There’s a great study where a researcher had two groups drink the same 300-calorie French vanilla shake (Mmmm, ice cream . . .). She made one group think they were drinking an “indulgence” shake—with higher calories and more sugar, like one you would drink from an old-timey diner. She led the other group to believe that they were drinking something more sensible with fewer calories, like something you would drink at a bourgie health spa. Lo and behold, just telling these two groups that they were drinking different kinds of shakes changed their bodies’ responses to it. The spa group
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