If you’re sticking to your diet, you might not be sticking to your budget. A study in the March issue of the Journal of Consumer Research indicates that people who have exercised self-control in some other area are more prone to make impulse purchases.

People need self-regulatory control to avoid impulse buying but if their resources of self-control are depleted by something else, like a new exercise or diet program, they are less likely to be able to muster the sales resistance necessary.

So, if your husband wants to know why you bought so much at the mall, just tell him “I’m dieting”.

On a diet? You’ll spend more on impulse purchases

The stuff those scientists get up to over at MIT is amazing. Researchers at MIT Sloan School of Management and Carnegie Mellon University, Stanford have found a way to predict what someone will purchase by using functional MRI to show which brain regions are being activated when they view products and prices. This is a blockbuster study in the emerging field of neuroeconomics (I bet you didn’t even know there was such an emerging field).

…by studying which regions were activated, the authors were able to successfully predict whether the study participants would decide to purchase each item. Activations of the regions associated with product preference and with weighing gains and losses indicated that a person would decide to purchase a product. In contrast, when the region associated with excessive prices was activated participants chose not to buy a product.

Of course, this research seems mainly to deal with helping us understand what motivates us to buy and probably will help retailers overcome the brain bits that are responsible for our frugality. But what if instead of neuroeconomics they turned this technology to dieting?

Imagine, scientists map out the part of the brain responsible for eating chocolate cake and set up transmitters that could alert a main system that your brain is making your mouth water. Immediately, receptors implanted in the part of the brain that are responsible for willpower are activated, so that when your salivating mouth opens to consume the chocolate cake, instead it voices a resounding “No!, No!, No!”. Within just a few weeks you would be able to activate the part of your brain that wanted to buy those leather pants.

I guess science isn’t ready to deal with important issues like that yet.

Researchers use brain scans to predict when people will buy products

There was a time when every woman wore a girdle. In the early 50s, glamor demanded those perfect lines and contours. Tummies were slimmed, hips made smooth, busts enhanced and reshaped – long line bras and girdles slimmed bulges and created curves. All of these items were generally very restrictive and uncomfortable.

The sixties brought us freedom, we were the generation that “let it all hang out” and prided ourselves on loving nature in its gloriously unbridled beauty.

Then came the women’s movement and bra-burning. Women were not going to be held to archaic standards of beauty; we demanded to be seen as equals and measured by the worth of our intellect and capabilities rather than the measurements of our figures.

Well as they say, everything old is new again. The latest trend in Hollywood is spandex undergarments – a new take on an old girdle. The most popular brand is Spanx who market a complete line of slimming garments for everyone from the very slim to plus sizes as well as maternity undergarments.

Everyone from Tyra Banks to Gwyneth Paltrow admits to wearing slimming undergarments to achieve that sleek look. Watch out girls, girdles are back!

Shop for Spanx garments at Amazon

There was a time when domestic wines were not so highly regarded and an “imported” wine usually meant French or German. Nowadays it is just as likely to mean wine from Australia or South Africa.

And the same is happening in Europe where winemakers in EU countries are losing customers to wines imported from Australia, South Africa and the US. The blame is being put on the intricate and detailed labelling of wines, which can be confusing to consumers.

“The consumer decides what is taken down the shelves in the supermarkets. The consumer wants simple, clear labeling,” EU Farm Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said after meeting with farm ministers from the 25 EU member nations to discuss reforming Europe’s wine sector.

“When you look at the success of the new-world wines, some of them specifically use the labeling ‘Chardonnay,’ ‘Sauvignon,’ and people don’t ask for anything, but ‘let me get a glass or a bottle of Sauvignon,” she said.

Clear simple labeling? You have to be a nutrition expert to figure out how many cookies you can eat.