It seems like food shows are huge nowadays. You would think this golden age of food shows would make for thousands of new meal ideas. Unfortunately, research is showing that these shows are causing people to crave foods that are high in sugars and fats, rather than healthier options. The hit TV shows don't always put a lot of emphasis on the healthier foods. On the contrary, most food shows recently tempt you towards delicious decadent foods that are not the kinds of foods you should be eating frequently. Rather than causing us to want to cook more, they simply make us want to eat more, and our society does plenty of that already. Researchers at the Department of Psychology at Hobart and William Smith Colleges set out to determine if there was an effect food-oriented television shows had on eating habits. The experiment involved 80 adults divided into two groups. 40 of them were told to watch ten minutes of a cooking show and the other 40 were told to watch ten minutes of a nature documentary. After watching, all group members were given three bowls containing carrots, cheese curls, and chocolate-covered sweets and were allowed to eat however much they wanted of each in ten minutes. 

The scientists made sure to take measurements before and after, to see exactly who had been eating what. They observed that the ones who watched cooking shows ate more of the chocolate sweets than the ones who watched nature documentaries. Those who watched the nature documentary were more inclined to go for the carrots. Even though they had this discrepancy, the overall amount of calories they ate was the same. Even though they had the same amount of calories, the source of these calories was very different, and as a result has a different effect on the body. This isn't exactly the most accurate study however, as those taking part were well aware of the purpose of the experiment, which may have skewed the results. Not only that, but those that took part only watched their respective shows for ten minutes, while most people watch TV shows for much longer. Another issue was that they could only snack on the food after the show, and not during. Allowing them to snack during the viewing would have been a much more telling experiment overall. Even though there isn't explicit evidence proving it, be extra cautious when watching these popular cooking shows, it may be skewing your eating habits more than you think. 

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