[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #71CCD5;”] I[/dropcap]’d always through mindless eating was a negative thing.
Working your way through a bag of popcorn at the movies, hardly even registering a bite.
Can’t be a good thing.
Can it?
And then I read the brilliant book ‘Mindless Eating. Why We Eat More Than We Think‘ by Brian Wainsink.
Which made me reconsider mindless eating.
What if we used the mindless part to our advantage?
Could mindlessness actually be helpful?
OCT 2019 UPDATE: Brian Wansink has been discredited and some of his academic papers have been retracted. Yet even though the science behind all his findings may not be validated, I personally use the recommendations listed here and still find them valuable.
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:
- What is mindLESS eating?
- 8 tips to harness the power of mindless eating.
What is MindLESS Eating
It’s when we allow external factors to govern how much and what we eat.
From an empty packet to a clean plate, we can harness these ‘little things’ to eat less without even noticing.
As Brian Wainsink explains in his book ‘Mindless Eating’ we humans aren’t super accurate in estimating how much we’ve had to eat. There’s about a 20% ‘mindless margin’ where we won’t notice the difference.
But if we stick to the lower limit of this margin we can reduce our calorie intake, without noticing the difference.
Over time, these little mindless margin differences add up.
How to Harness the Power of MindLESS Eating
1. Use small plates and glasses
The larger the plate, the more food you’re likely to pile on. And the more food on your plate the more you’re likely to eat.
Same goes for glasses and wine.
I switched to smaller plates and glasses and haven’t looked back.
It really makes a difference.
I actually use 23cm (9in) side plates for most meals. Or a 3 cup capacity cereal bowl for my abundance bowls and soups.
2. Serve your whole meal out before you start eating.
I mentioned this idea in Mindful Serving.
By serving yourself first you can see how much you’re planning on eating and won’t fall prey to the ‘buffet’ syndrome.
I also mentioned I have a ‘Personal Rule’ of not having second helpings except extra salad or vegetables.
3. Don’t store food on the counter / table / desk
Unless you want to eat it all.
Having little bowls of snacks or treats is just too tempting for most of us to refuse. But if the same food is stored in the pantry, we’re far less likely to go and get some.
4. Keep treats in hard to reach places
Another case of out of sight, out of mind.
Storing indulgent food in hard to reach places makes it less likely you’ll have the urge to indulge.
5. Serve up leftovers / lunches first
If you’ve made extra dinner, it can easily be eaten before you intended. So serve up your lunch portion / intended leftovers and put them away before you start eating.
6. Buy smaller packages
In ‘Mindless Eating’, Wainsink mentioned an experiment where people were asked to prepare spaghetti bolognese from either small packs of pasta / pasta sauce / meat or large packs.
The group who prepared food from the larger packs then went on to serve themselves (and eat) significanly larger portions.
You might want to consider breaking up with Costco now you know that preparing food from larger packs means you’re more likely to eat a larger serving.
7. Don’t clear the evidence
In an experiment researchers got college students to watch a football game and served beers and wings.
For one group they removed the empty glasses and cleared the plates periodically.
For the other group they let the bones end empty glasses pile up.
No prizes for guessing which group ate and drank significantly more!
8. Only serve healthy food ‘family style’
For weeknight meals I tend to plate up our meals in the kitchen and then serve extra salads or veg in the middle of the table. So we can easily have more salad or veg. But if anyone wants more meat or potatoes, they have to go into the kitchen to get more.
Of course sometimes it doesn’t make sense to plate up first, like when we have a lot of guests. In that case I make sure I follow tip number 2. and fill my plate before I start eating.
LEARN MORE
If you like to geek out on food science like me, I highly recommend reading Brian Wainsink’s book ‘Mindless Eating. Why We Eat More Than We Think‘.
SUMMARY
Here’s what we’ve covered:
- We can use mindless eating to eat less without noticing.
- Some ways are to use smaller plates and serve food out (and put away leftovers) before starting to eat.
ACTIVITY
Which of the mindless eating tips resonates with you most? Choose one mindless eating opportunity and start / stop doing it. And for bonus points share your insights in the comments below.
With love,
Jules x
I’ve been following these guidelines you’ve mentioned for quite some time. When my husband cooks and serves up, it’s harder to make sure I don’t overeat, although he is very good about making sure not to over serve my carbs (most of the time). The one thing I don’t agree with is breaking up with Costco. I happen to like them a lot, and when I buy a big package of something like meat, I divide it up into usable portions when I open the package. If it doesn’t come out even, I may add a little extra to each portion, but that amount is usually divided between 4 servings, so ends up being a minuscule amount extra. For other things I just measure out the amount I need for my recipe from the package when I’m cooking. When my husband makes spaghetti, I insist that he makes me only the amount I want to eat. Weighing and measuring when cooking allows for cooking only the amount you want. I also usually wait until we’re through eating to put up the leftovers, but that works because both of us understand that what’s on our plates is what we get, and that the rest is for another meal. I think the only thing I’ve served family style is salsa, or berry compote for pancakes. Our table basically has enough room for plates and glasses, but not much else. I find it very helpful to set the boundaries for my eating by how much I serve, because then I can enjoy as much of it as I want without worrying about how much I’m eating.
If you’re repackaging and measuring there’s no need to break up with Costco Susan 🙂