A weight loss secret from the bottomless bowl
When presented with a reasonable-sized portion of food,
most people have an approximate
expectation of how much of it they intend to consume . For
instance, around half of American adults generally claim that they
attempt to eat until they "clean their plates." Because
portions have grown larger over the years, most people are eating
more, without realizing it.
For these
people, there is a visual cue or benchmark they have established
(a clean plate), and they eat until they either reach that point
or until they are otherwise sated. Just as with those people
who instead intend to eat one-half or three-quarters of what they
are served, all are likely to overconsume if given a larger potion
size at the outset.
Some evidence for this comes from a Cornell University research
group led by Professor Brian Wansink.
In one study, Wanskink and his team divided subjects into two
groups and removed the visual
cue — the size of the bowl — for one group. By secretly
refilling their
bowls through tubes in the bottom, the
researchers
took away the size of the bowl as a way of helping
subjects
decide how much to eat.
After 20 minutes everyone quit eating,
at which time
the group with refilling bowls had consumed almost twice the
amount that the other
group had. However, they did not believe they had consumed more,
nor did they perceive themselves as feeling "fuller" than
those eating from normal bowls.
In other words, the
subjects
could have consumed half the amount they did and still have
experienced the
same satisfaction.
Although they usually deny it,
studies repeatedly show that people eat what's in front of them,
using an empty plate — not a
full stomach — to tell them when to stop. It seems that
people use their eyes to count calories and not their stomachs.
However,
just as these cues can lead a person to overeat — as in this
study — they may also be used to suppress food intake and
help with weight loss. For instance, using smaller plates, bowls,
and glasses might lead people to believe they had a full portion
and make them less likely to eat more.
Similarly,
snack products that are repackaged by a watchful parent
into smaller portions and sealed into zip-lock baggies may provide
the visual cue that leads a child to believe they've had
a full serving of a snack when it was actually a fraction of what
they might typically eat.
Just as a smaller-than-average empty
bowl of soup can lead people to believe they've had
enough to eat, an empty wine
bottle on the table may remind guests they have had enough to drink,
and the empty peanut shells in front of one person and the empty
chocolate wrappers in front of another provide accurate visual
cues that they have already had their snacks.
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Reference
Wansink B, Painter JE, North J. (2005). Bottomless bowls: why visual
cues of portion size may influence intake. Obesity
Research,
13, 93-100
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