How Colors Affect your Appetite

It is incredible how much color has to do on someone’s appetite. Some colors sway a person towards food while others make them feel less hungry.

Here are some examples about different colors and  their  affect on your appetite.

Let’s start with the color gray, Have you ever seen gray food that looks appetizing? The color gray usually turns people away from food. Gray is absolutely a color restaurant owners should stay away from.

The color black is used to cause a person’s appetite to reduce. Even though it is a slimming color when worn, That is why we don’t see the black color incorporated in restaurants decoration because they want to increase people’s appetite not squelch them

The color brown is another dark color that tends to reduce people’s appetite. It reminds people of food that has been burnt or overdone rather than homemade baked goods or bread.

The color purple is hardly ever found in the world of foods. It is usually related to foods not everyone likes such as red onions, purple cabbage and eggplant. Very few people find these foods tasty, so the color purple not often makes people feel hungry.

The color blue is related with calmness. This is the color that should be used in a bedroom or a room made for relaxation. People who are relaxed and calm are more prone to sleeping rather than eating. If you want to suppress your appetite and lose few calories, put a blue light in the kitchen.

The color turquoise has a different effect than the standard blue shade mentioned above. Turquoise is in fact an appetite stimulant. It’s often associated to the feeling of carefree and happiness. Even though you think you are full after eating dinner, when you see a piece of cake on a turquoise colored plate you are more likely to eat the dessert anyway.

The color green is healthy color. Salads are usually filled with green foods and most products that are considered to be more natural than others are generally enclosed in green packaging. The green color is a good color to encourage healthy eating.

The color yellow makes people very happy. It’s a jolly color that is visible in most surroundings. When someone feels happy, He is more likely to eat than when they are overly calm or sad.

The color orange stimulates the brain, which raises mental activity and usually increases a sensation of hunger. Many healthy foods are orange such as carrots, pumpkins, butternut squash, and oranges. Orange makes people feel welcome and when someone is comfortable, eating sounds like a great idea.

The color red raises heart rate, blood pressure, and causes hunger to be more common. This is why many restaurants choose to have red accents on the wall or use red tablecloths on tables. Red is an outstanding color to paint an establishment where food is sold.

It is funny to think that just seeing a certain color can increase your appetite, while another color can actually act as an appetite suppressant. However, not all of these colors have the same effect on everyone.

Christelle Bedrossian
Dietitian-Nutritionist
Beirut, Lebanon