McGill psychology professor Baerbel Knaeuper’s research on the role of visualization techniques in shaping food habits has fast become the latest fad in the multi-billion dollar weight loss industry. The basic idea is to have people try to imagine what and how much they are going to eat in detail before meals. In the pursuit of “easy-to-apply techniques that people can and will use in their everyday life to eat healthier and resist temptations,” Knaeuper borrowed visualization techniques common in sports psychology. Athletes’ mental rehearsals of their performances prior to competing in order to yield better results has “the potential to be applied to a whole range of health behaviours,” said research coordinator Michelle Roseman. Funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Knaeuper’s hypothesis was tested on 177 undergraduate students from McGill’s New Residence Hall. With the goal of increased fruit consumption, results illustrated that the use of visualization techniques increased consumption from 2.23 to 3.85 servings of fruit a day. ‘The study suggests that by performing simple cognitive strategies, humans can change important health-related behaviors. “The beneficial aspect of imaging one’s plans is that it can be done anywhere, at anytime, by anyone,” said Julien Lacaille, a graduate student member of the research team. The correlation between likelihood of success with the use of visualization techniques (in this instance when, where and how they would buy, prepare and eat the fruit) is promising. But Roseman pointed out that although “more research is needed, this combination of action plans and visualization could also be used to help individuals achieve other health-related goals- such as getting more exercise.”