Eating RightStopping The Genius

Donald L. Renfrew, MD

There’s an obesity epidemic in the United States.

A football analogy: you want to prevent a blow-out.

The Genius will do whatever he can to have you form bad eating habits.

You are the defensive co-ordinator and your job is to prevent The Genius from

running up the score.

Your goal: to obtain and maintain a BMI of 25 or less.

Height Weight in Pounds (without clothes)

4'11'' 94< 99 104 109 114 119 124 128 133 138 143 148 173 1985' 97 102 107 112 118 123 128 133 138 143 148 153 179 2045'1'' 100 106 111 116 122 127 132 137 143 148 153 158 185 211

5'2'' 104 109 115 120 126 131 136 142 147 153 158 164 191 218

5'3'' 107 113 118 124 130 135 141 146 152 158 163 169 197 225

5'4'' 110 116 122 128 134 140 145 151 157 163 169 174 204 232

5'5'' 114 120 126 132 138 144 150 156 162 168 174 180 210 240

5'6'' 118 124 130 136 142 148 155 161 167 173 179 186 216 247

5'7'' 121 127 134 140 146 153 159 166 172 178 185 191 223 255

5'8'' 125 131 138 144 151 158 164 171 177 184 190 197 230 262

5'9'' 128 135 142 149 155 162 169 176 182 189 196 203 236 270

5'10'' 132 139 146 153 160 167 174 181 188 195 202 207 243 278

5'11'' 136 143 150 157 165 172 179 186 193 200 208 215 250 2866' 140 147 154 162 169 177 184 191 199 206 213 221 258 2946'1'' 144 151 159 166 174 182 189 197 204 212 219 227 265 302

6'2'' 148 155 163 171 179 186 194 202 210 218 225 233 272 311

BMI 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 35 40

www.aicr.org

The problem: you have to eat in United States, the location of an obesity epidemic, every day.

This presentation will help you create a game plan of good eating habits.

The Genius’ Playbook:

Understand the habit loop and

cues to eat.

Recommended reading: The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg.

Play video clip

“How to Break Habits”

from www.charlesduhigg.com

The Habit Loop

One cue to eat is flavorful food.

There are many flavorful foods.

The Habit Loop

“You can give three-year-olds a lot of food, and they will simply eat until they are no longer hungry. They are unaffected by serving size. By age five, however, they will pretty much eat whatever they’re given. . . the same thing happens with adults.”

Recommended reading: Brian Wansink’s Mindless Eating.

Food remaining on the plate.

Food remaining in the bucket.

Food remaining in the bag.

And drink remaining in the cup.

Food and drink remaining on the plate are problems if portion sizes are incorrect.

The Habit Loop

The obesity epidemic has resulted in multiple diets designed to reduce weight.

Low fat diet.

The obesity epidemic has resulted in multiple diets designed to reduce weight.

Vrs.

Low fat diet. Low carb diet.

The obesity epidemic has resulted in multiple diets designed to reduce weight.

Vrs. Vrs.

Low fat diet. Low carb diet. Balanced diet.

Dieters may eat candy bars because they believe they are eating the “right” food.

Vrs. Vrs.

The Habit Loop

We eat to fulfill an emotional need.

(This woman is obviously a model.)

The Habit Loop

We Eat Flavorful Food

We clean our plates.

We empty our buckets.

We finish off the chips.

We finish our drinks

We eat the “right” food until it’s gone.

We continue to eat emotionally.

(This woman is still obviously a model.)

The Habit Loop

The Habit Loop

We are rewarded with the aroma, texture, and taste of flavorful food.

We are rewarded by an empty plate.

We have done the “right” thing by eating the “right” food.

And our mood changes. Or not.

The Genius’ Playbook:

Understand the habit loop and

cues to eat.

What’s in your repertory?

There are many cues which do not lead us to stop eating.

Flavorful food is not a cue to stop eating.

A large portion or remaining food on the plate, in the bucket, or in the bag is not a cue to stop eating.

The “right food” is not a cue to stop eating.

Vrs. Vrs.

An emotion which leads to eating is not a cue to stop eating.

What about hunger?Is hunger an emotion?

Is what you are feeling now hunger?

Is what you feel when you smell bacon hunger?

“You can give three-year-olds a lot of food, and they will simply eat until they are no longer hungry. They are unaffected by serving size. By age five, however, they will pretty much eat whatever they’re given. . . the same thing happens with adults.”

In fact, people do not stop eating simply because they are no longer hungry.

Even if they did stop eating when they were no longer, as Wansink notes: “Many research studies show that it takes up to 20 minutes for our body and brain to signal satiation, so that we realize we are full.”

Wansink: “Here’s the problem. We Americans start, finish, and clear the table for many of our meals in less than 20 minutes.”

Wansink: “Twenty minutes is enough time to inhale two or three more pieces of pizza and chug a large refill of Pepsi.”

Wansink: “Most of us actually decide how much to eat before we put any food into our mouths. We eyeball how much we think we want, dish it out, and then eat until it’s gone.”

What are cues to stop eating?

Wansink again: “In reality, scientists don’t know what makes us stop eating.” It seems to be a combination of things, including. . .

How much we chew.

How much we swallow.

“Over the course of a day or two, a person eats about the same weight of food.”

Recommended reading: Barbara Rolles’ Volumetrics.

How much we think about what we eat.

Imagine slowly eating a bowl of popcorn while paying close attention to every bite.

Imagine the usual alternate method of eating popcorn.

It is easy to see who is behind movie popcorn.

How long we have been eating.

Fork and spoon from mydietdinnerware.com

What are cues to stop eating?

How much we chew, swallow, think about food, and time spent eating

Step 3:A game plan.

We need a few proscriptions.

Though shalt have no other gods before me.Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.Thou shalt not kill.Thou shalt not commit adulteryThou shalt not steal.Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.Thou shalt not covet neighbor’s wife.Thou shalt not covet neighbor’s house or servants.

Thou shalt not eat flavorful food for flavor alone.

Thou shalt not eat too large a portion.

Thou shalt not eat simplybecause it’s the “right” food.

Vrs. Vrs.

Thou shalt not engage in emotional eating.

FOOD PROSCRIPTIONS

Thou shalt not eat flavorful food for flavor alone.

Thou shalt eat too large a portion.

Thou shalt not eat simply because it’s the “right” food.

Thou shalt not engage in emotional eating.

We need a few authorizations.

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.Honour thy father and thy mother.

Rule #1. Get most of your nutrition from low calorie density foods.

An “Calorie Dense” food is one with more than 1 calorie/gram.

A high calorie density meal.

A low calorie density meal.

What were the cues to stop eating?

Which meal would cause you to chew more?

Which meal wouldcause you to swallow more?

Which meal would make usthink more about food?

Which meal wouldtake longer to eat?

Most food found in the produce aisle is low calorie density.

Most food found in the remainder of the store is high calorie density.

It is necessary to read the label to tell whether food from the “interior” of the grocery store is low calorie

density or not.

The “right” foods are high calorie density foods.

Most foods in American cuisine are high calorie density.

There are two ways to follow Rule #1, and to get most of your nutrition from low

calorie density foods.

Method #1 (easier, healthier, more straightforward): Only eat foods that are low

calorie density foods.

Method #2 (more difficult): Balance any high calorie density foods with low calorie density

foods.

Let’s have a cookie.

Let’s balance the cookie with broccoli.

Cal/gm gm ounces Cal

Cookie 3.6 25 1 90

Broccoli

The calculation is. . .

Cal/gm gm ounces Cal

Cookie 3.6 25 1 90

Brocolli 0.34 265 9 90

180

It takes 9 ounces of broccoli to balance.4 cookies is two pounds of broccoli.

Let’s have a slice of pizza, in this case Pizza Hut meat lover’s. Protein is good, right?

Let’s balance the pizza with garden salad (no salad dressing, just lettuce, cukes, and tomatoes).

Cal/gm gm ounces CalPizza 2.90 107 4 310

Garden salad

Let’s balance the pizza with garden salad (no salad dressing, just lettuce, cukes, and tomatoes).

Cal/gm gm ounces CalPizza 2.90 107 4 310

Garden salad 0.2 1550 55 310620

Moral: you have to be very careful when eating high calorie density

foods to adhere to rule #1

Rule #2. Eat consciously.

Rule #3. Eat slowly.

Rule #4: Serve yourself one correct meal, then wait 20 minutes before

seconds or desert.

The margin of error when serving low calorie density foods is much larger than for high calorie density foods.

10 calories 200 calories

FOOD AUTHORIZATIONS

Get most of your nutrition from low calorie density foods.

Eat consciously.

Eat slowly.

Serve yourself one correct meal, then wait 20 minutes before seconds or dessert.

Summary so far.

The Genius exploits The Habit Loop to entice you to eat more food than you need.

He uses a variety of cues that lead to eating, but not to stopping eating.

EATING COMMANDMENTS

Thou shalt not eat flavorful food for flavor alone.Thou shalt eat too large a portion.Thou shalt not eat simply because it’s the “right” food.Thou shalt not engage in emotional eating.Get most of your nutrition from low calorie density foods.Eat consciously.Eat slowly.Serve yourself one correct meal, then wait 20 minutes before seconds or dessert.

All of this is known and published. Why do we continue to fail?

You have to EXECUTE!

One additional concept is needed for us to execute.

An experiment was run on undergraduate students at UCLA.

Students had a total of five minutes to solve as many of these problems as

they could.

When no cheating was possible, the students averaged 3.1 problems in five

minutes.

When cheating was possible, the students averaged 4.1 problems in five

minutes.

Before the test, write down the names of ten books you read in high school.

After writing down the book titles, the students averaged 4.1 problems in five

minutes. Cheating still occurred.

Before the test, write down as many of the Ten Commandments as you can.

After writing down the Commandments, the students averaged 3.1 problems in five

minutes. Cheating stopped.

Before taking the test, the students signed under the statement “I understand that this

study falls under the MIT honor system.”

After signing under the statement, the students averaged 3.1 problems in five

minutes. Cheating stopped.

The student all knew cheating was wrong, but apparently forgot their play book.

How do we remember our play book?

www.calibratemybrain.com

Our web site offers a brief reminder of the “commandments.”

The presented slides will vary in the exact wording and image used to convey the

message, but the short presentation will be based on what we’ve covered in this

lecture.

Flavor alone should not be the sole reason you start or continue eating.

Do not eat flavorful food for flavor alone.

Flavorful food is delicious but will still be delicious after you’ve eaten too much.

Be careful when eating flavorful food: it’s a cue to eat that persists after you’ve eaten enough.

Low calorie density foods are high in volume and micronutrients.

Low calorie density foods are your true friends.

Low calorie density foods keep you lean and fit.

Low calorie density foods are good for your body.

You can become or stay obese by eating the “right” food.

Concentrate on your food while eating.

Take your time when you eat.

Enjoy every mouthful.

Serve yourself one correct meal, then wait 20 minutes before seconds or

desert.