Thanks that was very interesting. I might just have to try a few of those tricks.

Another thing that makes it hard is that the size of serving dishes has gotten larger. Some dinner plates are so huge they don't even fit well in the D/W. We use salad plates for, probably, close to 80% of our dinners. It's hard to control serving sizes when you're eating from a 10" platter. :)

/tricia

I have some black plates that are 9-1/2" diameter that I like very much because they seem to be the right size for most meals. My regular plates are 10-1/2" diameter, and they seem too big most of the time, but then I seldom fill them when I use them. They are good for holding burritos that are too long to fit on other plates. I have bought a lot of dishes at a discount Japanese store, and I found beautiful medium sized plates (9") as well as rice bowls and many other types of bowls of all sizes. I like using pasta bowls or pasta plates for pasta, and those seem to help with portion control and more importantly help keep the pasta hot. We got out pasta plates on eBay, as they are otherwise somewhat difficult to find.

I do not have a set of matching dishes and have given up finding any that I would like. My silverware matches, however!

Lars

So true about the dinner plate sizes. we only use the dinner plates for 'feasts' aka Thanksgiving. Normally we use lunch plates for all meals. I also use individual pasta bowls as serving bowls, they hold 3 cups easily, maybe 4.

That was an interesting video, he made some very good points.

I am just getting over being sick for several days where I couldn't eat or hold food down. I was starved for lunch & made us sandwiches. Made myself a half sandwich & fruit salad & was sorry I ate it all, a week ago, it would have been half my normal portion. My goal now is to be aware of portion sizes & how full I feel, not how much I have on my plate. I grew up w/7 older brothers who would literally steal food off my dinner plate, we all to this day tend to put an arm around our plates, I notice it at every gathering. I don't do it at home, DH never says "Look!' then grabs my food lol.

Has anyone also noticed that cutlery is becoming jumbo sized as well. Heck the teaspoons are near as big as the tablespoons of our other everyday set. I don't like them at all.

I enjoy watching nature documentaries. You see all these wild animals feeding on unlimited food, then they will stop when they have eaten enough. They never over eat.

Yet, we humans, the most intelligent being of all life forms, will not know when to stop eating because the plate is larger?!

dcarch

They tested even nutrition experts and they ate 53% more ice cream when it was served with a larger bowl and a larger scoop.

Then there's the marketing. People are more likely to take 2 packages of food when labeled small than when labeled large, even thought the package is the same size.

When serving company, be sure to have a fabulous appetizer and people will assume the rest of the meal is delicious too...and taste can be influenced by things like lighting and atmosphere...

There's so much more to eating than just the actual food, it's amazing.

I read the book when it was first published in 2006. It was basically a recap of Dr. Wansink's company's food behavioral studies. It reminded me of economist Steven Levitt's fascinating book Freakonomics.

Mindless Eating was an interesting read but IMO doesn't offer much in the way of weight loss assistance. The portion modification through dish size and shape helps only one of the five types of mindless eaters. The book does, however, offer a wealth of information on how parents and other caregivers influence a child's eating habits and food preferences.

So true, Ruthanna. My dad loved liver and onions. Mom hated liver and onions but would sometimes prepare it for dad. She would fix something different for her and us three girls while dad was enjoying his meal saying, "Ladies do not eat liver and onions". So, she aided and abetted my intense dislike of liver and onions. :)

I, OTOH, dislike peas and am a pro at picking each and every one out of a dish before starting to eat. My son also will not eat peas. I'm also a very slow eater and my son followed my example. We get a lot of together time finishing our meals after everybody else has left the table loosing patience with waiting for us to finish. :)

/tricia

Yet, we humans, the most intelligent being of all life forms, will not know when to stop eating because the plate is larger?!

Just had to jump in and thank dcarch for my first laugh of the day, earlier!

Wansink's advice for weight loss, beyond plate and dish selection includes things like convenience works, so make the high calorie desserts very inconvenient to get at and instead make the fresh fruit readily available.

He also recommends eliminating the mindless choice of how much to eat as much as possible and replace it with controlled portions in advance: Either buy food packaged in single portions or bring the food home and put it in single portions so grabbing the appropriate amount is very easy.