Craving chocolate glazed donuts? How about Strawberry cheesecake? Taste buds watering for beef tacos?

You can smell but don’t swallow, says Dr. Alan Hirsch, neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago. The foundation yearly treats more than 1,000 patients from all over the world who have lost their sense of smell from head trauma.

Hirsch recently conducted a study to see is people could sniff their way to weight loss. Chances are good because 90 percent of taste is smell, Hirsch said.
Hirsch furnished 3,193 people with scented inhalers such as banana, green apple and peppermint – tastes that most people crave. Most in this study were not physically active.

Those who were physically active were told to continue their exercise regiments and sniff the inhalers whenever they felt like eating.

The non-edible inhalers either worked as a distracter from eating or reminders not to eat. Maybe they actually helped satisfy cravings, Hirsch said.

He also found that folks averaged 18 to 288 sniffs per day. “Maybe they were too busy to eat,” Hirsch said.

Regardless, Hirsch found that the average weight loss per person was about 30 pounds. He also found that those who sniffed more frequently lost more weight.
He then tested 108 people over a six month period. Hirsch supplied them with no-calorie, no-salt flavored sprinkles to enhance dietary foods. The sprinkles came in twelve flavors such as ranch, mocha, cheddar cheese and taco. On average, individuals who used the sprinkles lost nearly 35 pounds over the six months.

So next time someone presents you with a box of donuts take a whiff and politely decline.

Want to know more about smelling away pounds? Check out Alan Hirsch’s book Scentsational Weight Loss, found at most bookstores. Hirsch is also looking for volunteers for a regional study on taste and weight loss. Check out www.smellandtaste.org to see if you qualify to participate.