Dr. Alia Crum

Because that will signal to your brain that you've had enough, right?

But what we found was when people thought they were eating healthy, sensibly sort of, you know, restraining their eating, their bodies responded as if they weren't getting enough.

It was actually the mindset of indulgence that was the better mindset to have, right?

Because the mindset of indulgence, even though it was the exact same milkshake, led to them the appropriate, the ideal response of ghrelin levels falling.

Wow.

So this was mind-blowing for me because I realized I had been going about it all wrong.

I had been sort of gritting my teeth trying to diet, but I was doing all the hard work in a mindset of restraint, right?

a mindset of sensibility, a mindset of I'm not getting enough.

And that setting of my mind was counteracting the hard work that I was at dieting.

So I realized, Mel, I realized like it's not about the milkshake.

It's not about the cheesecake, right?

The real gem in this study is that the mindset of indulgence is the best mindset to be in when you eat.

And let me be clear about what I mean by indulgence, right?

Indulgence, by the original definition of the word, it means to allow oneself to enjoy the pleasure of, right?

So does this license you to eat cheesecake and milkshakes all the time?

No, of course not.

But now when I eat, whether that's a cheesecake or a salad or like a side of veggies, I try to eat in a mindset of indulgence.

So if I find myself back at the Cheesecake Factory, I'll eat the whole meal in that mindset, right?

And what I found is that when I eat the whole meal in that mindset, I don't even want the cheesecake.

Of course, sometimes I'll have cheesecake.