A place that would make us say paisa vasool at the end of the dining experience is what all of us look for when we eat out. Apart from good food, light music and a comfortable ambience is imperative. And nothing spells out good ambience like dim lighting does.
Now, who doesn’t want to feel warm and fuzzy while eating? The fairy lights decor combined with some cheesy food is all we need in life.
Except may be for the time when we want to take a perfect shot of our food in all its glory for the next Instagram post.
Whatever your preference be, guys, what we’re going to tell you now might just make you reconsider your restaurant choices.
Remember that time when you thought you’ll cut on calories but the moment you went for a candle-light dinner, you wanted more of cheese on the already cheesy pasta of yours?
Well, studies have shown that dim-lit restaurants are the culprits for making us eat more and it doesn’t end there, guys. The magic of a dark room will also tempt you into ordering unhealthy things like desserts and fried foods. Imagine a world where lighting affects food choices! Well, you’re living in it.
The Cornell University Food and Brand Lab discovered that people eating in a well-lit place are about 16-24% more likely to order healthy foods than those in dimly-lit rooms.
According to the research, this happens primarily because we’re more alert when there’s a lot of light. On the other hand, we shed our inhibitions and are more likely to go all out when at a dim-lit place.
What this basically means is that being in a brightly-lit restaurant will push you to make healthy decisions!
The researchers surveyed 160 restaurant goers and came to the conclusion that to maintain a good health and avoid adding kilos to the body, we need bright-lighting.
No wonder we become lettuce-eating, cheese-avoiding health enthusiasts when we go to Subway!
And not just that! Even sales records showed that those in dimly-lit rooms actually ordered 39% more calories. “In four additional lab studies involving 700 college-aged students in total, the researchers replicated these results,” the study said.
But the dim-lighting lovers don’t need to worry just yet. The good part about eating in dim-lit places is that “despite ordering less-healthy foods, you’ll actually end up eating slower and enjoying your food more.” And well, that’s great if you value taste over health!