Would Aromatherapy Really Work For Weight Loss?

At first glance, it seems to be just another fad. Not another silly, nonsense claim just to cash in on an overweight person’s insecurity and gullibility?

But then I thought - hey, I’m sure I wouldn’t be able to eat a bite if I’d just smelled something gross (come on, it makes sense!) - so maybe there’s something to this after all.

I didn’t *actually* expect it to be a Cowdung Incense type of thing, but a far corner of my mind was really going into hysterics thinking, what if it is?, so I had to check it out.

The Aromatherapy Diet Website says:

Have you ever cooked a pot of spaghetti sauce on the stove all afternoon? The smell is fantastic! All afternoon you smell the sauce, anticipating the hearty meal in store for you. Aren’t you shocked when you sit down to eat and you just aren’t hungry? Isn’t it true that spaghetti always tastes better the next day? Here’s why. You have saiety centers in your brain that are directly activated by your sense of smell through your olfactory system. In fact, your nose is the only sense organ that does not have a barrier between the input and the brain, making it a highly sensitive and important sense. The saiety centers tell you when you are full. Since tasting food and smelling food are virtually the same thing (try eating with your nose plugged-you can’t taste a thing) exposure to the smell of food basically “fills up” the saiety centers and you feel fuller sooner. Just as there are certain smells that stimulate the appetite (like for me chocolate) there are certain smells that also neutralize the appetite, and I’ve combined these essences in my AROMATHERAPY weight loss program.

And this, incidentally, doesn’t sound all that insane to me. I personally can’t eat a bite if I’ve been making fried food for 15 minutes. It’s as if I’ve inhaled so much oil that I physically can’t take in any more calories. (I wish. I always feel ravenous just a couple of hours later.)