Eating with Family and Friends

Want To Decrease Your Dinner Calories? Change The Size Of Your Plate

May 13, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

Does the size of your plate make a difference other than for convenience? You bet it does.Since 1960, the size of the average dinner plate has increased 36%. Today’s dinner plate measures 11 to 12 inches across — a few decades ago they were 7 to 9 inches. A European plate averages 9 inches and some restaurants use plates that are about 13 inches across.

We Feed Our Stomachs And Our Eyes

We eat most of what’s on our plate regardless of the size of the plate.

Six ounces of cooked rice with a little chili looks like a good-sized portion on an 8 inch plate. The same amount on a 12 inch plate would look paltry and most of us add more — increasing both the portion size and the calories.

When you switch to a smaller plate you eat a smaller serving. You eat, on average, 22% less when you switch from a 12 inch plate to a 10 inch plate.

Go Small – But Not Too Small

It sounds too good to be true, but using smaller dishes can also help you feel full even when you’re eating less. Studies show that people are more satisfied with less food when they’re served on 8 inch salad plates instead of on 12 inch dinner plates.

But — be careful not to go too small with your plate. With too little food you might end up going back for seconds. A plate 2 inches smaller than the one you normally use is probably about right.

What To Eat When Party Food Is Heavy On Wings, Pizza, And Chips

May 11, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Stick with grilled meat, veggies, or baked chips rather than fried.

Turkey, baked ham, and grilled chicken are better choices than wings and fried chicken.

Plain bread, pitas, or wraps are less caloric than biscuits or cornbread. Or, try using lettuce as a sandwich wrap.

Go for salsa and skip the guacamole; mustard instead of mayo.

Minimize calories by dipping chicken wings into hot sauce instead of Buffalo sauce.

Try using celery for crunch and as a dipper instead of chips.

Try fruit for dessert.

Go for thin crust rather than thick doughy crust pizza. Choose the slices with vegetables — not pepperoni or meatballs. If you’re not embarrassed, try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice (soak up even a teaspoon of oil saves you 40 calories and 5 grams of fat).

Alcohol adds calories and lowers your inhibitions so your resolve not to eat everything at the buffet table often flies right out the window. Try alternating water or diet soda with beer or alcohol which decreases your alcohol calories by 50%. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram but doesn’t fill you up the way food does, so you can drink a lot and not feel stuffed.

Does The Thought Of A Buffet Send Your Inner Calorie Counter Into Panic Mode?

May 10, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Eating well and being “calorically observant” can be a challenge at parties, buffets, and events. Since wedding and graduation season is upon us, week 3 of the lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks challenge will focus on making good choices to save calories when choosing your food at these events – especially since so many of them are buffets where the array of food can be dazzling and too darn tempting.

The Allure And Terror Of The Buffet Table

It’s possible to keep calories under control at a buffet even with all of that tempting food staring you in the face. Whether it’s a fancy catered affair or pizza, wings, and cold cuts laid out on the kitchen table, why give yourself extra opportunities to shovel chips and dip or passed hors d’oeuvres into your mouth all night long? You’re human, so stay out of hand-to-mouth range, too. You’re far less likely to mindlessly eat if you have to leave a conversation and walk across the room to get to the food.

We Eat With Our Eyes

Keeping your back to the table is one of the easiest strategies to use. We often eat with out eyes – if we see something delicious, we want to eat it. So, don’t look at it. Keep your back to the tempting food as you’re having conversations or working the room. If you have a drink in your hand – it doesn’t matter what it is – your hands are full and it’s more difficult to grab food to eat.

Hors d’oeuvres can really sucker punch you, too. They’re small, but the calories really add up. Make up your mind how many you’ll eat ahead of time and stick to your plan or you’ll have shoved down a thousand calories before you know it. Pick the ones you love and avoid the ones you don’t. Why sacrifice your calories for something you don’t love? Try to keep a mental count because when you’re talking and drinking it’s far too easy to grab from each passing tray.

When it’s time to sit, choose a seat that puts your back to the buffet — preferably one that’s some distance away from it. How long can you sit and stare at those lavishly decorated cakes or the mounds of fried food without wanting to sample? Not having them in your line of sight helps to keep your mind – and your stomach – off of the food choices.

Distance helps, too. Having to get up and walk past lots people – many of whom you know – while balancing a plate filled to the brim, can serve as a “seconds” and “thirds” deterrent.

Before putting any food on your plate, just cruise the buffet line to eyeball all of the choices – a potential minefield of diet busters! What do you want to do? What’s going to energize you and not mess too badly with the calorie range that you want to maintain? Make up your mind, make your choice, and enjoy what you’ve decided to eat.

Who Sets the Pace When You Eat With Others?

May 4, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

You tend to mimic your table companions. They eat fast, you eat fast. They eat a lot, you eat a lot. Ever wonder why you look at some families or couples and they’re both either heavy or slender? As Brian Wansink, PhD says in his book, Mindless Eating, “birds of a feather eat together.”

How Much More Do You Eat When There Are Others At The Table?

Research has shown how strong the tendency is to increase how much you eat when you eat with others. Compared to eating alone you eat, on average:

35% more if you eat with one other person
75% more with four at the table
96% more with a group of seven or more

Why?

Eating more when you’re in larger groups compared to when you eat alone is common for adults. One reason is a phenomenon called “social facilitation,” or actions that are stimulated by the sight and sound of other people doing the same that that you’re doing. When you’re eating in groups, social facilitation helps override your brain’s normal signals of satiety – allowing you to eat more even when you’re not hungry.

Calorie Savers:

Think about how many people you’re eating with, who they are, and why you’re out to dinner with them. If you want to have a blast and don’t care about how much you eat – eat with a big group and chow down.
If you want to be careful about what and how much you eat, think about eating lunch with your salad (dressing on the side, please) friends rather than the pepperoni pizza group.
You tend to adjust your eating pace to that of your companions, so sit next to the slow eaters rather than the speed eaters if you’re trying to control how much goes into your mouth.

This is part of Week 2 of the lose 5 pounds in 5 weeks challenge. How are you doing? Post what you’re doing on Facebook and remember to “Like” EatOutEatWell while you’re there. Follow us on Pinterest and Twitter, too.

Did You Eat Too Much? Blame The Other People At The Table!

April 16, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

Will you be going out to eat this weekend? Who are you going with – just your partner, your family, or a bunch of fun loving friends? It can make a big difference in how much you eat – no kidding!

It might be hard to believe, but if you have reservations for eight you might end up eating 96% more!

Think about it – don’t you usually eat for a longer period of time when you’re eating with others compared to when you eat alone? Maybe it’s due to mindlessly nibbling while someone else talks, or the good manners you learned in fifth grade, or because you’re just having fun and enjoying great food.

Most of us tend to stay at the table longer when we’re with others and the longer you’re at the table, the more you’ll eat.

Losing Track

Friends and family also influence how much you eat. Sometimes you can get so involved in conversation that all the monitoring of what pops into your mouth goes out the window. Have you ever looked down at your plate and wondered where all the cookies went or how you managed to work your way through the mile high dish of pasta or the four pieces of pizza? How many tastes did you take of everyone else’s meal and dessert? Those tastes aren’t like invisible ink. Those calories count, too.

Who Sets the Pace?

How Much More?

Research has shown how strong the tendency is to increase how much you eat when you eat with others. Compared to eating alone you eat, on average:

35% more if you eat with one other person
75% more with four at the table
96% more with a group of seven or more

Why?

The pattern of eating more when you’re in larger groups compared to when you’re eating alone is common for adults. One reason is a phenomenon called “social facilitation,” or the actions that come from stimuli such as the sight and sound of other people doing the same that that you’re doing. When you’re eating in groups, social facilitation can help override your brain’s normal signals of satiety – allowing you to eat more even when you’re not hungry.

Calorie Savers:

Think about how many people you’re eating with, who they are, and why you’re out to dinner with them. If you want to have a blast and don’t care about how much you eat – eat with a big group and chow down.
If you want to be careful about what and how much you eat, think about eating lunch with your salad (dressing on the side, please) friends rather than the pepperoni pizza group.
You tend to adjust your eating pace to that of your companions. So, sit next to the slow eaters rather than the speed eaters if you’re trying to control how much goes into your mouth.