Downsize your dinner plate to control portion sizes, lose inches and save money
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
'It's easy to blame our supersized food supply (think jumbo muffins and whopping burgers like the 'Quad Stacker') for our supersized waistlines,' says dietitian Emma Stirling. 'But when was the last time you had a good look at the portion sizes you serve up at home?
It's been estimated that we typically make around 200 decisions about food each day and many of them, sub-consciously, encourage us to overeat (i.e. spend more money on food than we need). Dr Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating: Why we eat more than we think points out that a key driver is the size of our crockery. His research estimates that an oversized plate can cause you to take an extra 20% or more without knowing it. Did you know that:
Dinner plates are about 30% bigger than they were 50 years ago- We serve ourselves more on big plates – and we eat it all up
- If you downsize from a 12in (30cm) plate back to a 10in (25cm) plate you can save money and lose inches
But surely people are just taking more food because they feel hungry? Think again. One simple but startling study by Wansink's team involved a bottomless soup bowl that secretly refilled from under the table as people ate. Study participants were brought in for what they thought was a free lunch of soup. According to Wansink, those with refillable bowls ate over 70% more soup, but did not report feeling any more full or satisfied. The more startling finding was that only two out of 62 participants realised the soup was being refilled. The majority responded with – how could they feel full when they still had half a bowl of soup left? It seems that many of us have lost the art of eating to appetite satisfaction or intuitively.
So what's the solution to this modern day dilemma?
'Change your plate first. Change your habits later,' says Wansink: In other words, start by assessing and changing your portion and crockery sizes at home while you work at re-harnessing your hunger cues and slowing down your eating habits. To further illustrate how you need to take caution with portions, check out this video of my crockery and glassware at home.
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