Ever notice how sad you feel when you walk into a dark room that doesn't have windows or bright colors, or how hungry you are when surrounded by red walls or red dishes? That's the psychology of color.
Color plays a vitally important role in the world in which we live. Color can sway thinking, change actions, and cause reactions. It can irritate or soothe your eyes, raise your blood pressure or suppress your appetite. Certain shades, tones & colors affect our moods and emotions. Some colors suppress our appetite (which makes them good for people who are counting calories), while other colors increase our breathing and heart rate.
Color and the appeal of foods are also closely related. There have been a number of studies performed on how the perception of taste is effected by color. The studies conclude that people learn and become familiar with specific combinations of colors and tastes. These learned associations may alter our perceptions and create expectations about how a food should smell and taste. The sight of food fires neurons in the hypothalamus. Thus making us convinced before a food is even tried.
So which colors can stimulate (or suppress) the appetite? Here is a list of colors and their effect:
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Red: Red is a very emotionally intense and energetic color. It increases respiration rate and raises blood pressure, while also stimulating appetite. Because of its appetite stimulating effect, it is often used in restaurants and is an excellent choice for dining rooms in the home.
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Orange: Orange increases oxygen supply to the brain, produces an invigorating effect, and stimulates mental activity. It is a warm, welcoming color that makes people feel comfortable. As a citrus color, orange is associated with healthy food and stimulates appetite.
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Blue: Blue is considered beneficial to the mind and body. It slows human metabolism and produces a calming effect. Blue is strongly associated with tranquility and calmness. Because blue is rarely found as a natural color, it's often used as an appetite suppressant. Therefore, avoid using blue when promoting food and cooking. Experts recommend putting a blue light in your fridge when you are dieting, as this will put you off eating. You can also try using blue plates, blue placemats, and a blue dining area.
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Yellow: Cheerful sunny yellow is an attention getter. Yellow enhances concentration, hence its use for legal pads. Yellow is also appetite stimulating, because it relates to happiness.
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Green: Green is associated with nature, health and abundance, and is often used to show a product's safety. Because of its connection to nature, Green is considered a calming and relaxing color. Green foods are interpreted to be healthy.
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Grey: It muffles appetite and even causes disgust for meal! Grey color does not cause irritation, but thus it calms and muffles anxiety, and together with it and appetite.
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Turquoise: It stimulates appetite. Orange and turquoise shades, and also their combinations concern to "tasty" colors. If you even will hang up a picture of these colors on kitchen and will look at it during meal you quickly will get rid of excessive leanness.
Green, brown, and red are the most popular food colors. Red and yellow are often used in restaurant decorating schemes because they are appetite stimulant. In order to lose weight, you should eat your food on a black or dark plate. These dark colors subconsciously diminish your appetite. Furthermore, dinner should be eaten on the dark plates but breakfast should be eaten on bright plates.
