Oh colors, vibrant reds, calming blues, exciting yellows. We all know that colors can affect our mood and state of mind, but have we ever thought about how they can influence our decision making? Maybe those late-night stack attacks have been induced onto us by the kitchen itself.
Color theory is real, color phycology has been proven. Our minds respond to colors and portray certain feelings along with them. So naturally, the colors of our kitchens influence our state of mind while in them. Some colors will influence hunger more than others. Some colors will suppress the appetite more than others.
Blues
Having a primarily blue color pallet in your kitchen will induce a state of calm, your blood pressure drops which means you have a clearer state of mind and a clearer sense of decision making. This means you might have a higher sense of serene and notice less mindless snacking in your blue kitchen.
Yellows
Yellow provides a sense of excitement, a thrill to explore and a lighthearted disposition. These feelings might make you want to eat more often while in the kitchen. The emotion of excitement might lead you wanting to explore your pantry and see what you can find, which means, unnecessary eating!
Greens
Green is interesting because it evokes a sense of calm with the inclination of health. We associate green with heathy eating and a peaceful environment. While greens may have us feeling more at peace in the kitchen, it can be quite a manipulative color that can make us believe we’re eating heathier than we are. No matter what fat filled, greasy meal you’re eating, looking out onto a serene green kitchen might make you feel like it’s healthier than it really is because our interpretation of green is clean eating.
Reds
Red is the most hunger inducing color you could possibly have in your kitchen. Red brings excitement, thrill, a raise in blood pressure and heart rate, it just makes you want to eat! You’ll notice in a red kitchen you’re on the hunt for food, the red is invigorating and influences you to keep finding things to eat. Think about McDonalds, they’ve used the red and yellow color pallet to their advantage for years, because it works!
White
You’d think white would suppress your appetite, but it actually does quite the opposite. White is associated with cleanliness and purity which then influences us to not care and not be present which can easily lead into mindless snaking and unnecessary eating.
Blacks/Browns
These are probably the most appetite suppressing colors. Blacks and browns are simply not appetizing. There isn’t a lot of food that you find in these colors, the food you do find is usually associated with being burned, old, or not edible at all. Our mind associates the images of foods we’ve seen in these colors (generally unappetizing foods) as not good to eat and triggers our mind into not having an appetite or not feeling the need to eat at all.
Next time you go out to eat at a restaurant or go to a friend’s house, take a moment to really look at the colors in the space and see how they make you feel. Do you feel an incredible sense to eat or are you completely at peace with not a need to eat? The colors around us will continue to influence our feelings while in the space. Color is incredibly important while in the kitchen, keep this phycology in mind before a color takes over your diet!
