The method of using smaller plates to lose weight seems so simple that many people don't even try it. Yet, in comprehensives research, those who are very smart and even those people who are professionally trained food preparers were able to be fooled by different-size or -shape food containers. Our eyes do tell our stomachs how much to eat, and anyone who has have you been keen on optical illusions knows that we can fool our eyes quite easily.
I first noticed this myself a long time ago, when we ran out of big forks around the house and I needed to turn to little salad forks for any while. Suddenly, I observed, I wasn't eating as much. Yes, food behavior studies do bear this out. All of us consume less food with smaller forks.
Smaller plates and tall, thin glasses also do the trick. Over the past Half a century, the plate industry has realized our rapidly increasing appetites. It's obliged us by creating larger and larger dinner plates. It is the case that the salad plate of today is nearly as large as the dinner plate in our grandmother's china set. Exactly what do most people do when presented with a large plate? Load it up, obviously! Brian Wansink, MD, of Cornell University, one from the nation's most well-known food researchers, has published extensively about this subject.
If you change to seven-inch plates for lunch (instead of the common nine-inch plates), you may reduce your caloric intake without feeling it. Have you ever been to a fancy restaurant where they scribble edible designs all over the edges of your dish? That's just a form of optical illusion to make the portion size appear larger (and your bill appears more reasonable).
Using tall, thin glasses whenever you drink a calorie-laden liquid will reduce how much you drink. Even bartenders fall for that old optical illusion. Take away those short fat mugs for your beer or cola. Better yet, drink water or unsweetened green tea.
Deliberate eating behaviors are specifically useful when confronted with food challenges, particularly those times when we're tempted to overeat. Restaurants are a great place to practice new behaviors associated with what we eat and just how much. It's very easy to order calorie-dense foods but even easier to order too much. Restaurants have moved toward bigger portions because society demands it plus they need to compete.
You should order carefully to avoid the presentation of a lot of calories in front of your mouth and eyes. Order two appetizers only, or split an entree. Note that many people often overeat when eating in restaurants. Evaluate which is wonderful for you ahead of time before ordering, and stay with it routinely.
It might be easier upon us if the restaurants were instructed to label their foods more truthfully. Instead of calling the five-eggs/ ham/ bacon/ hash-browns/toast/pancakes platter the "Home Run" or something similar, shouldn't the breakfast place have to call it "The Coronary"?
Restaurant eating, in general, is fattening. The view of other people eating around you and also the photos of scrumptious, high-calorie food on the restaurant menus tends to cause individuals to order and eat much highercalorie meals than they would consume in your own home.
I talked to a female recently who had weight-loss surgery and stopped eating at restaurants every night together with her family. An interesting consequence is that her husband and son, who accustomed to accompany her out every night, also stopped eating in restaurants nightly. They felt guilty about leaving her home by hand at dinnertime. All three of them have finally lost substantial levels of weight despite the fact that only one of them went through the weight-loss surgery!
Buffets are a special problem. They are attractive to the overeater, and you will often see the dangerously obese gravitate to the all-you-can-eat restaurants. I'm surprised they don't have seating sections split into one-, two-, or three-chair customers. It's better to prevent buffets, as the temptation to "get your money's worth" at the expense of your waistline is very great. If you must get your meals at a buffet restaurant, always fill your first plate with large helpings of salad or vegetables, and then go to eat them slowly before going back for more.
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