Personally, I shouldn't look at food I can't eat but I can see how others might be the opposite. I think there have been studies done where people visual eating yummy things and they eat less at their next meal ... but there are also studies that show that people eat more when after watching junk food commercials. So monitor your hunger ... this could be the best thing for your diet, or the worst!

For me, I am into warming essential oils and those strong flavors are really cutting into my feelings of hunger. Having my kitchen smell like peppermint keeps me feeling festive, but with no urge to buy candy canes.

Most days looking at beautiful food would not be a good thing for me, so I avoid it. I had to stop looking at some fitness sites because of the lovingly photographed bowls of granola and health bars.

I used to love snacking while watching the Food Network, thank goodness I don't get that channel any more.

I'm interested into looking into essential oils. How do you use them and are there any specifically used to deter hunger? Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm very curious about essential oils.

Sometimes it can be a trigger for me, it's food porn!

I love to browse recipes and photos of food, especially if I'm hungry :-) It doesn't trigger me though, and cooking didn't cause me to gain weight. Eating too much junk food did. To be fair, I don't care for sweet stuff, so a lot of the Pinterest recipes don't appeal to me. I've been browsing a lot of Mediterranean foods now on Pinterest and it all looks so delicious, and the good thing is...if I'm on a Mediterranean diet, I can eat it all! :-)

Regarding essential oils...I was just explaining to my friend today how much I love the scent of Bergamot and that it's actually used to treat eating disorders. It supposedly balances the emotions and promotes healthy appetite. Meaning that if you're anorexic, it can help you gain appetite back and if you're a compulsive eater, it can help you stay away from food. I'm also just getting into essential oils and the strong scents really do affect your brain in all kinds of ways. Fascinating stuff. Would be great to see a thread about those... *wink wink nudge nudge* :-)