January 19th, 2012
Trick Yourself Into Eating Less
New research shows that your bowl size and color matter.
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If your New Year’s resolution includes dropping a few pounds, you might be delighted to learn that you can actually trick yourself into doing so.
Remember the Delboeuf illusion theory (think, optical illusion) from 5th grade science class? Way back then we learned that the size of a circle appears smaller when surrounded by a much larger one. Meanwhile, the size of that same circle appears bigger when surrounded by an only slightly larger one. Apparently, the same holds true with our dinnerware.
In a new study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers (Koert van Ittersum, Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of Technology and Brian Wansink, Ph.D. of Cornell University) asked 225 people to pour a specified amount of tomato soup into different sized bowls. Consistent with what we learned in science class, participants poured less into the smaller bowls and more into the larger ones.
Why? Because a serving size can look larger than it actually is depending on your choice of dinnerware. On smaller plates, we tend to serve ourselves less food, and thus, eat less. On bigger plates, however, we tend to serve more. In fact, participants dished out up to 31 percent more soup.
Given the fact that the average size of dinner plates has increased by almost 23 percent since 1900 and obesity rates have more than doubled in the last 30 years, the correlation makes sense, right?
But if you think you can get around this optical illusion by simply reminding yourself to take less food, the researchers say you can’t. Follow-up studies showed that the "bowl bias" is nearly impossible to eliminate, no matter how much education or awareness we have
See the full article HERE
What tips and tricks do you use to try to eat less?
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