Mindless Eating
Posted: Wed Oct 20, 2010 8:00 pm
I just read Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink. He's the guy at Cornell who did the experiment that showed people eat more from self-refilling soup bowls than from regular ones:
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v13/n ... 0512a.html
In his book, he describes a plan for "mindlessly eating better" that will probably sound familiar to anyone on this board. He suggests three, easily do-able changes to your diet (what these will be will vary from person to person). He suggests food trade-offs (things like "if I exercise, I can have potato chips") and food rules (things like "no snacks") as templates for these changes. He mentions that experts in behavioral modification say it takes 28 days to make a habit.
There are some other interesting ideas in the book, too. He says that buying large containers of food influences people to eat more, as does using big plates and bowls.
He mentions the Half Plate Mod (though he calls it the Half Plate Rule), where half the plate should be taken up by vegetables rather than meat or starch. I came up with some other possible mods after reading his book (I posted these in the mods thread, these are the ones directly inspired by Wansink's book):
No eating from the package unless it is a single-serving package (and no, the last serving left in the package is not the same as a single-serve package). Even then, it's better to put the food on a plate or in a bowl before eating it. This rule applies at all times, not just on N days.
The package must be closed up and put away before you can eat. This is another rule that applies at all times.
If you must buy snack foods or sweets, always buy the smallest possible package (a single serving, or one for each person in the house, is best), with the smallest possible individual serving. Bite-size candy bars are preferable to fun-size or full-size ones, for example. There's research that shows that people eat more from larger packages.
Never buy more than one package of sweets or snack foods at a time, even if they're on a two-for-one sale. This is related to the large-packages issue.
Only buy non-food items, fresh fruits and vegetables, canned foods, and things that get cooked (or used as ingredients in recipes) at Costco. Don't even go to the parts of Costco where the other stuff is. This has to do with eating more from large packages.
Unless you're having a party, one kind of sweets or snack foods, or one favorite for each person in the house, is enough. Don't have more than one kind per person in the house at any one time. Finish or throw out what you've got before buying any other sweets or snacks (in our house, this was the Dad Rule). There's research showing that people eat more when there is a wider variety of foods to eat.
All meals, with the exception of a few holiday meals with guests, are served buffet-style. You take your plate into the kitchen, put food on it, then bring it to the table. There are no serving platters of food on the table (we generally serve the food right out of the pots it was cooked in, except on really special occasions). You may not nibble on the food on the way to the table, and no eating directly from the pots in the kitchen is allowed. People eat less when food is served this way, it's easier to serve yourself from a kitchen counter or island than to pass dishes around the table, and there are fewer dishes to wash. Win-win-win. (Wansink calls the style where the food is on platters on the table "fat-family-style")
Has anyone else read this book? Any thoughts on it?
http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v13/n ... 0512a.html
In his book, he describes a plan for "mindlessly eating better" that will probably sound familiar to anyone on this board. He suggests three, easily do-able changes to your diet (what these will be will vary from person to person). He suggests food trade-offs (things like "if I exercise, I can have potato chips") and food rules (things like "no snacks") as templates for these changes. He mentions that experts in behavioral modification say it takes 28 days to make a habit.
There are some other interesting ideas in the book, too. He says that buying large containers of food influences people to eat more, as does using big plates and bowls.
He mentions the Half Plate Mod (though he calls it the Half Plate Rule), where half the plate should be taken up by vegetables rather than meat or starch. I came up with some other possible mods after reading his book (I posted these in the mods thread, these are the ones directly inspired by Wansink's book):
No eating from the package unless it is a single-serving package (and no, the last serving left in the package is not the same as a single-serve package). Even then, it's better to put the food on a plate or in a bowl before eating it. This rule applies at all times, not just on N days.
The package must be closed up and put away before you can eat. This is another rule that applies at all times.
If you must buy snack foods or sweets, always buy the smallest possible package (a single serving, or one for each person in the house, is best), with the smallest possible individual serving. Bite-size candy bars are preferable to fun-size or full-size ones, for example. There's research that shows that people eat more from larger packages.
Never buy more than one package of sweets or snack foods at a time, even if they're on a two-for-one sale. This is related to the large-packages issue.
Only buy non-food items, fresh fruits and vegetables, canned foods, and things that get cooked (or used as ingredients in recipes) at Costco. Don't even go to the parts of Costco where the other stuff is. This has to do with eating more from large packages.
Unless you're having a party, one kind of sweets or snack foods, or one favorite for each person in the house, is enough. Don't have more than one kind per person in the house at any one time. Finish or throw out what you've got before buying any other sweets or snacks (in our house, this was the Dad Rule). There's research showing that people eat more when there is a wider variety of foods to eat.
All meals, with the exception of a few holiday meals with guests, are served buffet-style. You take your plate into the kitchen, put food on it, then bring it to the table. There are no serving platters of food on the table (we generally serve the food right out of the pots it was cooked in, except on really special occasions). You may not nibble on the food on the way to the table, and no eating directly from the pots in the kitchen is allowed. People eat less when food is served this way, it's easier to serve yourself from a kitchen counter or island than to pass dishes around the table, and there are fewer dishes to wash. Win-win-win. (Wansink calls the style where the food is on platters on the table "fat-family-style")
Has anyone else read this book? Any thoughts on it?
not to mention calories!
) that I recommend reading.