full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Sandra Aamodt: Why dieting doesn't usually work

Unscramble the Blue Letters


As a neuroscientist, I wondered, why is this so hard? Obviously, how much you weigh dedpnes on how much you eat and how much energy you burn. What most people don't realize is that hunger and energy use are controlled by the brain, mostly without your anewraess. Your brain does a lot of its work behind the scenes, and that is a good thing, because your conscious mind — how do we put this politely? — it's eslaiy dseitatcrd. It's good that you don't have to remember to breathe when you get caught up in a movie. You don't forget how to walk because you're tniinhkg about what to have for dinner.

Open Cloze


As a neuroscientist, I wondered, why is this so hard? Obviously, how much you weigh _______ on how much you eat and how much energy you burn. What most people don't realize is that hunger and energy use are controlled by the brain, mostly without your _________. Your brain does a lot of its work behind the scenes, and that is a good thing, because your conscious mind — how do we put this politely? — it's ______ __________. It's good that you don't have to remember to breathe when you get caught up in a movie. You don't forget how to walk because you're ________ about what to have for dinner.

Solution


  1. easily
  2. thinking
  3. distracted
  4. depends
  5. awareness

Original Text


As a neuroscientist, I wondered, why is this so hard? Obviously, how much you weigh depends on how much you eat and how much energy you burn. What most people don't realize is that hunger and energy use are controlled by the brain, mostly without your awareness. Your brain does a lot of its work behind the scenes, and that is a good thing, because your conscious mind — how do we put this politely? — it's easily distracted. It's good that you don't have to remember to breathe when you get caught up in a movie. You don't forget how to walk because you're thinking about what to have for dinner.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
weight loss 5
weight gain 4
lose weight 3
controlled eaters 3
intuitive eaters 2
healthy habits 2
overweight people 2
obese people 2


Important Words


  1. awareness
  2. brain
  3. breathe
  4. burn
  5. caught
  6. conscious
  7. controlled
  8. depends
  9. dinner
  10. distracted
  11. easily
  12. eat
  13. energy
  14. forget
  15. good
  16. hard
  17. hunger
  18. lot
  19. mind
  20. movie
  21. neuroscientist
  22. people
  23. politely
  24. put
  25. realize
  26. remember
  27. scenes
  28. thinking
  29. walk
  30. weigh
  31. wondered
  32. work