Eat 20% less by keeping serving dishes away
Can eating less be as simple as leaving serving dishes on the stove and off the table? According to a United States study, “Serve Here; Eat There” of 78 adults, reported on by a team of researchers from Cornell University at the recent Experimental Biology conference in California, it can.
“We looked at whether serving foods from the kitchen counter, instead of at the table, would reduce the number of times a person refilled his or her plate,” Dr Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab said.
“Quite simply, it is a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind,'” he continued.
“When we kept the serving dishes off the table, people ate 20% fewer calories. Men ate close to 29% less.”
The same strategy can be used to help increase the consumption of healthier foods, Wansink explained.
“If fruits and vegetables are kept in plain sight, we’ll be much more likely to choose them, rather than a piece of cake hidden in the refrigerator.”
Dining environment, plate and portion size, and other hidden cues that determine what, when and how much we eat are familiar topics in Dr Wansink’s work. He is the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.
