Stop Mindless Munching, Get Trim

by: Mari (Treadway) Roades '65 | FLASHLIGHT REPORTER

Super sized servings have made our eyes bigger than our stomachs—but you can retrain your eyes…

It’s dinner time: Do you know just how much you’re actually eating?

When it comes to judging a “serving” of food, it’s easy to be confused.  Although most people say they use food labels to help decide what to buy in the grocery store, recent studies show too few really read the Nutrition Facts label, and even fewer correctly assess the serving sizes.  And it’s making us fat.

Visual cues in our environment also prod us to unconsciously over-eat—for example, when a big plate of pasta is set in front of us.  When we serve ourselves, 92 percent of the time we eat everything on our plate.  The same is true in restaurant.  We think of the plate in front of us as a “single serving”. Brian Wansink author of Mindless Eating:  Why We Eat More Than We Think. Says we need to train our eyes by making changes in visual cues.

Dishing it out

Start to retrain your eyes by down sizing plates and utensils.  When you’re serving dinner at home, use smaller plates and you’ll put less on them.  “If you look at 6 oz of pasta served on a 8-inch plate, it looks like a nice portion.  The same 6 oz of pasta served on a 12-inch plate looks puny.  So you pile on more pasta.  It’s a visual illusion, something called size contrast bias. 

Dishing out a sensible serving of dessert is also easier when you use a small bowl.  Using a large bowl and a large scooper you will serve yourself more. When you use a smaller bowl and small scooper you are more moderate in the helping.

“See food” cures

Using other visual cues can be another tool to help control portions.  For instance, one teaspoon of butter or margarine is around the size of the tip of your thumb.  One oz of cheese looks like a pair of dice.  One cup of pasta is the size of a tennis ball.  Four oz of meat is the size of a deck of cards.  A small potato is around the size of a computer mouse. 

Don’t leave snacks and sweets in plain sight.  When you do snack put single serving portions in a bowl and put the container back in the cabinet.  Don’t take the entire bag or box to the table or couch.  It’s too easy to keep eating mindlessly.  And you cannot judge how much you are eating.

Keep a bowl of fruit in plain sight and veggies cut up in the frig waiting for you to snack on them.  Always have an apple and some nuts (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds) with you to stave off the stop for fast food and get you home to the good stuff.

When going to a party and you are not sure what is being served or what the timing is for food….eat a salad at home so you won’t be starving upon arrival.

Resist restaurant temptation

Many restaurants serve mega-portions on a plate the size of a hubcap.  We see more, so we eat more.  A restaurant atmosphere encourages us to eat more.  Ask for a to go carton and put at least half in the to go before you begin eating.  It makes it easier to stop if the food has already been removed from your plate before you start eating.  They say slow music also gets you to eat more and spend more time at the table.  There again if you remove the food ahead of time, you won’t eat as much.

You could also order an appetizer and salad instead of a big meal.  The real trick is to think it over before you get to the restaurant and try not to be starving before you order.  Sharing an entrée is another way to cut the calories.  If you absolutely crave fast food, order the kids meal and add a healthy salad.  When we eat fast we eat in excess of our body’s ability to sense how full we are.  So eat slowly and chew each mouth full as much as possible.

Look at your grandmother’s china and look at the size of china today.  Grandma’s was more like an 8” serving size and today more like 12” or more…hence we tend to eat more.

People mostly have health issues from overeating, few humans starve to death.

Yours in Good Health, Mari