Does The Size of Your Plate Have Something to Do With Your Waistline?
July 25, 2006 – 3:49 pmIf you’ve been trying to lose some weight, you might have heard that you should use smaller dishes to help with portion control.
Researchers at Cornell University did an experiment to see if there was any validity of this very simple piece of advice.
The study was done on 85 food and nutrition experts were invited to an ice cream social where they were randomly given a bowl that held 17 ounces or 34 ounces. They were also given spoons that served 2 ounces or 3 ounce serving sizes. Each person served themselves to the ice cream.
“Just doubling the size of someone’s bowl increased how much people took by 31 percent,” study lead author Brian Wansink, director of Cornell’s Food and Brand Lab, said in a prepared statement. “We also saw that giving people a scoop that was a little bit larger increased things by about 14.5 percent,” he said.
“The fact that even they end up being tripped up by these cues just helps to show how ubiquitous and how subversive these illusions can be,” said Wansink, a consumer researcher who studies the psychology of food choice.
So if you’re looking for an easy way to cut back on your portion sizes without doing a lot of measuring, try using a smaller dinner plate the next time you eat. It’s funny how your mind can play tricks on you!
For more information on portions and serving sizes, please visit National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
Resource: Health Day News
2 Responses to “Does The Size of Your Plate Have Something to Do With Your Waistline?”
Funny how that works, isn’t it? Remember back when single serving bags of chips really only had one ounce in them? Those are so hard to find anymore…now they’re all “Big Grab” with 2-3, even 4 ounces sometimes. That’s like 300 or so calories more than you’d normally eat if you grabbed the little bag. Or how sodas mostly come in 20 oz bottles instead of littler cans at the convenience stores or how restaurant plates of food are so ginormous that it could serve like, 3 people.
One little trick that helps me avoid portion distortion is to premeasure stuff into single servings (or buy them in single serving packs) so when I want some, I grab one pack instead of having to rely on judging a serving size.
By Spectra on Aug 6, 2006
Spectra~
I do remember those little bags. I think the only place I still see them is in the family packs of chips that we used to use for school lunches.
Restaurants are guilty because there is so much competition for diners dollars and everyone wants the most bang for the buck.
No one wants to feel like they overpaid for a meal, and serving sizes probably equate with perceived value from the consumers point of view.
Thanks for the tip on watching serving sizes. Good way to plan ahead!
By Heather McLaughlin on Aug 9, 2006