I found an interesting article on MSN the other day: 10 common misconceptions which lists 10 interesting popular misconceptions, not just related to health but all things.
The very first one surpised me, the title is If you eat less food, your stomach will shrink. Straight away I was suprised this even is a misconception. I wasn’t aware anyone thought this.
Here is what the article says:
Dieters are often advised to decrease their intake of food in order to shrink the size of their stomach. However, while smaller portions will obviously help with weight-loss, the size of your stomach has nothing to do with the process. On average, the organ will maintain a constant volume throughout life, regardless of the amount of food that passes through it.
I had a little look into it and whilst you can’t shrink your stomach (well, surgery can) you can shrink your hunger. This article says “reduced-calorie diet for four weeks can help you shrink your sensation of hunger”, so after weeks of dieting I can understand why many people would think they have shrinked their stomach.
I also found someone on Yahoo answers asking for advice on how to shrink their stomach. So clearly people do believe the misconception. To clarify: it is NOT TRUE, you cannot shrink your stomach by eating less, but you can shrink your sensation of hunger.
Image: markhillary
