Dear Friends and Family,
weigh in: 122.5
I've been avoiding the inevitable for the past half hour - procrastinating on writing my blog because I knew my weigh in was a bummer. I was 119 on Saturday. What can I say? Too many cupcakes, too few days. This will be a good week to get back on track or I'll really be procrastinating next Tuesday.
Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink
Chapter 3: Surveying the Tablescape
Now that we've debunked our stomach's ability to help us in the eating game, we move onto our next potential strategic partners, our eyes. Unfortunately, they let us down time and time again as well. No wonder we're in such sorry shape. We're so easily fooled.
Package size matters. It doesn't for me because I weigh everything like a hawk. But, for most normal people, size matters. On average, people eat about 20-25% more from a larger package. With snack foods, the number can sky rocket up to double.
Glass size matters. It's an optical illusion, but we all fall for it. Tall, narrow glasses: good. Short, wide glasses: bad. Don't feel bad, even professional bartenders have trouble eyeing this one.
Plate size matters. Bigger plates equate to larger servings. How much more? 31% more. And, if you give them a large serving spoon in addition to a large bowl? Count on 57% more. The really sad thing is, this experiment was done with a group of professors and their PhD students, in Nutritional Sciences. Lovely.
Visual variety matters. When there's more choice, we eat more. The technical term is "sensory specific satiety." That's why those über specific diets work in the short term. You can only eat so much cabbage soup before you go crazy. The tricky part is we can be fooled by variety. One bowl of M&M's had seven colors, one bowl had ten. We all know all M&M's taste the same. Yet, there's a 43% increase once you increase the visual variety.
And, now I can bring this all back to this weekend - cupcakes, there's an endless variety and an overwhelming urge to try each one. And, once you eat it, your stomach has no real recall of how many it's eaten. And, you can fit a million of them on a plate. And, the proprietors are all branded - Sweet Mandy B's, Molly's, Swirlz. And, the cupcakes are all branded (upcoming chapter). And, once you decide, "this is going to be good." It is. And, you're guilty of having too many cupcakes.
Cheers!
mouse
weigh in: 122.5
I've been avoiding the inevitable for the past half hour - procrastinating on writing my blog because I knew my weigh in was a bummer. I was 119 on Saturday. What can I say? Too many cupcakes, too few days. This will be a good week to get back on track or I'll really be procrastinating next Tuesday.
Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink
Chapter 3: Surveying the Tablescape
Now that we've debunked our stomach's ability to help us in the eating game, we move onto our next potential strategic partners, our eyes. Unfortunately, they let us down time and time again as well. No wonder we're in such sorry shape. We're so easily fooled.
Package size matters. It doesn't for me because I weigh everything like a hawk. But, for most normal people, size matters. On average, people eat about 20-25% more from a larger package. With snack foods, the number can sky rocket up to double.
Glass size matters. It's an optical illusion, but we all fall for it. Tall, narrow glasses: good. Short, wide glasses: bad. Don't feel bad, even professional bartenders have trouble eyeing this one.
Plate size matters. Bigger plates equate to larger servings. How much more? 31% more. And, if you give them a large serving spoon in addition to a large bowl? Count on 57% more. The really sad thing is, this experiment was done with a group of professors and their PhD students, in Nutritional Sciences. Lovely.
Visual variety matters. When there's more choice, we eat more. The technical term is "sensory specific satiety." That's why those über specific diets work in the short term. You can only eat so much cabbage soup before you go crazy. The tricky part is we can be fooled by variety. One bowl of M&M's had seven colors, one bowl had ten. We all know all M&M's taste the same. Yet, there's a 43% increase once you increase the visual variety.
And, now I can bring this all back to this weekend - cupcakes, there's an endless variety and an overwhelming urge to try each one. And, once you eat it, your stomach has no real recall of how many it's eaten. And, you can fit a million of them on a plate. And, the proprietors are all branded - Sweet Mandy B's, Molly's, Swirlz. And, the cupcakes are all branded (upcoming chapter). And, once you decide, "this is going to be good." It is. And, you're guilty of having too many cupcakes.
Cheers!
mouse
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