Magic Powder that Makes You Lose Weight? Sprinkle and Go.

Sensa is the new form of weight-loss. Call me crazy, but it seems like sprinkling a “magic” powder over your food is something I wouldn’t trust.

How it works: Sprinkle a packet of this stuff over your meal, and it releases smell and taste receptors that are supposed to tell your body to stop eating. Eat less, feel full, and lose weight. That’s the idea of this calorie-free, sugar-free, and gluten-free powder.

The back story: L.A. Times wrote about it in their blog. The guy behind the research is a neurologist, Dr. Alan Hirsch, who took interest in “the fact that people who lose their sense of smell and taste from severe head injuries often gain weight rapidly.” After much research and a six month period, 1, 436 overweight men lost an average of 30.5 pounds—not by changing what they ate, but by simply sprinkling on Sensa. It allows for a sense of normalcy while dieting—I get the appeal.

It’s true, sometimes our body doesn’t tell us when to stop eating. A combination of lots of things—hormones, signals given to your body, even how good the food tastes can throw off how much we are eating. The best idea (Sensa or not) is to control how much food is on your plate at a time. That way you visually know how much your body will be consuming.