Apparently, cleanliness is next to godliness and also stimulates a slimmer waistline, according to science.
A recent study conducted at Cornell Food and Brand Lab, shows having a messy kitchen is likely to cause over-eating.
The research, published in the Journal of Environment and Behaviour, examined the behaviour of 98 women who were split into two groups.
One group spent an hour in a messy kitchen while the remaining women were held in a clean kitchen.
Both sets of participants were given cookies, crackers and carrots to snack on while they waited. Women in the unclean kitchen consumed 100 more calories than the others – in particular, they ate more biscuits.
People in the messy room ate 103 calories of cookies – which, frankly, doesn’t sound like a lot to me – versus the group in the tidy kitchen who ate 38 calories, totalling a difference of 53 calories.
Dr Lenny Vartanian, lead author of the study, said:
Being in a chaotic environment and feeling out of control is bad for diets. It seems to lead people to think: ‘Everything else is out of control, so why shouldn’t I be?’
Study co-author Brian Wansink added, ‘Although meditation, as a way of feeling in control, might be one way to resist kitchen snacking for some, it’s probably easier just to keep our kitchens picked up and cleaned up.’
So, there you have it. Our mothers were right. Again.
Cue the new fad diet: Clean your way to washboard abs, sponsored by Kim, Aggie and Kyla Itsnes. God help us all.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.