlobes

Acupressure, an Eastern alternative medicine treatment similar in principle to acupuncture, is based on the concept that energy flows through specific points called “meridians” in the body. Acupuncturists believe that when meridians are blocked, the energy imbalances cause cravings. But while acupuncture uses needles, acupressure uses gentle to firm finger pressure by clear blocks in these meridians. One appetite suppressant point is located on the fleshy flap part of the ear above the ear lobe and in front of the ear canal. A 2010 study published in the American Journal of Chinese Medicine showed that gently pressing the acupuncture point combined with a calorie-controlled diet, reduced participants body mass index (BMI), a measurement that shows the amount of fat in your body, by 1.7 points on average, while those who received only weight loss counseling lost only .05 BMI points.