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I'd like to know how much obesity is caused by a structural "finish everything on your plate" problem. By this I mean the tendency of certain folks to finish ev

I'd like to know how much obesity is caused by a structural "finish everything on your plate" problem. By this I mean the tendency of certain folks to finish everything that is served, no matter what their hunger level is. Also, I've heard it said that people who eat from smaller plates will consume fewer calories over time. In the study, the group given water also had their food portions slashed by a substantial amount. What happens if the portions stay the same size? How many people will read or see re-hashed versions of this study in their daily papers or news and simply prefix a large glass of water before their dinners, only to find that it has made no difference?

obsessive1 16y ago
Agreed. Most of the time, we don't eat until we feel full, we eat until we finish what we've got. I can see the benefit to those who like to snack because they're hungry during the day - regularly drinking water will help ward off the hunger until meal time. In the end, though, it all boils down to common sense: the less you eat, the less weight you put on.
Goosey 16y ago
Getting over the cultural teaching that I must eat everything that is served in that sitting was the KEY to my weight loss, personally. I had no real dietary changes. I found that if I just ate slower and stopped when I felt satisfied most meals were nearly twice the size they needed to be. Another upside of this is it is cost effective to grab lunch and have the left overs for dinner (or the reverse)
- neilk 16y ago
  Agreed. I now try to stop eating the instant I feel the slightest desire to stop. It seems to me that I've been programmed to ignore this impulse. This is especially true of America where portion sizes are gigantic and people consider themselves primarily bargain-hunters rather than experience-seekers. It is amazing to me how much Americans will complain if a restaurant offers portion sizes just a little bit smaller than other restaurants in the area, even if the quality is much higher.
  - klenwell 16y ago
    "people consider themselves primarily bargain-hunters rather than experience-seekers" I suspect changing this attitude, more even than the promotion of local/organic/sustainable food production, could be the biggest social benefit of the foodie movement.
    - rdtsc 16y ago
      It is interesting how popular media plays into this. On a Food Network's chef competition on chef made a typical "American" size portion for one of the dishes. The judges really didn't like that. On the other hand typical American restaurants often insert sarcastic lines in their TV ads about how our portions are nothing like "French" portions -- you really get a bang for your buck when you eat here. So it seems like there are 2 very different attitudes and 2 very different types of consumers. Both are catered to by different types of businesses. I think the portion size has also been a hint as to how much a person should be eating. Those have been used more by the food processing industry to "mask" the caloric content of their products, rather than by consumers to modulate their food intake appropriately.
- samratjp 16y ago
  A big problem with food in America is that High Fructose Corn Syrup is spiked in almost everything frozen and canned foods these days (sure, you may avoid it at home - but not all restaurants are treated equal). The biggest problem with HFCS is eating satiety (or feeling of fullness) is offset considerably.
jacquesm 16y ago
Plenty of it, but that's also because typically people will prepare (or expect to be prepared for them in restaurants) unbelievable amounts of food. I weigh about 70 Kg and a half portion in any US restaurant is more than enough for me. I always feel bad about sending food back to the kitchen but I'd feel even worse for overeating.
- davidw 16y ago
  Yeah, my wife and I always have to remember to split an entree at US restaurants. Once we split an appetizer, and, not having been that hungry in the first place, were basically good for the evening. The portions there really are huge.
  - pfedor 16y ago
    Well I can name one place where portions are exactly the right size and it's McDonald's. E.g., cheeseburger plus the Caesar salad w/o chicken, plus french fries plus two apple pies plus a coke is about half the size of a meal in a regular restaurant. Which of course doesn't stop people like my girlfriend from bashing McDonald's as non-healthy and preferring places where "gourmet" burgers range from 1/3 to 1lb, i.e., the smallest one is bigger than the quarter-pounder.
    - davidw 16y ago
      I don't think McDonalds is as bad as some people make it out to be, but it's not all that great either. You're not getting high quality food there, and in terms of a "dining experience", the ambiance leaves something to be desired:-)
      - evilduck 16y ago
        Not to single out McDonalds...I went to Wendy's the other day and got a medium (i.e. smallest) combo meal. The "medium" drink I was given was a 32oz cup. If it were a HFCS drink, it probably would have been just as many calories as the food itself. The food quality/quantity is a secondary concern if you're doubling them with a sugary beverage.
chipsy 16y ago
Recently I crossed the country with my parents to visit my grandma. She was born in the 1920s and spent a large part of her childhood in the Lower East Side, so it's quite a culture shock to visit her. In her case, it's not that you have to finish everything on the plate - it's that as soon as you finish one item, you're compelled to try three more. Or in other words, large quantities of food is the only form of hospitality she's really familiar with. However this strategy arose, all her children have rejected it, which leads me to believe that these sorts of things can change quickly between generations. On the other hand, my parents are still erring on the side of "low-fat" style nutrition, even though I've told them repeatedly that it's been essentially debunked. I wonder, what bad nutritional advice will I cling to desperately when I'm older?
- alaithea 16y ago
  My grandparents and other elders were "food pushers," too, and I sometimes wonder whether it all stemmed from them spending their formative years in the Great Depression. It seems like those of us raised by them, unless we reject it, could still be experiencing a ripple effect from a time when there was never enough food, and the consequences of still acting like there's not enough when there's in fact way too much.
tlrobinson 16y ago
When I was a kid I wouldn't feel obligated to finish everything on my plate. When I started buying my own food I almost always ate everything even if I was satisfied. I think subconciously I thought I should eat a little extra just in case I couldn't buy my next meal. Perhaps it's an evolutionary instinct.
sambe 16y ago
Whilst I haven't done the research to back up such a strong statement, I feel that this form of childhood conditioning is strong & damaging enough to qualify as abusive parenting (semi-forced feeding + impact in later life). Doubling up with sugary rewards (dessert) if they force themselves to eat too much in the first place surely makes it even worse. Of course, it's not the only factor that leads to obesity, but it's extremely outdated and idiotic practice.

obsessive1 16y ago

Agreed. Most of the time, we don't eat until we feel full, we eat until we finish what we've got. I can see the benefit to those who like to snack because they're hungry during the day - regularly drinking water will help ward off the hunger until meal time. In the end, though, it all boils down to common sense: the less you eat, the less weight you put on.

Goosey 16y ago

Getting over the cultural teaching that I must eat everything that is served in that sitting was the KEY to my weight loss, personally. I had no real dietary changes. I found that if I just ate slower and stopped when I felt satisfied most meals were nearly twice the size they needed to be. Another upside of this is it is cost effective to grab lunch and have the left overs for dinner (or the reverse)

neilk 16y ago
Agreed. I now try to stop eating the instant I feel the slightest desire to stop. It seems to me that I've been programmed to ignore this impulse. This is especially true of America where portion sizes are gigantic and people consider themselves primarily bargain-hunters rather than experience-seekers. It is amazing to me how much Americans will complain if a restaurant offers portion sizes just a little bit smaller than other restaurants in the area, even if the quality is much higher.
- klenwell 16y ago
  "people consider themselves primarily bargain-hunters rather than experience-seekers" I suspect changing this attitude, more even than the promotion of local/organic/sustainable food production, could be the biggest social benefit of the foodie movement.
  - rdtsc 16y ago
    It is interesting how popular media plays into this. On a Food Network's chef competition on chef made a typical "American" size portion for one of the dishes. The judges really didn't like that. On the other hand typical American restaurants often insert sarcastic lines in their TV ads about how our portions are nothing like "French" portions -- you really get a bang for your buck when you eat here. So it seems like there are 2 very different attitudes and 2 very different types of consumers. Both are catered to by different types of businesses. I think the portion size has also been a hint as to how much a person should be eating. Those have been used more by the food processing industry to "mask" the caloric content of their products, rather than by consumers to modulate their food intake appropriately.
samratjp 16y ago
A big problem with food in America is that High Fructose Corn Syrup is spiked in almost everything frozen and canned foods these days (sure, you may avoid it at home - but not all restaurants are treated equal). The biggest problem with HFCS is eating satiety (or feeling of fullness) is offset considerably.

jacquesm 16y ago

Plenty of it, but that's also because typically people will prepare (or expect to be prepared for them in restaurants) unbelievable amounts of food. I weigh about 70 Kg and a half portion in any US restaurant is more than enough for me. I always feel bad about sending food back to the kitchen but I'd feel even worse for overeating.

davidw 16y ago
Yeah, my wife and I always have to remember to split an entree at US restaurants. Once we split an appetizer, and, not having been that hungry in the first place, were basically good for the evening. The portions there really are huge.
- pfedor 16y ago
  Well I can name one place where portions are exactly the right size and it's McDonald's. E.g., cheeseburger plus the Caesar salad w/o chicken, plus french fries plus two apple pies plus a coke is about half the size of a meal in a regular restaurant. Which of course doesn't stop people like my girlfriend from bashing McDonald's as non-healthy and preferring places where "gourmet" burgers range from 1/3 to 1lb, i.e., the smallest one is bigger than the quarter-pounder.
  - davidw 16y ago
    I don't think McDonalds is as bad as some people make it out to be, but it's not all that great either. You're not getting high quality food there, and in terms of a "dining experience", the ambiance leaves something to be desired:-)
    - evilduck 16y ago
      Not to single out McDonalds...I went to Wendy's the other day and got a medium (i.e. smallest) combo meal. The "medium" drink I was given was a 32oz cup. If it were a HFCS drink, it probably would have been just as many calories as the food itself. The food quality/quantity is a secondary concern if you're doubling them with a sugary beverage.

chipsy 16y ago

Recently I crossed the country with my parents to visit my grandma. She was born in the 1920s and spent a large part of her childhood in the Lower East Side, so it's quite a culture shock to visit her. In her case, it's not that you have to finish everything on the plate - it's that as soon as you finish one item, you're compelled to try three more. Or in other words, large quantities of food is the only form of hospitality she's really familiar with. However this strategy arose, all her children have rejected it, which leads me to believe that these sorts of things can change quickly between generations. On the other hand, my parents are still erring on the side of "low-fat" style nutrition, even though I've told them repeatedly that it's been essentially debunked. I wonder, what bad nutritional advice will I cling to desperately when I'm older?

alaithea 16y ago
My grandparents and other elders were "food pushers," too, and I sometimes wonder whether it all stemmed from them spending their formative years in the Great Depression. It seems like those of us raised by them, unless we reject it, could still be experiencing a ripple effect from a time when there was never enough food, and the consequences of still acting like there's not enough when there's in fact way too much.

tlrobinson 16y ago

When I was a kid I wouldn't feel obligated to finish everything on my plate. When I started buying my own food I almost always ate everything even if I was satisfied. I think subconciously I thought I should eat a little extra just in case I couldn't buy my next meal. Perhaps it's an evolutionary instinct.

sambe 16y ago

Whilst I haven't done the research to back up such a strong statement, I feel that this form of childhood conditioning is strong & damaging enough to qualify as abusive parenting (semi-forced feeding + impact in later life). Doubling up with sugary rewards (dessert) if they force themselves to eat too much in the first place surely makes it even worse. Of course, it's not the only factor that leads to obesity, but it's extremely outdated and idiotic practice.