Weigh To Go

September 1, 2010

Mindless Eating

Why We Eat More Than We Think

Brian Wansink, PhD

Overeating• Why do we overeat?– Not because of hunger, but because of family/friends,

packages, names, numbers, labels, lights, colors, candles, shapes, smells, distractions, and containers

• Research examining people who think eating is determined by how hungry they are, how much they like the food, and their mood

• Why do we overeat foods that don’t taste good?– Signals/cues around us that tell us to eat– For example, if we finish everything on our plate,

that’s a cue that it’s time to stop

Stale Popcorn• There’s no “right” amount of popcorn to eat

during a movie• Cues around us – size of the popcorn bucket –

can provide a powerful suggestion on how much to eat

• Participants given a free bucket of popcorn, either medium or large, & a soda

• Asked to answer a few concession stand questions after the movie

Stale Popcorn, Cont’d• Unknown to participants, the popcorn was 5

days old• During the movie, people would take a few

bites and then put the bucket down, pick it up again and have a few more bites, and so on

• Buckets were weighed at the end of the movie– The large bucket group ate an average of 173

more calories (53% more)• People eat more if you give them a bigger

container

Reengineering Strategy # 1

• Think 20% more or less– Americans usually stop eating when they’re full,

those in leaner cultures stop eating when they’re no longer hungry

– There is a significant calorie gap between the two– Dish out 20% less than you think you might want

before you start to eat, you probably won’t miss it– For fruits and vegetables think 20% more

Bottomless Soup Bowl• Participants were given a free lunch of soup• What they didn’t know was, for some, the bowl

of soup would constantly be refilled• Tubing was run from the bottom of the table

into the bowls • After 20 min. participants were asked how

many calories and how many ounces they thought they had eaten

• Soup was then weighed

Bottomless Soup, Cont’d• Normal soup bowl participants – Ate about 9 ounces of soup– Thought they ate 123 calories worth of soup, but

had eaten 155 calories• Bottomless soup bowl participants– Most were still eating when they were stopped

after 20 min.– Ate about 15 ounces of soup, some ate more than a

quart – Thought they ate 127 calories worth of soup, but

had eaten 268 calories

Reengineering Strategy # 2

• See all you eat– When people pre-plate their food, the eat ~14%

less than those who go back for seconds– If you’re eating chicken wings or ribs, you’ll eat

less if you see what you’ve already eaten, the same is true for beverages

Drinking Glass Illusion

• It’s estimated that 72% of what we eat comes from foods we eat from bowls, plates, and glasses

• These containers can cause us to misjudge how much foods/beverages we’re consuming

• Horizontal/Vertical Illusion

Beverage Illusion• Campers were randomly given either a tall,

skinny glass or a short, wide glass with the same capacity

• They were asked to estimate how much beverage they poured

• Campers with tall, thin glasses poured about 5.5 ounces

• Campers with the short, wide glasses poured about 9.6 ounces, 75% more, Also they estimated that they poured only 7 ounces

Size-Contrast Illusion

• 4 ounces of mashed potatoes on a 12-inch plate will look like a lot less than if it was on an 8-inch plate

• The larger plate will likely influence you to serve more

• Since we tend to clean our plates, we will probably end up eating it all

Ice Cream Social

• Participants were given either a medium size (17 ounce) bowl or a large size (34 ounce) bowl

• Size of the ice creams scoops varied (2 or 3 ounces)

• Told they could take as much ice cream as they wanted

• The bowls were then weighed

Ice Cream Social, Cont’d

• Those with the large bowls, dished out 31% more ice cream, about 127 more calories

• Those with the large bowls and 3 ounce scoop dished out 57% more ice cream than those with the small bowl and small scoop

• As the size of our dish increases, so does the amount we scoop onto them

Reengineering Strategy # 3

• Be your own tablescaper– Mini-size boxes, bowls, and plates to decrease

what you eat by 20-30% less– Repackage large boxes into smaller bags or

containers– Use slender glasses to pour less beverages

The “See-Food” Trap

• Simply seeing or smelling a food can lead us to want to devour it

• Secretaries were given dishes of 30 Hershey’s Kisses and told not to share them

• Dishes were identical except half were clear and half were white so that they totally hid the chocolates

Hershey’s Kisses

• Secretaries who had the candy in clear dishes were caught in the candy dish 71% more often (7.7 vs. 4.6 times)

• Every day the clear dish was on their desk they ate 77 more calories

• Over 1 year, that candy dish would have added over 5 pounds

Inconvenience Foods

• Clear candy dishes that were rotated among 3 locations

• First week – corner of the desk• Second week – top left-hand desk drawer• Third week – file cabinet 6 feet from the desk

Inconvenience Foods, Cont’d• Candy dish on the desk– Secretaries consumed ~9 chocolates/day– 225 extra calories

• Candy dish in the desk drawer– Secretaries consumed ~6 chocolates/day

• Candy dish on file cabinet– Secretaries consumed ~4 chocolates/day– Many indicated that the walk gave them enough

time to second guess if they really wanted it

Reengineering Strategy # 4

• Make overeating a hassle, not a habit– Leave serving dishes in the kitchen or on a

sideboard– De-convenience tempting foods – move these

foods to an inconvenient location– Snack only at the table and on a clean plate

Comfort Foods

• Myth #1 – Most comfort foods are indulgently unhealthy

• Myth #2 – People tend to eat comfort foods when they’re sad, stressed, or bored

• Myth #3 – Comfort food preferences become fixed when we are children

Comfort Foods, Cont’d• Men and women surveyed to rate the foods

they found comforting• Women– Ice cream, chocolate, and cookies– Hassle free foods

• Men– Ice cream, soup, and pizza or pasta– Foods that made them feel spoiled, pampered or

taken care of

Comfort Foods, Cont’d• Individuals were also asked when they were

most likely to seek out comfort foods• 86% when they were happy• 74% when they wanted to celebrate or reward

themselves• 52% when they were bored• 39% when they were depressed• 39% when they were lonely

Hunger

Physical Hunger• Builds gradually• Strikes below the neck (e.g.,

growling stomach)• Occurs several hours after a

meal• Goes away when full• Eating leads to feeling of

satisfaction

Emotional Hunger• Develops suddenly• Above the neck (e.g., a taste

for ice cream)• Unrelated to time• Persists despite fullness• Eating leads to guilty and

shame

Reengineering Strategy # 5• Make comfort foods more comforting– The best way to begin changing behavior is to do so in a way

that doesn’t make you feel deprived – Keep the comfort foods, but eat them in smaller portions or

look for healthier versions– If your comfort foods consist of the 4 c’s – cookies, candies,

chips and cake – all is not lost– We can rewire our comfort foods – pair healthier foods with

positive events– Instead of celebrating with a chocolate ice cream sundae, try a

smaller bowl of ice cream with fresh strawberries

McSubway Study• Individuals who ate at Subway were asked:

1. Estimate how many calories they ate2. What specific nutrition information they

remembered reading3. Whether the information would influence them in

the future4. List exactly what they ate

• Calorie consumption was compared to estimated calorie consumption

• Exact same study done at McDonald’s

McSubway Study, Cont’d• McDonald’s– Only 57% were even remotely able to recount any

nutritional information– 18% recalled that McDonald’s was offering some

lower-calorie option– Only 5 of 250 ordered the lower-calorie option– Most indicated that more nutrition information would

“probably not” change what they ate– Average calorie consumption was 1,093, but they only

estimated 876 calories, 25% more

McSubway Study, Cont’d• Subway– 157 of 250 recalled some form of nutrition

information– 63% correctly recalled that a number of

sandwiches had under 6 grams of fat– 77% ate their sandwiches with cheese and 79%

with some sort of sauce; 53% ordered and finished a bag of chips; 27% ordered cookies

– Average calorie consumption was 677, but they only estimated 495, 34% more

Reengineering Strategy # 6

• Portion-Size Me– Beware of the health halo – the better the food,

the worse the extras– People buying low-fat granola ate 21% more

calories – Supersizing may seem like a bargain, but it will

most likely lead to overeating