Transcripts

David L. Katz M.D.:
In a society where we have epidemic obesity and diabetes in children, I've yet to meet the parent who doesn't encourage their child to clean their plate.

Dr. David Katz, head of the Yale School of Medicine Prevention Research Center and author of the book The Way to Eat.

Our kids are overeating, they're not undereating. How about we do this? We put less on their plate to begin with, and when they stop eating because they're full, we say, "Congratulations! That's just the way to do it!"

That "clean your plate" mentality has followed a lot of us into adulthood, but with portion sizes so much bigger than they used to be, we're just eating too much food.

Eating past the point of fullness isn't even pleasurable. The reason we tend to do that is in trying to control weight, many people starve themselves and then overcompensate. Well, don't starve yourself in the first place and then it's much easier to be restrained at mealtime.

Another way to control overeating, says Dr. Katz, is to realize that…

…we get full faster if we eat fewer flavors, so a simple recommendation is, fewer varieties of flavors in any one meal or snack as a way to help achieve portion control. One of the things people frequently do is cruise from one snack to another in the evening, and that's a very bad idea. Pick one per day, stick with it, and you'll take in many fewer calories.

You can link to Dr. Katz's website from ours, somethingyoushouldknow.net. I'm Mike Carruthers and that's "Something You Should Know."