What Influences How Much You Eat

November 6, 2009
Interview with Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think

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Mike Carruthers:
It's estimated that we make about 200 food decisions a day. And we can influence how we make those decisions.

Brian Wansink:
We did something where we put candies on their (secretaries) desk or we put them six feet from their desk. And every single day we found out that the average secretary ended up eating a hundred and twenty five more calories if the candy was right on their desk than if it was just six feet away.

Dr. Brian Wansink, Professor of Nutritional Science at Cornell and author of the book Mindless Eating says eating "family style" -  that is putting the big serving bowls on the table - will almost always ensure you eat more.

What tends to happen is when people end up eating "family style," convenience - or rather inconvenience - makes it tremendously difficult to overeat. So what we suggest is putting the starches and the main entrees - the heavier things - don't serve them "family style" but pre-plate them and just leave them in the kitchen on the stove or on the counter. And if somebody wants seconds or thirds, they can certainly go get up and go get it but they're not going to be getting seconds, thirds and fourths just because it's mindlessly in front of them.

One way to eat less junk food, says Brian, is to never eat it out of the package.

In the case of let's say chips and candy, instead of eating right out of the bag, just pour it out in a bowl and at least at one point before you get started eating you're going to see how much you're going to eat and it's going to lead you to eat less - we find it's about twenty to twenty-five percent less, usually. 

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here.