Ever wonder why all fast food restaurants appear to be of the same color? Is there something to that? Turns out, there is. Certain colors can influence your appetite and desire to eat food, so by painting a room a certain color, it may encourage more eating. For fast food establishments or restaurants, this clearly means more business.

Likewise, if you are someone who is hoping to lose weight, you might be well served by surrounding yourself in certain colors that actually suppress your appetite and desire to eat, which could make it easier to reach your goals.

Let’s look at how various colors influence your desire to eat.

Red

Red is an interesting color as it generally all depends on how it’s used. If food is served on a red plate, people tend to eat less food overall, likely because they associate red circles with stop signs. This may seem elementary, but subconsciously, it could be taking place.

On the flip-side though, the color in general does tend to stimulate the appetite, which is why fast food restaurants often use red in their logos or signs. Likewise, we tend to find red colored foods appealing and it tends to make us want to eat more. So think about that next time you’re eating a tomato, apple, or cherry.

Gray

When it comes to appetite inducing colors, gray is one color to stay away from. Most people do not associate gray with a palatable food thus it puts them in the mood to not eat.

Think about this, when was the last time you saw a delicious tasting gray food? Chances are, never.

Black

Also on the list of colors that tend to suppress appetite is black. Black is a very dark color and most people will eat more when they experience feelings of happiness and excitement. This tends to come about from brighter colors, putting black on the outs.

Blue

Yet another color that will squash your appetite in a hurry is blue. Here again, we just don’t see many delicious tasting blue foods in everyday life. With the exception of possibly blueberries, most blue colored foods look rather unappealing. They’ll make people want to put the food down rather than pick it up. As blue colored foods just don’t appear naturally in the wild, most people will simply not associate this color with palatable foods.

Blue also tends to be more associated with feelings of calmness and relaxation instead, so are better suited to use in the bathroom or bedroom.

Yellow

Finally, yellow is the last color that can stimulate the appetite and make someone want to eat more. Here again, you’ll often see yellow used in fast food establishments. Yellow can lead to feelings of joy and happiness, along with increased serotonin production, all of which make you want to eat more food.

So keep these notes in mind as you go about your day and try and pay attention to situations where you want to eat more food. Do you see any connections?

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