It's official... you can literally find a way to make anything sound better than it really is. While looking into possible diets to get ready for summer days at the lake, a website actually tried to persuade me to go on the Air Diet!! I decided to read further to make sure it was serious, and the answer was yes--the creators of this diet really were suggesting that eating only air would make you lose weight. Thank you Captain Obvious. As far as I am concerned, "Air Diet" is synonymous to anorexia. The proponents of this new fad diet just forgot to mention the negative effects of hair loss, heart problems, and fragile bones that can come along with anorexia.
Even though this diet is just a clever way of inducing anorexia in vulnerable targets, it is based in a real scientific phenomenon. In our textbook, the author argues that with feelings of hunger, "the brain is far more influential than the actual stomach." This diet clearly utilizes this fact. It has its participants prepare food and even put it near their mouths (like Madonna is demonstrating above). However, instead of actually eating the food, they do a form of breathing meditation that convinces their brain that consuming air will fill them up the same as food. The stomach will obviously catch on to this trick when it does not receive any food meal, but the stomach is not in control. If the brain, specifically the hypothalamus, can be convinced that food entered the system, it will decrease hunger sensations.
So how about it? Would you ever hop on the Air Diet bandwagon?
That is crazy that there is actually such a diet out there! I think that I would find it impossible to go through, make food, and then never actually eat it. It would take so much mental will power to be able to convince yourself to do it! Very interesting post, good job!