Mindless Eating - tricking yourself into overeating

Maldesu

Someone mentioned Secret Eaters in another thread that reminded me of the book 'Mindless Eating' by Brian Wansink, which examines how we, as people living in a world of excess and technology, get distracted from what is on our plates. Generally, I was wondering if anyone here had come across it and what they thought of the content?

For those unfamiliar with it, it is not a diet book, but a series of psychological experiments looking at how we treat food and ourselves, and overeat as a result. If you have been watching Secret Eaters, you've probably seen some of the experiments being tested on it. I can't remember how I came across the book, but found it very revealing and become very aware of how my environment influenced me to eat more than necessary. Since reading it, I have made a few adjustments to my eating habits and have seen a noticeable change in the waistline.

There are a few vids on youtube (poor quality), but I'll try give an example of one of his experiments.

Plate size - anyone who has been losing weight, tried etc, have probably been told to get a smaller plate. For me, I think I assumed that the idea was smaller plate = less food to put on it, but Wansink's theory is that the larger the plate, the smaller an item of food looks on it, therefore the brain thinks its not enough. Imagine, for example, you have a little mini tin of beans and you put it on your plate - if you use a side plate, it will probably fit just right and your mind is happy. Use a large dinner plate and it looks like a side portion that has lost the rest of the fryup = your brain is thinking you'll be hungry. Put it in a bowl and it will probably only fill it half way, meaning you are missing out on another half = hunger.
So, get a smaller plate and you trick you brain into thinking you are eating plenty.

TL:DR - is your brain tricking you into eating way more than you should?

Speedwell

I noticed, back when I was gaining a lot, that my body would "ask" for something salty... then something sweet... then something salty... yada, yada. My mother told me it meant I was dehydrated, and indeed a couple nice cold glasses of water seemed to break the cycle, but from what I know now I think I was probably also having issues with slightly wonky blood sugar (water would also have helped correct a mild spike).

Alf Veedersane

Maldesu wrote: »

is your brain tricking you into eating way more than you should?

Or are you allowing yourself to be tricked is another way of looking at it?

I don't think it's as simple as being tricked anyway. I haven't read the book but he had a podcast with Danny Lennon and some of the examples of mindless eating included those who had snacks on display on the counter, for example, tended to have more of those snacks than those who had them in the press because they were visible. Is that the brain tricking you into eating or someone just eating because the food was there?

Similarly, people who tended to eat too much went into buffets and stopped at each food and probably sampled some of most of the available food. Those who didn't tend to eat too much usually assessed the buffet and chose what they wanted before approaching the food.

The psychology of eating is a lot more complex than just our brain 'tricking' us.

Maldesu

Of course it is more complex, but as many people do tend to become disconnected from eating habits and I think its gives a interesting viewpoint on it. Tricking was probably the wrong choice of word for it. More like, the brain doesn't really engage with what our eating behavior.

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Is that the brain tricking you into eating or someone just eating because the food was there?

I think it is more a lack of mental engagement rather than tricking or availability.
The snack scenario is a good example of the brain not engaging, or being distracted by something else, such as a phone call. It's very easy to reach for the sweets sitting on the counter, or even the cigarette from the box, but when you have to get up, go to the press, open a box in the press then open your packet of sweets, that time can make you consider if the effort is worth the reward. I think he called that a 'Pause Point', where that few seconds extra to make a journey for something gets you to consider it.

Similarly, people who tended to eat too much went into buffets and stopped at each food and probably sampled some of most of the available food. Those who didn't tend to eat too much usually assessed the buffet and chose what they wanted before approaching the food.

There was another part to that one where having too much variety was part of the issue and that you would tend to try sample as much as you can, losing track of the consumption.

Alf Veedersane

Then absolutely, our brain doesn't always always engage in the sense that it doesn't differentiate between need and want.