You can change your eating behavior by redesigning your environment.
Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating, describes how our environment influences how we eat:
âIf you use a big spoon, youâll eat more. If you serve yourself on a big plate, youâll eat more. If you move the small bowl of chocolates on your desk six feet away youâll eat half as much. If you eat chicken wings and remove the bones from the table, youâll forget how much you ate and youâll eat more.â
Well, you can use your environment to help you eat less without starving yourself.
You do this by eating your food in smaller plates/ bowls.
When you use a large plate, you have to add a lot of food on it to make it look full. If your brain thinks youâre eating less, the more likely itâll be to want a second serving. (Thanks survival mode).
However, if you put that same amount of food on a small plate, your mind will tell you that you are eating a large portion and youâll stop adding food. That visual cue will trick your brain into thinking itâs had enough to eat.
Either way, you are eating the same amount of food.
This is known as the Delboeuf Illusion.
Delboeuf was a 19th-century Belgian philosopher, and he discovered if you surround two identical circles with different amounts of âwhite space,â people think theyâre looking at two different circles.
The more âwhite spaceâ around the circle, the smaller the circle appears.
This is why the black circle on the left in the image above looks smaller than the one on the right.
And itâs why the bowl of cereal on the left below looks less full than the one on the right. And thatâs why the small plate feels fuller and more filling.
Downsizing your plates will reduce the number of calories you are eating and allow you to feel satisfied at the same time.
A study shows that eating from a 10-inch plate instead of a 12âinch one cuts your calories by a whooping 22%! That means this small change could result in an estimated 10 pounds in weight loss over the course of one year!
Another study followed 200 homes in Syracuse over 4 months, and found that people randomly assigned to use smaller plates lost three pounds more than those given larger plates.
âIt is easier to change your food environment than to change your mind.â â Brian Wansink
Hope you found this helpful!
This is a bit interesting, a mind is a tricky place. The mind can play tricks on you, and this was one way I never thought of. Many people want to lose weight and this may be a trick that has not pressure or has hard work to it. It’s just tricking the mind to eat less, which is good for those who are overweight and it’s affecting their health. It’s okay to not be a size zero, as long as you’re healthy. Many people don’t want to put the effort into it, but this is very little effort into losing a few pounds without the work and it being on your conscience.
I found this to be very interesting. This is a good way to loose weight for any who want to. Your ind plays a big role on the things you want to eat and don’t want to. I would recommend this article to anybody who is trying to loose weight. If you put your mind to it anything is possible.
I was overweight and began to use smaller plates for a couple of weeks now. I’ve gotten great results as time progressed, so this blog is aboslutely positive for those looking to lose weight.
Thanks now I think I’m going to try what you said with trying smaller plates and stuff I am also overweight and I’m trying to lose it but I have no clue what to do let’s see maybe your trip will work for me
I think it is interesting that by downsizing your plate you can reduce your caloric intake by 22%. To add to this idea, I found an article that provides some insightful tips on eating healthier by making adjustments in your kitchen. Similar to changing your bowl and spoon size, adjusting your kitchen environment can help influence your eating habits. For example, you can reduce the urge to snack on unhealthy food by storing your food in mason jars and keeping your pantry organized. In another example, you can âdetoxâ your fridge and stock on whole nutritious foods to help make healthier alternatives in satisfying cravings. My favorite example is lining your kitchen with inspirational messages. I think that redesigning your kitchen walls with arts and quotes will make you appreciate food.
https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/helmsley/2017/04/18/what-are-some-psychological-tricks-useful-in-daily-life/#comments
Very interesting, cool, and helpful.
I read a book recently called “Better Than Before” which is all about adopting new habits and loosing old habits. One of the best recommendations in the book is to set up an “if/then” scenario where you reward yourself for working towards a new habit (the “if” part) by pairing it with something you like a lot (the “then” part). An example would be if you are trying to wake up earlier in the morning and you also love to listen to the radio while you brush your teeth, you could say “IF I wake up at 7am, THEN I will let myself listen to music while I brush my teeth” or if you are trying to quit smoking and you love eating ice cream then you could say “IF I don’t smoke a cigarette today, THEN I will get to eat a little ice cream after dinner.”
I’ve seen on social media like Facebook similar to this post , which some hacks or tricks includes instead of eating directly from the bag of chips, one might pour a certain amount onto a bowl. This can help or prevent someone from overeating or eat more than what they intend to. Also, one could tell how much to eat a correct portion of protein by the size palm of their hands.
This really blow my mind because I have seen the Delboeuf Illusion but I would never think it could apply to food. I can defend this argument about the small plates because I use large plates and I tend to eat a lot and the funny thing is that unless I fill it to the brim I get hungry later really fast. I have heard that the environment you live in effects how you live butI never thought something as minuscule as what plate you use can effect you to such an extent. This is very interesting thanks for the
information.
I heard about this tactic to live a healthier life, but I never really believed it. I felt it was just another trick to sell information to desperate buyers. But now that I see the details on how it functions, I can see myself using this method. This can very much the outlook I have on questioning if I’m eating the right amount or not.