You must finish everything that's on your plate!

K!LL!@N

Just got thinking about this after Transform mentioned it in his post about the NYC marathon. I didn't want to hijack the thread so i thought i'd start a new one. Congratulations on the run and getting married.

Anyway to get back to my the topic.

How much has this old idea of eating everything that's put on your plate contributed to the growing problems with obesity?

I'm sure most of us grew up hearing this a lot.

Surely it must have a psychological effect on a lot of people.
Don't pay attention to whether or not you're actually full or not, just make sure that plate is clear when you're done eating!
Think of the starving children in Africa!

It's only since May of this year that i've actually started paying attention to whether or not i'm satisfied at the dinner table.
When i'm getting my dinner i'll try and be a bit more sensible in the first place.
I'll use a smaller plate, instead of a large one if i can.
If i start to feel full i'll leave food on my plate.
If i finish what's on my plate i'll wait a few minutes before deciding if i need to have some more.

Combining this with generally improving what i'm eating has helped me lose 33 pounds since May and that's without even doing a lot of exercise.

So, what do people think?
Has this mentality had role to play?

Killian

King of Kings

it does indeed.

I saw this when i was in south africa (there were 15 of us all irish) and the servings in the restaurants were huge - ****ing huge.

But everybody over there was taking a doggy bag home (even in the really swanky places) . but not us irish we all licked our plates clean everytime.

One lad even finished the 1kg of steak much to the amusement of the waiters.

hence I went from a trim 14stone to 15 2' in 4 weeks..
it was fun...not so much fun burning it off.


But in regular life i find it impossible top leave food on my plate. I have to order the small portion even when hungry cos I'll lick the plate clean

K!LL!@N

You're right, i don't think the concept of a doggy bag even exists in Ireland.
You go out for a meal, you're damn sure going to eat everything they put on your plate considering the price you're paying for it!

I'm living in the US now and it's great over here. Doesn't matter where you go to eat, if you don't want to finish everything on your plate you can get a box to take it home with you if you want.
Despite what everyone thinks it's actually really easy to eat well over here.
It's just really easy to eat horribly as well and i guess that gets most of the attention.

Killian

rubadub

I used to find myself cooking more than I needed to eat. I would reason I was saving electricity by cooking a full pack of sausages or rashers or something, I would plan on setting aside half for later or the next day. I would always end up eating a little over half, then look at the remainder and think "thats not a decent meal", then scoff the lot!!

In the states the portions can be ridiculous, the medium meal in a mcdonalds really is like the XXL here, the XXL there would feed a family. I remember being starving and getting the large popcorn chicken in KFC, no fries and I couldnt finish it. Over here the large popcorn chicken is the size of a feckin mug!

Some cultures are supposed to be insulted if they do not feed a guest properly, therefore give large portions. Thats why you always get really big portions in chinese takeaways. In resturaunts in China, if eating with chinese they will keep on ordering more and more. I stuffed myself rotten, I hate to see food go to waste.

Transform

Leaving food on your plate is vital if you want to be in tip top shape - get used to it today.

Overeating even on good foods will leave you tired so moderation people and its ok another meal is just a few hours away - your not a caveman/woman any more!

blorg

The simple ability to stop when you are approaching fullness is probably the single most important thing to learn if you want to lose weight. I lost a ton of weight over the summer and yet at no point ever felt hungry.