Hungry Eyes: Can Food Porn Cause Overeating?

cc: Eat South Bank

A flashy, bright, perfectly-filtered picture of a doughnut pops up on your Instagram page, and suddenly that doughnut is all you want in your life. Drool starts to form at the corner of your mouth, and your pupils are as big as saucers. A minute ago, you were content as can be. In fact, you weren't even hungry. But now all you can think about is shoving that perfectly iced doughnut in your mouth.

Food Porn is the love-child between two different, but similar, things. Food, a basic human need, and pornography, a desire that stems off of sex- another human need. This creation is described by Deirdre Barrett, a leading physiatrist who specializes in Food Porn, as a "supernormal stimulus." This stimulus can "create a stronger pull than the real thing." In laments terms, Barrett believes that these sexualized photos of food create a larger desire to eat those foods than the food does itself.

This idea, to many psychologists and nutritionists, is deeply worrying. 

In a study recently published by Bolthouse Farms, an organic food brand, 65.9 percent of 185.8 million Food Porn posts on Twitter and Instagram feature unhealthy foods. That is roughly 122.4 million posts. With the majority of our society focusing on unhealthy foods, overeating becomes a top concern.

Food, up until about 1950, was just about nourishment. Society wasn't concerned with what they were eating as long as they were eating. However, according to USA Today, the Food Industry was started in 1954 with McDonald’s. 

With Burger King following in 1959, and Wendy’s in 1969, the food industry became more than just nourishment. People started basing what they ate on what restaurant was popular, and which would make them feel more “elite.”

As generations past, this idea of “elite food,” still remains.

Nobody wants to share their bowl of cereal on their social media feeds. They want to share a breakfast buffet, complete with a mimosa and latte art. 

These extravagant meals lead to more calories being spend on lavish, sugar filled meals, rather than one based off the recommended food pyramid. A regular diet of 2,000 calories, allows for only 10 teaspoons of sugar per day. Those delicious pies you see on Instagram have six teaspoons, or 24 grams, per piece. That's a fourth of the recommended sugars in a day. 

In a study for the journal Obesity, it is found that Food Porn images increase the body’s production of Ghrelin- a hunger hormone. According to the National Institute of Health, “Ghrelin is a fast-acting hormone, [that] seemly plays a role in meal initiation.” Whenever your body starts to feel hungry, Ghrelin is released into your stomach, causing your stomach to grumble as a hunger cue. However, scrolling through food images, also creates this effect.

Have you ever heard the saying, you eat with your eyes and not your stomach? Food Porn appeals directly to this concept. Food is already hard wired as one of our bodies' needs, and ramping up the sexuality of food only increases are desires. We are turned on by these photos, and want the food fix right then.

In recent studies, it is found that women are especially affected by Food Porn images. According to 
Judy Mahle Lutter, author of “The Bodywise Woman,” 50 percent of women are on a diet at all times. Ranging from the “no carb diet” to more modern diets like the “Paleo diet,” women are limiting themselves to certain foods.

"It’s common for women to browse sites like Food Porn Daily in order to curve cravings," said Lutter. It is based on the idea that if a person looks at the food, they can pretend they are eating it. This curves their initial craving and stops them from eating the sugar-filled food. However, these cravings don’t always go away. Later on in the night, while thinking about not thinking about food, the pictures are still in your head.

“If only I had that milkshake from Doughnut Time…” is where a majority of thoughts go. The constant thinking of food creates an increase in binge eating which then leads to overeating. While it’s thought Food Porn helps curve appetite, the “got to have it,” hunger suggests otherwise.

Just like any other tip to curb overeating, Dr. Susan Biali of Psychology Today, suggests this simple tip: eat when you’re hungry, and stop when you’re full. And don’t forget to cut down on how much you are swiping through those Food Porn photos. The mindless scrolling really does start to make your brain feel like it’s time to eat, so if you catch yourself in a Food Porn binge, ask yourself if you are truly hungry.

Most of the time, you’ll realize you might just have hungry eyes.

Interested in listening to an embarrassing story of my own personal food porn experience? Click HERE to listen with Kaltura Capture Space!

Works Cited:

"About Us." Bolthouse Farms. Bolthouse Farms, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2016 

Albers, Susan, Psy.D "Food Porn? The Hidden Risks." Pyschology Today. Sussex Directories, 20 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Aronica, Molly. "Where Your Favorite Fast-food Chains Began." USA Today. Gannett, 31 May 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

"Food Guide Pyramid." United States Department of Agriculture, 2015. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

Klok, MD. "Ghrelin." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2007. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.

O'Rourke, Theresa. "The Food Porn Problem." Women's Health. Rodale, 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. 

Romm, Cari. "What Food Porn Does to the Brain." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 20 Mar. 2016.