Dear Friends and Family,
weigh in: 122.5
Considering the abuse I put my body through this weekend, I'll take a zero net gain/loss weigh in.
Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink
Chapter 5: Mindless Eating Scripts
"When we eat, we often follow eating scripts." I know a couple of mine, wake up, boil water, make tea, blog. Walk to department fridge, heat up lunch, walk back to desk, go to nytimes.com, read, eat. Come home, measure out a small plate of tortilla chips and salsa, munch, decompress.
Friends and Family: If you're eating with others, in general, you'll eat more. Two people, 35% more each. Four people, 75% more each. And, seven or more people, 96% more each. Yikes! The only one who benefits from this is the big eater. If the big eater happens to be dining with a group of small eaters, they'll regress to the group norm. Of course, the opposite is true, if the small eater is with a group of big eaters, they'll regress to the norm as well. (Note: the entire state of Indiana is living proof of this, in my humble opinion.)
Manly Man: This one is simple. Guys will eat more, thinking it'll impress their date into thinking they're more manly. Other guys fall for it, rating men who eat more in more positive terms - like "studly" and "powerful." Women do not fall for it, rating men who eat more equally with the men who ate less.
TV, Books, Radio: These three figure prominently in many eating scripts. I know reading does into my lunch script. And, the longer you watch/read/listen, the more you tend to eat. I know on days when I "need a break," I'll go down to the cafeteria to "supplement" my lunch (e.g. cookie, dumplings, chips, something) and that gives me ten more minutes reading time. Sigh.
Lights, Music, Ambiance: No surprise. When the lights are dim, the music is soft and the restaurant is nice, we linger longer. We don't order more food, but on average we do order more alcohol. I guess it's a trade-off analysis any restaurant can run to optimize the balance.
The Nose Knows: Picture this: three bowls that smell like - #1: nothing, #2: cinnamon raisin, #3: macaroni and cheese. Test subjects were given plain oatmeal in all three bowls. The cinnamon raisin bowl test subjects ate the most. Commercial food manufacturers know this and, fortunately for them, it's easier to get the smell into wrappers and containers than the food.
Either Snow or Rain: We eat more in winter. We eat less in summer. We eat more in rainy, chilly weather. We eat less on sunny days. I know this works. This past spring was testament to this. But, then, shouldn't I have lost a ton of weight in Texas? And gained a ton in Minnesota? Oh, I forgot, it's the Indiana syndrome, squared.
Cheers!
mouse
weigh in: 122.5
Considering the abuse I put my body through this weekend, I'll take a zero net gain/loss weigh in.
Mindless Eating, Why We Eat More Than We Think
by Brian Wansink
Chapter 5: Mindless Eating Scripts
"When we eat, we often follow eating scripts." I know a couple of mine, wake up, boil water, make tea, blog. Walk to department fridge, heat up lunch, walk back to desk, go to nytimes.com, read, eat. Come home, measure out a small plate of tortilla chips and salsa, munch, decompress.
Friends and Family: If you're eating with others, in general, you'll eat more. Two people, 35% more each. Four people, 75% more each. And, seven or more people, 96% more each. Yikes! The only one who benefits from this is the big eater. If the big eater happens to be dining with a group of small eaters, they'll regress to the group norm. Of course, the opposite is true, if the small eater is with a group of big eaters, they'll regress to the norm as well. (Note: the entire state of Indiana is living proof of this, in my humble opinion.)
Manly Man: This one is simple. Guys will eat more, thinking it'll impress their date into thinking they're more manly. Other guys fall for it, rating men who eat more in more positive terms - like "studly" and "powerful." Women do not fall for it, rating men who eat more equally with the men who ate less.
TV, Books, Radio: These three figure prominently in many eating scripts. I know reading does into my lunch script. And, the longer you watch/read/listen, the more you tend to eat. I know on days when I "need a break," I'll go down to the cafeteria to "supplement" my lunch (e.g. cookie, dumplings, chips, something) and that gives me ten more minutes reading time. Sigh.
Lights, Music, Ambiance: No surprise. When the lights are dim, the music is soft and the restaurant is nice, we linger longer. We don't order more food, but on average we do order more alcohol. I guess it's a trade-off analysis any restaurant can run to optimize the balance.
The Nose Knows: Picture this: three bowls that smell like - #1: nothing, #2: cinnamon raisin, #3: macaroni and cheese. Test subjects were given plain oatmeal in all three bowls. The cinnamon raisin bowl test subjects ate the most. Commercial food manufacturers know this and, fortunately for them, it's easier to get the smell into wrappers and containers than the food.
Either Snow or Rain: We eat more in winter. We eat less in summer. We eat more in rainy, chilly weather. We eat less on sunny days. I know this works. This past spring was testament to this. But, then, shouldn't I have lost a ton of weight in Texas? And gained a ton in Minnesota? Oh, I forgot, it's the Indiana syndrome, squared.
Cheers!
mouse
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