Studies Investigating Why We May Be Overeating

As a population, 67% of Americans are overweight. Some of the causes of this are technology (such as video games), the greater portion sizes at restaurants for low prices, parenting techniques (such as constantly being ordered to “finish your plate” when we were young) and the lack of physical education programs in our school system.

While surfing the Internet, I came across several studies that have investigated the causes of overeating. These are quite the eye-opener. The first “study” (which I believe was not published in a peer-reviewed journal, but it still is thought-provoking) investigates the effect of portion size on satiety in children, and there are suggestions for how to parent your children while eating.

The second study, which was published, shows how adults behave when given a larger portion size even when the food is bad.

Although neither study is the end all be all, both studies speak for themselves and they may offer some insight to those of us who are struggling with their fat loss, but do not really understand why.

Study #1:

How do you avoid overeating?

Since the 1970s portion sizes have increased dramatically amongst children and adults. According to psychologists children rely on adults to show them how much to eat so we decided to see if, when doubling portion sizes, children know when their satiety signals are
saying stop.

We are all born with an efficient system that tells us when we are hungry and when we are full. However, very early in life we are taught to override these signals. When children are presented with a large portion they will eat all of it in spite of feeling full. If children overeat consistently they are going to be overweight.

We took a class full of children and gave them an identical meal on two consecutive days. The difference was that on the first day we gave them the government recommended allowance and on the second day we doubled it.

Did the children know when to stop? Not quite. They ate 73% more on the second day than they did on the previous one. A 2000 study showed that three year olds still heard their satiety signals and stopped eating when they were full. Five year olds, on the other hand, finished their plates no matter what the portion size.

Eating habits are cultivated early on in life – if we are not careful we may be the first generation to outlive our children because of obesity so don't overfeed your child.

Some takeaway facts to give your children a healthy start in life:

• Don’t give up on feeding them vegetables. Perhaps ask an older sibling to encourage trying new foods with your child. Do not encourage a reward with eating vegetables either, such as, "Eat two more bites of broccoli and you get ice cream." This teaches your child that they should not do something unless there is a reward. Instead, keep repeating exposure of the "forbidden vegetable(s)" little and often; it may take up to 10 times.
• Don’t ban anything, it will only reinforce the association with unhealthy foods and indulging when they finally get a chance away from you.
• Use non-food rewards such as sticker charts, or a visit to the park.
• Feed them foods containing fiber, such as an assortment of vegetables, fruits and fiber-rich grains. Even the phrase “whole-grain” is not enough. At least 30% of a serving of complex carbohydrates should come from fiber.
  Your child’s lunch should contain 1/3 of their daily calories. In simple terms a 5/6 year old should be getting a plate with following proportions of food: ½ plate of fruit/vegetables, ¼ of protein (for example, either meat or cheese) and ¼ starchy food such as pasta.
• Make sure breakfast contains some of the following: fruit, eggs, nuts, milk, and certain grains.
• Parents play a direct role in children’s eating patterns. Set the example by eating at the table with your children and save the TV until after dinner. TV eating leads to unconscious-eating, which is when you continuously eat without ever knowing the amount you eat (Have you ever finished a bag of chips and wonder how?).
• Avoid supersize, king-size or 25% extra food.

Study#2:
People Eat More Stale Popcorn If Served In A Big Bucket
Large portions push people to overeat -- even to overeat foods they don't like.

According to a new Cornell University study, when moviegoers were served stale popcorn in big buckets, they ate 34 percent more than those given the same stale popcorn in medium-sized containers. Tasty food created even larger appetites: Fresh popcorn in large tubs resulted in people eating 45 percent more than those given fresh popcorn in medium-sized containers.

"We're finding that portion size can influence intake as much as taste," said Brian Wansink, the John S. Dyson Professor of Marketing and of Applied Economics at Cornell. "Large packages and containers can lead to overeating foods we do not even find appealing."

There is, however, a silver lining to the findings -- that portion sizes can be used to increase the consumption of less appetizing, but healthy foods, such as raw vegetables, said Wansink. "While a small bowl of raw carrots might make for a good afternoon snack, a large bowl might be even better." The study is published in the September/October issue of the Journal
of Nutrition Education and Behavior (Vol. 37:5).

Wansink and Junong Kim, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Central Florida, gave 158 moviegoers either medium (4.2 oz) or large (8.4 oz) tubs of free popcorn that was either fresh or 14 days old. The researchers asked the moviegoers to describe the popcorn after the movie, and they weighed how much popcorn was left in the containers. As expected, the 14-day-old popcorn was described with such remarks as "stale" and "it was terrible."

When the moviegoers were asked if they thought they ate more because of the size of the container, 77 percent of those given the large tubs said they would have eaten the same amount if given a medium container. "This means that the moviegoers were unaware that the exceptional amount they ate was due to the size of the container," said Wansink, who also is the author of the new book, "Marketing Nutrition: Soy, Functional Foods, Biotechnology, and Obesity," and
director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, made up of a group of interdisciplinary researchers who have conducted more than 200 studies on the psychology behind what people eat and how often they eat it.

Several of Wansink's previous studies show that larger portions prompt people to eat more not because of a clean-your-plate mentality, but because large packages and portions suggest larger
consumption norms. "They implicitly suggest what might be construed as a 'normal' or 'appropriate' amount to consume," said Wansink, who tested this concept in 1996 with volunteers given different-sized bags of M&Ms that were too large to be finished while watching a
videotape; those given larger bags ate twice as much as those with smaller bags.

In another similar 2001 study of popcorn and moviegoers, Wansink found that people not only significantly underestimate the calorie content of what they eat, but discount even more the calorie content of food they eat but don't like. "When asked how many ounces or calories they had eaten, both groups -- those given either medium or really large buckets of popcorn -- reported about the same amount," Wansink said.

Another factor is that while people tend to acknowledge that portion size and container size may influence other people, they often wrongly believe they themselves are unaffected, Wansink found in a 2004 study. "This suggests that portion and package size may insidiously influence people at a basic level of which they are not aware or do not monitor," Wansink warned.

Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by
Cornell University.


TAKE HOME MESSAGE:
Know the amount of calories you eat. Your calories need to complement your lifestyle. If your lifestyle becomes more leisurely, then your calories must accommodate accordingly. See how many out-of-shape retired professional athletes are out there now? Nutrisystem has certainly taken noticed and now they are using those athletes in their TV ads. Athletes that did not have to watch what they ate learn that they cannot maintain that same eating lifestyle and still maintain their athletic physique. It can be an ego-killer for them.

If you are more active, then you can eat more. However, if your goal is to lose body fat, then you will have to be in a hypocaloric state in order for your body to resort to using its fat stores for energy.

Therefore, no matter how food is presented to you, whether it is at a friend’s house or at a restaurant, watch your calories.

Until next time…