If you're trying to lose weight it's important to stay healthy. And by staying healthy it involves making healthy decisions in food or choosing the right diet plan.

There are countless ways to get healthier!

But did you know that sniffing certain types of foods is one of them? (Wow!)

Here is a list of foods that provide health benefits when sniffed (That's starting to sound a little funny):

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Olive oil is known for many of its health benefits.

Compared to other oils and fats, extra virgin olive oil is more likely to make a person feel full and satisfied. A study showed that by just exposing an aromatic extract of olive oil to food improved a person's blood sugar response and had them eating less calories.

Read: 6 Eating Rules For Faster Weight Loss

Garlic

According to a study conducted in 2012, strong aromas in foods like garlic are able to make you take smaller bites of food.

If you are like me and cannot enjoy life without spices, then here is a reason to believe that we are born the most luckiest people on earth! Hurray!

Some foods with a strong aroma like hot peppers are even able to help burn calories.

Green Apples / Bananas

A study conducted at the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation found that overweight people who smelled bananas or green apples while feeling hungry over time happened to lose more weight than those who didn't.

Smelling the "neutral" sweet smells can alter your appetite by keeping your brain at bay. How? They trick you into thinking that you ate the bananas. It has to do with the way our bodies perceive our eating habits.

Related: Study: Protein Could Be Key to Weight Loss, Muscle Gain

The sense of smell is a crucial element of our eating habits!

Scientists conducted a test and took a group of almost 3,200 overweight women and made them smell specific scents whenever they were hungry.

The women chosen were adults between the ages of 18 and 64 when they were told to smell scents of foods like green apples, vanilla, peppermint and bananas. The test was held for six months and these women lost almost 14 kg on average (Wow!).

The scents of the apples and bananas are neutral sweet scents. Interestingly, stronger sweet scents like chocolate do *not* have the same impact as these neutral sweet scents.

Fennel

According to the West Coast Institute of Aromatherapy, it also functions as an appetite suppressant. When you begin to feel like the cravings are hitting, try making yourself fennel seed water by infusing fennel seeds in hot water or by steeping them overnight in cool water!

Read: Here's What Happens To Your Body When You Skip Breakfast

Grapefruit

This vitamin C and lycopene-loaded citrus powerhouse is a favorite fruit of dieters!

But did you know that grapefruit also provide their own weight loss superpowers that you can sniff from?

Researchers at Osaka University in Japan found that exposing rats to the scent of grapefruit oil for 15-minute intervals inbetween helped lower their appetite and weight.

They believe it may have to do with how the smell interacts with liver enzymes.

Read: 4 Reasons Quinoa Is Essential For Weight Loss

In addition, grapefruit is one of many super foods that are high in fiber with very few calories (a half grapefruit is only about 40 calories, usually a little less).

And another amazing thing about grapefruit is that it's one of the well-known "negative calorie" foods, meaning it takes more calories to digest it than exist in the fruit.

Why does sniffing work?

It has to do with the way our bodies perceive our eating habits. The sense of smell is a leading element in altering our appetite.

Firstly, our sense of smell causes us to become hungry. If the scent we smell is particularly appetising, we crave food and end up overeating. Furthermore, when our brain receives signals from our nose about a particular type of food, it thinks that it has eaten the food.

Read: 27 Essential Eating Tips To Make You Healthier

The result is that we start feeling full and uninterested in eating more. Have you recalled anyone in the past that vomited from the sight of vomit from another person the moment they smelled the first indication of actual vomit? *I have*.

The bottom line

Smelling / sniffing these scents can control our appetite and alter the way we respond to our eating habits. And by controlling your appetite it helps aid in weight loss.

Start smellin!