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How serving more, can help you eat less
When it comes to food, your brain more often than not, forgets to act like a grown up so use a little psychology on it, give it what it wants – give it more
Ever tried to give a little money away to a three year old ?
It is never a costly experience, three year olds are interested in quantity. The option to receive lots of coins, is significantly superior, to the option to receive a single higher valued coin.
A handful of coins brings lots and lots of smiles.
How many matters !
Unfortunately, a handful of coins fails to satisfy an older child, and by the time they hit adolescence, even a handful of notes, barely brings a smile. And grown ups want PLASTIC !
When it comes to food……
Our brains never grow up
More is always more valuable.
- Five chocolate chip cookies is better than two
- A bowl of sweets is better than one
- Two backed potatoes is better than one.
- Six florets of broccoli, is better than two…..
Don’t be ridiculous !
There is a big difference between growing up and being psychotic.
Broccoli tastes AWFUL
Some brains manage to indulge in a bit more broccoli than others, this arises because of a genetic advantage or some clever culinary skills.
Sometimes it NEVER HAPPENS.
Truth be told, reaching out for more broccoli, typically requires a VERY GROWN UP BRAIN – mine isn’t grown up, enough to cope with this. If you want a little help, go here.
On the other hand, around “nice” things, few brains act grown up, spontaneously.
Grown up behaviour requires “heavy handed” discipline….
If it’s palatable we want quantity
The more is best phenomenon applies to all palatable foods. Just for the record, our brain defines palatable foods as…
“Sweet, fatty or salty”
Foods that meet these characteristics, are typically full of calories (which is why they make us fat), but in a by gone era, of frequent famines, eating these calorie rich foods, was critical for survival.
So was avoiding BITTER FOODS.
Bitter, which is the trouble with broccoli, is considered by the brain as potentially poisonous – bad experiences, wired in the belief, these calories, were MORE TROUBLE, than they’re worth.
Even in the land of plenty…. MORE IS BEST.
Marketers know this, this is why supersizing is a common practice.
But, it doesn’t just apply to BIG FOOD, the same phenomenon can play out, at home and you can use it, too your advantage. This is what a team of researchers based at Arizona State University discovered, when they investigated the munching habits of 301 college students.
Students in the land of plenty
To kick things off, each student was fed 82 g of bagel – for some the bagel was served completely undoctored, for others, their bagel had a close encounter with a knife. The “knifed” bagel had been cut into quarters.
Shortly after the opportunity to wolf down 82 g of bagel – the college students were offered a complimentary lunch.
Being perpetually hungry college students, they tucked in to their so-called FREE lunch, but behind the scenes, the team was WATCHING. Exactly how much bagel and lunch was eaten by each student, was carefully recorded.
Big bagels led to big lunches
Big bagels i.e. bagels that had been served whole, brought out big appetites at lunch time. The students who had eaten the uncut bagel ate more calories, period.
They polished off the whole bagel and then climbed into lunch.
Students who had been served up multiple-pieces of bagel ate less. Some left bits of the bagel untouched and when it came to tucking into lunch, they consumed fewer calories. These results suggest cutting food into multiple pieces, helps your brain feel more satisfied i.e. is more satisfied.
If you’re watching how much you eat, this is critical information.
Get out the carving knife and start THE MORE diet, especially when it comes to eating NICE THINGS….
Serving more = eating less
Curtailing your munching on NICE THINGS, is ALWAYS a challenge.
It’s hard to be self disciplined, ALL THE TIME !
NOTE : Getting the chemical mix of what you eat right, can and will help, because you’ll generate the I AM FULL message, sooner, rather than later. Click here to learn more.
Being able to use a little psychology on yourself or your family, could give you a much needed edge.
So if your brain thinks 5 bits are better than one – use the knife and give it 5 bits.
At the knife edge
- Cut the sandwich into quarters, hey if you up to it, try eighths and make sure they’re all peanut butter sandwiches too. Boring is a fantastic appetite suppressant.
- Break the chocolate up into individual squares, before starting on it.
- Break the biscuit in half
- Give yourself, two skinny slices of pie, instead of one big piece.
Many little things bites, can help keep portion size under control.
The human brain, just like the brains of rodents and primates, is wired for MORE. Use more strategically to create BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY and BETTER HEALTH.
NOTE : I do need to warn you, it works when you do it, but when a food producer does it, it can backfire, so don’t advocate all responsibility to keep your appetite in check, to smaller packages. Click here to learn more.
Further reading
Dessert should be part of your child’s dinner
There is ALWAYS room for dessert. ALWAYS. Dessert is eaten, because it tastes good, not because of hunger. By serving dessert with dinner – hunger rules.
A buffet doesn’t have to be fattening if you approach is sagaciously
The value of a buffet is you get to CHOOSE. But YOU might not be CHOOSING quite as much as YOU thought. But you can choose if you know how…
The hard and soft of those moments of overindulgence
Your brain is not the only organ weighing in on culinary decisions, your tongue’s preferences impact too. So what does the tongue like ? Soft and smooth, please
