Eating Less To Lose Weight Made Easier
Supersized portions are commonly blamed for our ever expanding waistlines, and when you look at the average serving in restaurants you can see why. Experts are working to investigate the psychology of our eating behaviors to try and come up with ways to help people with eating less to lose weight, without leaving diners feeling cheated. Here's the latest.
According to some experts the small soda we now order is what we used to get when we ordered a large one only 15 years ago. Researchers in this study hope to have customers given the choice over their portion size, rather than be served the over large ones by default.
As for the eating establishments, they are looking closely at the research according to a well-known food science expert. In some recent work it was found that children were happy with a serving that equated to around half the fries found in a well known fast food meal long before the restaurant reduced the size and calorie count in 2010. He expects to see some portion sizes become smaller over the next few years.
Here's what the experts have learned about plate color. People put 18% more pasta in marinara sauce (a red dish) on a red plate as they did on a white one. What's more, 18% more creamy white pasta alfredo was put on a white plate.
Having a stark contrast between food colorings and plate color makes you think before you add another spoonful, while similar food and plate colors appear to encourage you to load up. So, you might want to buy some darker colored dinner plates so that you keep from overeating those calorie filled starches.
Researchers have also found that...
- Switching from an 11-inch plate to a 10 inch one means you eat less and waste less.
- Using a tall, thin glass instead of a short, large one makes people think they are drinking more, even when both glasses hold the same amount. Bars are now regularly using this serving strategy.
- When kids eat from adult sized bowls they serve themselves 44% more food.
Of course rather than chow down on the full portion size, couldn't you just ask for a 'to go bag'? Yes, if you have the willpower, but research shows lots of Americans don't have that kind of control. We rely on visual cues to tell us how much food there is, and we often eat so fast that the message from stomach to brain notifying us of fullness reaches us after we've cleaned that plate completely.
A recently conducted experiment looked at limiting temptation, by focusing not on the main dishes, but on the sides. These are inexpensive ways for restaurants to fill out plates, making them look like a good value for the price. Using a well known Chinese franchise located on the Duke University campus, the researchers conducted their experiment on portion sizes during typical lunchtimes.
As customers go through the serving line, they first pick rice or noodles, a standard serving of which is 10 ounces (which equals 400 calories). Servers asked just short of 1000 customers if they would like a half serving of rice or noodles in order to reduce their meal by 200 calories. The customers who agreed didn't chose a higher calorie entrée to make up for the lost calories, and they left the same volume of food as those diners who refused the half size portion or were not offered half sizes at all.
Cutting even 200 calories from a single meal can certainly add up in terms of weight loss.
Interestingly a 25c discount on the half order didn't encourage more people to take it. Adding calorie labels also didn't change things. Being asked by the servers appears to have made the most difference in the choices of the diners. From 14% to 33% of the diners chose the half size portion.
Restaurants are getting the message about people being keen on eating less to lose weight. More and more of us, it seems, are starting to paying attention to calories and asking for healthier options.
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kirsten_Whittaker
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