Certain colors could evoke certain moods in people and could also affect the appetite.
Want to trim down? Go with blue walls and accents, say color therapists. The reason is that blue is not a food found naturally, other than in the case of blueberries and a few varieties of bluish potatoes, and so it fails to excite the taste buds. It's also known as a color that's soothing to the spirit, which may translate into the ability to calm our appetites.
If you're not inclined to redo your whole kitchen, consider making smaller color changes that might have a big impact on your appetite. Eating off of blue plates is a strategy that some dieters have employed. Another is installing a blue light in the refrigerator. The light casts what might be described as an unappetizing glow over the food, making you less likely to remove it from the fridge in the first place.
One color not to paint your kitchen is red, or any warm variation such as orange. Experts say red is a stimulating color, increasing energy and heart rate, and it has a similar effect on appetite. Think about restaurants you've visited, from fast food to high-end eateries. Chances are many of them had an abundance of red in their décor. This is because restaurant designers know food looks more appetizing against a red background. Using red is great for their bottom line, but not so great for your waistline.
Clinical studies exploring the effects of room color on appetite are scarce, but multiple studies have demonstrated that the colors of food and drinks play at least some role in our perception of how they taste. Foods and drinks are judged to be flavored more strongly when colored with what testers perceive to be the "correct" shades (i.e. when testers were given a cherry-flavored drink, it was red). However, testers have trouble discerning flavors when drinks are colored differently than expected or have no color at all.
Chances are you won't magically drop two dress sizes simply by painting your kitchen blue. But you may find that a bluish hue takes the edge off of your appetite just enough to allow you a slow, safe rate of weight loss without a dramatic change to your cooking habits.
Sources:
Washington University. "Does the Color of Foods and Drinks Affect the Sense of Taste?" Web. http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/coltaste.html
Apartment Therapy. "Affecting Appetite With Kitchen Color." Web. http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/look-affecting-appetite-with-k-79063
Wall Street Journal. "In Restaurant Design, One Color is Red-Hot." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704415104576065993393296616.html
