Plate sizes

[JoyceC]

Yesterday I was watching the Food Network channel and there is a show where, can't remember the name of it, Ted one of the guys who used to be on the Queer Eye show, does semi scientific experiments to prove or disprove food rumors. One of them was about plate sizes and how much you eat. They divided a room in half and one side ate off plates that are made nowadays and the other side ate off plates made the size people used to eat off of. People could eat as much as they wanted of several pasta dishes. Then Ted and a "food scientist" measured leftovers and subtracted that from how much food was originally offered. They found that people tend to overeat from larger plates because of the eat everything syndrome. So, they concluded that people overeat nowadays because plate sizes are larger than they used to be.
Interesting. Also, asparagus does make your urine smell weird. But some people don't notice because they don't have the right asparagus nose smelling gene or something like that!! LOL

[gratefuldeb67]

Yeah, psychologically there's something unsatisfying about leaving a big gap on a plate that's really large, because it makes the food seem like less.
So even if you have the same amount of food, it just seems more enjoyable when it's on a plate that is the right size/fit, and it "seems" like more then..
I found the week I decided to downsize my plate by only a few inches across in diameter, that by doing this, I had considerably less food during the week and dropped four pounds during that time.

About the asparagus... hahah, unfortunately my nose has the weird smell gene, and yeah that's one of the weirdest smells on earth!!
But I like asparagus and will continue to endure the aftermath of the weird smell I guess..

[CriticalMass]

What is an "appropriate" plate size.

[reinhard]

Interesting, but I wouldn't worry about this too much.

Big picture, people are eating LESS at meals, big plates and all, than they used to (and much more between meals as snacks).

Somewhat surprisingly, most of the increase in calories is from calories consumed during snacks. Dinnertime calories have actually fallen somewhat. The increase in caloric intake is because of greater frequency of eating, not eating more at any one sitting.

In calculations not shown in the table, we find that the number of snacks in the typical day increased dramatically over this period. Whereas only about 28 percent of people in 1977–1978 reported two or more snacks per day, 45 percent reported two or more snacks in 1994 –1996. The average number of snacks per day increased by 60 percent over this period, thus more snacks per day—rather than more
calories per snack—account for the majority of the increase in calories from snacks.

The finding that increased caloric intake is from more snacks rules out two
obvious accounting explanations for increased obesity. The first is that obesity is a result of increased portion sizes in restaurants (Young and Nestle, 2002). If this theory were true, calories at main meals, particularly dinner, would have increased.

http://home.uchicago.edu/~jmshapir/obesity.pdf

So pizza boxes and mass krugs (for glass ceiling) aside, I find it simpler and safer to more or less stick with "a plate is a plate" and "a glass is a glass."

A plate may psychologically be difficult not to finish, but it's also psychologically a powerful, natural stopping point. I think it's more important to reinforce and build on that latter, to actually stop at a single plate every time, than try to fight against the former. Investing in a slightly smaller default plate might be fine, but beware of diet hubris. If you're tempted to re-fill that small plate because it wasn't enough, you'll do far more harm than good.

Reinhard

[Nichole]

What I find helpful for my husband and I is making the plates pretty. Say I make buffalo chicken wraps salad (the wraps fall apart, so I just make it like a "salad"). I make our plates look nice, as in a restaurant. I put it in the middle of the plate and the edges are pretty much bare. For some reason, it makes me not want to go back for more. I don't know why! I am also contolling my husband's portion size by arranging his plate, rather than eating buffet style. I also love, when we have something with couscous, to make a "bed" and then place the chicken or shirmp, etc. on the bed. And again, I don't want to go back for seconds, generally. Maybe because it doesn't feel like a buffet?

[JoyceC]

Nichole- I like the idea of not feeling like a buffet because at buffets you are definitely tempted to go back for more! I don't think about how food looks on a plate. I just usually pile it on.

Reinhard- I know that seconds is an area I have to work on at home. I also have to learn to cut in half what I eat at restaurants because the food served I always too much but I feel obligated to finish it because I am paying for it. Sometimes I bring home leftovers but most of the time I don't.

Gratefuldeb- that is interesting how you lost weight that week. It sounds like you were able to not go back for seconds too. I'm trying to make these changes habits!

Today the PTA served us a soup lunch. There were 15 crockpots full of different kinds of soup. There were also a few different kinds of breads and many desserts. I had 3 servings of soup from a small styrofoam bowl. That was more than I should have eaten but where I overate was with the bread and the piece of brownie and piece of baklava. Interestingly, when I got home I really wanted a chocolate chip cookie. I have not eaten snack since I started a week and a half ago. But overeating at lunch caused me to want a snack. Humm.
I'm still feeling my way with theses "rules." I've got a ways to go obviously!

I am going to read the article about snacking. I need lots of information to help make these changes not flow out of my leaky brain!