Big Spoon = Fat Ass
Malcolm Ritter writes about Penn's Andrew Geyer's study on "unit bias" -- the tendency to think whatever unit of food you're served is the correct amount to consume. Hmmm, it seems there is a hell for the non-thinking...with a sign outside that reads "Jenny Craig." Here's an excerpt from Ritter's piece:
Geier, a Ph.D. candidate who works with people who are overweight or who have eating disorders, figures people learn how big an appropriate food unit is from their cultures. For example, yogurt containers in French supermarkets are a bit more than half the size of their American counterparts. Yet French shoppers don't make up the difference by eating more containers of the stuff, he noted.He and the other researchers tried a series of experiments using environmental cues to manipulate people's ideas of how big a food unit is.
In one, they put a large bowl with a pound of M&Ms in the lobby of an upscale apartment building with a sign: "Eat Your Fill ... please use the spoon to serve yourself." The candy was left out through the day for 10 days, sometimes with a spoon that held a quarter-cup, and other times with a tablespoon.
Sure enough, people consistently took more M&Ms on days when the bigger scoop was provided, about two-thirds more on average than when the spoon was present.
In another experiment, a snacking area in an apartment building contained a bowl with either 80 small Tootsie Rolls or 20 big ones, four times as large. Over 10 working days, the bowl was filled with the same overall weight of candy each day. But people consistently removed more, by weight, when it was offered in the larger packages.
In those experiments, as well as a similar one with pretzels, "unit bias" wasn't the only thing that produced the differences in consumption levels, but it had an influence, Geier and colleagues concluded.
Brian Wansink, director of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab and author of the forthcoming book "Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think," called the new paper an impressive demonstration of the effect in a real-world setting. He has done similar work but didn't participate in Geier's research.
Take a few trips to France, and American portion sizes will start looking elephantine. After eating their yogurt (thimble-sized), anything but baby yogurts in America look like I'm supposed to be feeding myself and a family of starving Brontosauruses.
Now, I'm also the cheapest date on the continent because I only eat half my dinner at dinner, and take the rest home for lunch and maybe a snack later, too. Okay, so you can't do the doggie-bag thing in France -- but then again, in France, you get portions of food that look like they're intended for one person, not one person and a bus full of their relatives.
More on Geier's work here. Diets Don't Work, by Bob Schwartz, is a good book on eating only when you're hungry. The Fat Fallacy, by neurophysiologist Will Clower, explains why eating like the French do is healthier, and less likely to make you fat. And, no, I haven't read the one by the champagne lady, and no, I don't intend to.
Even more on the French diet here -- a London Observer article by Mimi Spencer.
Yeah, it's true about burgers. The best burger I had was one of the smallest I've ever had (I'm not counting White Castle and Krystal) - about the size of my fist around, just the perfect size. Of course, we used to have much smaller portions as the default in restaurants. Not sure exactly what happened with that. One thing I've done is start using a champagne flute instead of my regular wine glass to cut down on overimbibing.
meep at August 1, 2006 4:46 AM
For nutrition information re: the glycemic index, check out Dr. Ann De Wees Allen. Following her advice, i was able to lose 80 lbs. just by ditching sugar and high glycemic carbs. i ate around 8 times a day too (not full meals, mind you). You'd be surprised how much your average person doesn't know how to eat properly (right foods) just by the way we are raised.
Rob at August 1, 2006 5:40 AM
I was raised on whole wheat gruel. My boyfriend calls my childhood "The Mush Years." You'd be surprised what being deprived of sweets does to a kid when she gets to college. I pretty much hooked my jaw up to the chocolate frozen yogurt machine. I've since learned to eat only when I'm hungry, and whatever I want. I never diet and I know better than to eat diet food. I never got fat because I've always worked out. But, a word to any mothers out there who think deprivation is wise...save up for those eating disorder docs, because you're likely to rocket your kid into one of their offices!
Amy Alkon at August 1, 2006 6:27 AM
It never ceases to amaze me that we've created a multimillion dollar industry for entrepreneurs who can come up with new ways to say: "eat less and exercise more."
snakeman99 at August 1, 2006 8:53 AM
Mimi Spencer's piece is nice, but woefully out of date I fear. The clientele of Bofinger (and that includes me and my family) are a vanishing sub-species. Everybody in Paris under the age of 30 is in MacDo, bolting the crap that stands in for food just like Americans. Even young married couples don't cook. Just like A. Alkon. Sad.
Stu "E Inglés" Harris at August 1, 2006 9:03 AM
Heh. Just read the talkback on the Spencer piece. Wow, those Euros sure do like to smoke! Every comment was like "I eat such and such, rarely gain weight, . . . BUT I do smoke about ten cigarettes a day."
snakeman99 at August 1, 2006 10:10 AM
"One thing I've done is start using a champagne flute instead of my regular wine glass to cut down on overimbibing.
"
I just stop drinking when I start spitting racial slurs.
smurfy at August 1, 2006 12:25 PM
Well, the Tootsie Roll experiment proves bupkis. What matters is how much you eat, not how much you take. And nobody's going to take half a big Tootsie Roll. Now you will say, "I bet they eat the whole thing, though." And you're probably right but as an experiment it just begs the question.
johnshade at August 1, 2006 2:35 PM
An image that's stuck in my head is that your stomach is approximately the size of your fist, normally. Me and my tranny wife Jenn usually split a plate when we eat out.
little Shiva at August 2, 2006 9:52 AM
> Me and my tranny wife Jenn
?
Crid at August 2, 2006 11:33 AM
Jenn is darling. I have to post the blog item I have from the alt newspaper convention. I was waiting until there was specific Little Shiva news. More on Little Shiva, including pix of her and Jenn, at LittleShiva.com.
Amy Alkon at August 2, 2006 11:44 AM
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