This post has actually been inspired by a comment left by a fellow webmaster, Miguel from CAT5 Extender, on my post about The Gabriel Method. Miguel pointed out that the color blue apparently acts as an appetite suppressant and will curb your appetite. Well, I had never heard of this so naturally I was curious and had to read up on it.
I found some very interesting articles on the effect of colors on your body and on your appetite in particular.
It is true, blue seems to be the color of the spectrum that acts as an appetite suppressant. In general blue is one of the most popular colors with people, but at the same time it is the one color that is the least appetizing when it comes to food. One reason might be that there are actually very few food items in nature that are blue in color (we have purple in cabbage and grapes, or aubergines, but can you think of any food items that are blue…?
Some researchers did studies on the theory of the color blue in regards to it curbing your appetite, and they found that when food dyed blue was served to the participants, they really did lose their appetite!
Research has also shown that brown, red and green are the most appetizing colors to us. That’s also why many restaurants use the color red abundantly in their decorating as it acts as an appetite stimulant.
So what’s one to do if one wants to lose weight the healthy way? Curb your appetite by
- putting your food on a blue plate!
- drink from blue cups!
- put a blue light bulb in your dining area and kitchen!
- put a blue light bulb in you fridge (I will actually see whether that is available)
- and the ultimate: use blue food coloring for your food! (Yuk, alone thinking about it makes me shiver). Just make sure you use safe food coloring, and not too much of it.
I hope you enjoyed reading about this phenomenon – I have to say thanks to Miguel! Here are some of the resource websites I looked up some of the facts:
http://www.colormatters.com/appmatters.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/colors1.html
Hmmm this is interesting. Blue is my favorite color and half of my house is painted blue. I also love blue foods (blue jello, bubblegum ice cream, blueberries – which are more purple than blue, Blue Hawaii drinks, birthday cake ice cream)… No wonder I am not losing weight
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Hmmmm
isn’t there a saying (I am not 100% sure how it goes in English, but I am sure you get what I mean): “The exception confirms the rule” or something?? There are bound to be a few people that like to eat and drink blue, and you are one of them! 
This is so funny.Can it really be true?I guess then I have to paint my whole house blue.HAHA
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I’m with you!
Foods high in water and fiber, like fruits and vegetables, are the so-called high-volume foods. They add bulk to your meals and help fill your stomach.
No, it can’t be true. Color can influence on physical and mental state but drink on blue cups, eat on blue plate…it sounds crazy
I haven’t read the entire study on “curbing appetite” but I’d love to try and believe that the “blue” color would also help me lose weight…however, when I am thinking about blue, my mind seems to associate it with “sad” emotions and the moments when I crave for food just to forget “feeling blue”… Oh well, I’ll most probably still try the curbing method until I found out which color makes me lose appetite… Thanks for this post =)
An interesting article indeed! Can’t imagine having a “blue” food. I can’t think of any “blue” food myself even junk foods-only orange, green, off-white.
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My sister had weight problems for many years. She jumped from one diet to the next – without much success…
And finally – I think it was about 2 years ago, she radically changed her eating habits, her attitude towards food and some other things… and she started losing weight: gradually and slowly without, but without gaining it back.
I’m mentioning this, because one of the techniques she used was a short 5 minute meditation she performed 3 times a day, just before having a meal. And you know what she did in this meditation? She imagined a blue light flowing through her body, from her head through her feet.
I’m not sure, if this was the secret of her weight loss success, but I guess it surely helped.
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Hey that’s really an interesting and new stuff for me. Next time onwards whenever I am on diet I would ask my fiance to wear blue so that I eat a bit less though the food seems to be tasty.
Most people don’t feel like eating right after they do this, especially since it makes many foods taste bad. Fortunately, there are a handful of techniques to combat the aftertaste of toothpaste.
Wow! What a cool idea! I know color affects my moods in so many ways, I can definitely make the leap to appetite suppressant ability. Blue usually conveys a sense of contentment within me, so ….Good thing I like blue!
Yes I have heard of this myself. This is exactly why mcdonalds, burger king and KFC use red in there advertising. I have studied the use of font’s and colours on our behavior and you can indeed effect somebodies behavior with visual stimuli.
There are some personal beliefs associated with color appetite, i don’t think so that some colors can harm you and some may help you. its all in our mind.
I actually do believe in the color theory – it’s just that there are probably, like with everything, people whom the theory doesn’t fit.
thanks for sharing. now I can help those experiencing excedding body weight. I’ll paint their kitchens in blue color. I’m joking of course but thee idea is nice I think.
Wow. I thought I had tried all sorts of slimming theories over the years but colour-co-ordinated dieting? That’s a new one. LOL.
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Interesting
I am thinking about painting my whole house blue
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As a corporate wellness coach, it’s always a challenge to encourage employees to eat better while at work. In particular, staying away from the snack machine and avoiding “fast foods” which are full of the brown, red and green colors.
It would be an interesting experiment to paint break/lunch rooms blue. And for workplace celebrations, using blue cups as opposed to the traditional red as well as forks, napkins, etc. This just may be the single adjustment companies can make to help overweight employees.
Bucky, this seems to be worth to experiment!
Will use a blue plate and hopefully it will curb my appetite. Our blog recently featured the nutrition plate. Its on similar lines.
Shaz
HealthCrowd Blog
Well I totally believe in this color theory. I feel that red encourages me to have more food. I really love food with red and brown shades. Food seems to be more attractive and makes me have it more than my stomach can tolerate..
Now thinking o giving a try to blue stuff. By the way this made me think that mostly we don’t have food with blue shades.
it seems to be crazy… amazing blog! i’ll be back, thanx
Wow… Got to try this trick!
I really believe in color tricks. It’s been proven around us.
1. Most eCommerce sites use yellow & orange add to cart buttons cuz if seems cheap & affordable.
2. Headlines are most effective in red
3. People still associate green with money, despite other currency notes are multi-colored.
4. Links on the Net are almost always blue. I read that light blue promotes easy feeling and trust, like saying ‘I come clean’. I changed the background of my web page to light blue (like that Gmail login box) in AB split test for experiment. Guess what? 7.3% increase in conversion rate!
Would you believe it! That trick with the light blue on your websites background is awesome!
This is very interesting, however i am sad that green make you want to eat more since that is my favorite color.
I think the next time i bake a cake i will die the icing blue and see if that keeps me from eating the hole thing.
It’s really very interesting to know about the affects of color to our appetite I will definitely try it.
Well I have tried just about everything else to lose the weight. A little more blue in my life wont hurt I guess. Maybe I’ll only eat the blue M&M’s too. Thanks
Hey of all the colors in the spectrum, blue is an appetite suppressant. Weight loss plans suggest putting your food on a blue plate. Or even better than that, put a blue light in your refrigerator and watch your munchies disappear. Or here’s another tip: Dye your food blue! A little black will make it a double whammy….
I knew that colors do have an impact on our moods but didn’t know that they had such great impact. Just 4-5 days back, I had set my monitor’s wallpaper having a blue color and since then I am feeling that I am not feeling hungry much and rather wanting to skip foods which isn’t good as well for those who’re not dieting hehe!
Hmmmm – sounds like you are not working much when you are at the computer since you seem to be looking at the blue wallpaper most of the time…. (joke!!!)
Children feel attracted towards colorful food items i.e. why it is always recommended, to decorate their meal with colored fruits and vegetable like tomatoes, carrots, green peas, capsicum,strawberry,grapes etc. Now I am going to pay attention that I do not use much of blue for my children’s food. So that I don’t have to run behind them for eating more…
Hi, your post is amazing. I thought colors are only good in marketing. I’m surprise to know that it has a significant factor that can influence the diet. Thanks for sharing this health tips.
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I have been working in a red office for the last almost 2 months and I must have gained at least 5kg, now I know why. Thank you for the awesome article…
I disagree about the food coloring. Blue is my favorite color. I have never seen royal blue ice cream, but because it’s different, I’d buy it right away if I ever did. My favorite is the lighter colored blue bubble gum ice cream. If I could find that in the store, I’d buy it, but I only see it in the mall or something, not sold in stores. I’m constantly buying bright colors of food like that, like those cupcakes. Those would be good for school spirit parties, in their school colors. I like blue soda also. I like to make a float out of blue ice cream and blue soda.
Hmmnn…blue coloring on food? That’s sounds interesting. Maybe it really have basis because blue food is very rare in nature. Have some fun, maybe I should try cooking spaghetti noodles in a blue colored boiling water.
The way that color can affect us without even knowing it is so interesting. My wife is an occupational therapist, and part of what she studied in grad school was ergonomics and color theory. She could look at a room and how the colors were placed and tell me what mood it would invoke in people. It was scary how accurate it was. I had never thought about it’s impact on appetite though. I’ll have to read up more on that!
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hi there,
I never thought that color can really effect our body and as well as our appetite. Blue really play some big role in appetite now I know =). I will try all the tips given and starting with changing all my plate into blue color =).
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Very interesting post, i never thought that color can act on our appetite! Until i never tried something blue in my diet…
Hmmm, that is a very interesting post. I never knew that colors would have any effect on our appetite.
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Very interesting, i did not know about color could have such effect on our wish to eat. Soon i will have some tests going on about this theory
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