Why watching sad movies could make you fat

Sad movies make movie-goers eat more

By weighing discarded popcorn and counting popcorn boxes, Cornell Food and Brand Lab researchers found that movie-goers who bought popcorn and watched the sad movie, Solaris, ate an average of 55 percent more popcorn (127 versus 82 grams) than those watching the more upbeat movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

If you love tearjerkers, don't despair

"Sad movies also lead people to eat more of any healthy food that's in front of them," says lead author Cornell Professor Brian Wansink, author of Slim by Design: Mindless Eating Solutions for Everyday Life, "It's a quick and mindless way of getting more fruit or veggies into your diet."

Munching in pace with action movies

This study complements a recent finding also by the Cornell Food and Brand Lab which shows that action and adventure movies also lead television viewers to eat more calories - but only if the foods are within arm's reach.

"With action movies, people seem to eat to the pace of the movie," said Aner Tal, Ph.D. Cornell researcher and co-author, "But movies can also generate emotional eating, and people may eat to compensate for sadness."

How to avoid overeating while watching movies

Wansink provides a last piece of advice for dieting movie-lovers, "Keep snacks out of arms reach, ideally leave them in the kitchen and only bring to the couch what you intend to eat. It's easier to become slim by design than slim by willpower."

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