Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you've eaten

This weightloss information appeared in the fitness section of MSNBC:

If you want to lose weight should you suppress your appetite or increase your metabolism (the rate at which
your body uses food for fuel)? The answer is to eat the right foods at the right time.

Most people go off a food plan at night (after dinner) when they feel the urge to nosh…so to curb your appetite tonight…. use these tips from the article:

1. Protein First
“Rise and shine with protein.” But what does this have to do with night-time cravings? Everything. Set the body up to use your own fat-stores for fuel by eating protein in the morning and your appetite FOR fatty foods goes way down during the day and the night. Protein is “thermogenic”, meaning it helps increase your metabolism. It also acts as a natural appetite regulator.
2. Grapefruit
In a study at the Nutrition and Metabolic Research Center at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, people who ate half a grapefruit with each meal lost an average of 3.6 pounds in three months. That doesn’t sound like a lot (and it isn’t) but that’s ALL they changed.
Grapefruit makes for a good night time snack, especially if you have a few bites of lean protein with it.

3. Use your nose & smell !
This is a great trick. Smelling food can trick your brain into thinking you’ve eaten. A recent study found that those who inhaled peppermint in scent form every 2 hours at (get this) ate 2700 calories LESS per week than they normally did. If you decrease your calorie intake by just 2500 calories per week, that’s a fatloss of more than half a pound a week… from sniffing peppermint!

Vanilla also works. You can keep vanilla-scented drops or candles around the house or office and take a sniff every few hours.