If you see it...

You will eat it. The New York Times has a piece on Brian Wansink, a Cornell professor who wrote “Mindless Eating”, about (as you might have guessed), the essentially thoughtless/instintive eating habits people develop.

But those plates have their own problems. Like most American dinner plates, ours are big — almost 12 inches in diameter. “Pretty ample,” as Mr. Wansink said. Fifty years ago, when Americans were a lot skinnier, plates were a lot smaller. Large plates and bowls lead to more eating for the same reason giant popcorn buckets do: they make portions look smaller. Short, wide drinking glasses have a similar effect.

There is also a quick list of 5 tips that effect eating:

• Hide the cookies, uncover the carrots
• Same goes at the office
• Convenience leads to consumption
• Don't get rid of the evidence
• Use your eyes to your advantage

1 & 3 are biggies with me. Well, almost. What I've found is not so much the hiding/out in the open is the big factor, but who purchased it. I feel like I'm more likely to eat the healthy stuff, rather than junk if I'm the one that made the purchase. When Joanne buys it, it's out of sight out of mind. But I'm equal opportunity on the snack food, on the most part.

As to the initial point above, we have the big plates and our regular restaurants have big servings, and I feel compelled to fill and finish, which isn't a great combo. Portion size is tricky. Maybe the smaller plate is the way to go. One thing I have been keeping track of (in some respects) is the weight of the food we prepare, but this more in regard to meat and pasta. The tricky part: the better job we did of making it, the more of it we'll want.

The point is that small changes can lead to meeting long-term weight goals. A pound is 3500 calories (roughly), so that means the reduction in caloric intake by that amount a month (~120 day) leads to 1 pound lost/not gained. And 120 calories is a fairly small amount--it's 8 ounces of Mountain Dew!