Portion Control Tools for Everyone
As we all know portion control is one of the biggest challenges we all face on a daily basis. Typically, we are asked to focus on our thinking and making wise decisions each time we eat. This would not be such a difficult task if we didn’t make an average of over 200 decisions each day regarding food.
So what’s a body to do with so many daily decisions to be made in the mist of everything else usually going on in our lives? Well, perhaps if we could manipulate our environment we would have to make fewer decisions each day.
I want to share some easy tips and research findings that you can start using immediately to help you control portion sizes while at the same time having to make fewer decisions. I will highlight some very interesting and at times amusing facts about the psychology of food and how you are unknowingly influenced throughout the day.
Did you know that the average dinner plate today is much larger than those used before the 1980’s? That’s right; the dinner plates used today are much bigger in size than those used prior to the 1980’s. Human behavior is such that we have a tendency to eat based on what our senses tell us is the right amount. One of today’s plates half full is about the equivalent of a full plate not that many years ago!
Let’s take a look at some of the scientific findings on the psychology of food to see why size really does matter. In what we will call the popcorn study researchers asked two groups of people to rate a movie. As part of the study each group was given a free box of popcorn. One group received a mega large box of popcorn and the other group received a medium box of popcorn. At the same point in time the boxes of popcorn were taken away. The group with the largest box ate much more popcorn in the same amount of time than the group with the smaller box. In a similar study groups were asked to watch and rate a TV program. One group received a 1 pound bag of M&Ms and the other group received a ½ pound bag of M&Ms. At the same point in time the bags of M&Ms were taken away. The group with the 1 pound bag ate an average of 120 pieces, while the group with the1/2 pound bag ate an average of 63 pieces in the same amount of time.
Studies such as these always prove that the smaller the package the less we eat. So just think what happens when you shop at Sam’s Club or Costco and purchase very large packages of food. That’s right if you have very large packages of food you will almost definitely consume more calories at each sitting.
You can still shop at the big box stores if you make some small changes. As soon as you get home repackage the food into smaller portion bags and you will consume much less in the same amount of time.
Would you believe the size of a glass will affect how much you drink? Studies consistently show that you will pour more liquid into a short wide glass than you will a tall skinny glass. Kids given short wide 22 ounce glasses poured 77% more liquid than kids given tall skinny 22 ounce glasses. Even trained bartenders poured more liquid into the short wide glasses than the tall skinny glasses when asked to pour the same amount of liquid into each glass!
The last little experiment we will take a look at is the “candy dish experiment”. If you put candy in a clear dish versus an opaque dish people eat more from the clear dish than the opaque dish. On average secretaries in the study ate 9 chocolates per day when the clear dish was placed on their desk and only 6 ½ chocolates per day when an opaque dish was placed on their desk. By the way, if you moved the dish just 6 feet away their consumption dropped to an average of 4 pieces per day. So the moral of the story is to never keep convenient or snack food in clear, easy to see, containers! You may also want to put all those snacks further out of reach and just a little more difficult to put your hands on impulsively.
Did you know even what we call food has an effect on our taste? The exact same chocolate cake was called either chocolate cake or Belgian Black Forest Double Chocolate cake. When given the fancier name diners rated the cake as tasting much better than when just called chocolate cake. Now you know why food manufactures go to such great lengths to come up with appealing and fancy names for food products.
On a final note make eating a pure experience. Never eat in the following places if you want to control your portion sizes:
- In front of the TV
- In front of a computer
- While playing a video game
- While driving your car
- While talking on the phone
- While writing an article
If you found the topic of the psychology of food and consumption helpful and interesting just let me know and I can share many more tips on how to control your environment in order to help you control your portions.
