{"id":1636,"date":"2015-12-29T07:24:23","date_gmt":"2015-12-29T12:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chaneyhealth.com\/healthtips\/?p=1636"},"modified":"2015-12-29T07:24:23","modified_gmt":"2015-12-29T12:24:23","slug":"8-tips-on-how-to-eat-less","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chaneyhealth.com\/healthtips\/8-tips-on-how-to-eat-less\/","title":{"rendered":"8 Tips on How to Eat Less"},"content":{"rendered":"

Avoid Mindless Eating<\/p>\n

Author: Dr. Stephen Chaney<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Weight loss season is just around the corner. In just a few days you will probably be making your New Year\u2019s resolutions, and weight loss will probably be near the top of the list. You may be considering the latest new diet fad \u2013 never mind that you\u2019ve tried lots of diets in the past and have always regained the weight you lost.<\/p>\n

What if you could learn just a few tricks that would help you discover how to eat less every day? Would that be of interest to you? Do you think it might help you lose some weight and keep it off?<\/p>\n

This week I\u2019m going to share 8 tips for eating less every single day from Professor Brian Wansink of Cornell University. He is Director of their Food and Brand Lab. He has devoted his career to studying how external clues influence our eating patterns. He is the author of the best-selling books \u201cMindless Eating\u201d and \u201cSlim by Design\u201d. He is the world expert on this topic.<\/p>\n

A few years ago I had the pleasure of attending a seminar he gave. Here\u2019s a quick summary of what I learned.<\/p>\n

8 Tips on How to Eat Less<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Tip #1: The Size Of The Container Matters<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"how<\/a>In one of his research studies he gave moviegoers who had just eaten dinner either a big bag or a small bag of stale popcorn. Those given the big bag ate 34% more. Think about that for a minute. The subjects in his study weren\u2019t hungry. They had just eaten dinner. The popcorn wasn\u2019t particularly tasty. It was stale. Yet they ate 34% more based solely on the size of the bag!<\/p>\n

The take home lesson is always to choose the smallest container when given a choice. This is also why you want to serve your meals on small plates and drink your beverages in small glasses or cups. If you want to snack while you watch TV, place your snack food in a very small container and store the rest out of sight.<\/p>\n

Tip #2:<\/strong>Don\u2019t Fall For Marketing Hype<\/strong><\/p>\n

He was asked to consult for a cafeteria serving health food because they weren’t attracting enough customers. He just advised them to change the names of their menu items (e.g. “Succulent Tuscany Pasta” instead of “Italian Pasta”). Sales increased by 27%.<\/p>\n

The take home lesson is not to fall for the marketing hype. Restaurants and food manufacturers know all the tricks. They know how to make even ordinary foods sound delicious. Make your food choices based on the ingredients of the food, not on the marketing description.<\/p>\n

Tip #3: Make Junk Food Inconvenient<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"avoid<\/a>In another study he put clear glass dishes of candy either on a secretary\u2019s desk or 6 feet away on a cabinet. The secretaries consumed 125 more calories\/day from candy when it was on their desk. Think about that for a minute. 125 excess calories\/day could amount to around one pound of weight gain\/month, 12 pound\/year, 60 pounds every 5 years, and a whopping 120 pounds over 10 years!<\/p>\n

The take home lesson is to make high calorie snacks and junk foods inconvenient. Put them in the back of your refrigerator, on the top shelf of your cabinets, or other out of the way places. Even better, don\u2019t bring them home in the first place.<\/p>\n

Tip #4: Watch The Refills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he used a refillable soup bowl (it never goes below half full) people ate 73% more soup than those given a regular bowl of soup. When he asked the people with the refillable bowl if they were full, they replied “How could I be? I only ate half a bowl of soup”.<\/p>\n

Of course, most of us will never experience a refillable soup bowl. However, if you are having a meal with friends and enjoying the conversation, it is easy to ignore the refills \u2013 either from your waiter at a restaurant or your favorite aunt at a family gathering.<\/p>\n

Tip #5: Low Fat Doesn\u2019t Mean \u201cEat More\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"lowfat\"<\/a>When he took a batch of trail mix and labeled some as “low fat” and some as “regular” people ate 21% to 46% more calories of the “low fat” trail mix. This was not an idle exercise. In fact, many low fat foods aren\u2019t low calorie, but people assume that they are and use that as an excuse to eat more.<\/p>\n

The take home lesson is to not assume you can eat more just because a food is labeled low fat, gluten free or some other healthy sounding description. In many cases, it has just as many calories as the full fat version. Even if it is, in fact, lower in calories, the only way you benefit from the reduced calories is when you consume the same portion size as you would for the full fat food it replaces.<\/p>\n

Tip #6: Health Foods Are Not Necessarily Healthy<\/strong><\/p>\n

When he showed people an Italian sandwich and told them that it was from either “Jim’s Hearty Sandwich Shop” or from “Good Karma Healthy Foods”, people estimated the calories as 24% lower if they thought it came from Good Karma.<\/p>\n

The take home lesson is that health foods are not necessarily healthier. Food manufactures know that health food is in, and they market their products accordingly. If you walk down the aisles of your favorite health food store, you will find foods that are just as high in sugar, fat and calories as the junk food you can buy at the convenience store down the street. They may contain \u201cnatural\u201d fats and sugars, but those have just as many calories as the \u201cunhealthy\u201d fats and sugars in the junk foods. You still need to read labels and choose unprocessed fruits, vegetables and whole grains whenever possible.<\/p>\n

Tip #7: Don\u2019t Call It Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"make<\/a>When he took students on a walk around a lake before dinner, they ate more calories at dinner if they were told that it was an exercise walk than if they were told that it was a sight-seeing walk – and most of the extra calories came from dessert. Think about that for a minute. It is a human tendency to reward ourselves for virtuous behavior, but when that reward involves eating, it becomes self-defeating.<\/p>\n

The take home lesson is two-fold.<\/p>\n