Food for Fun and Thought

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?

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?

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.

Is There A Way To Know When I Should Eat?

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

When should I eat? That’s the age-old question that many of us ask ourselves most days of the week! What would you say: “when I’m hungry” or maybe “when I want to”?

It’s not always an easy question to answer even though it seems like it should be intuitive. It can be, if you learn to listen to your body’s cues. You can also learn to stop, check in with yourself, and use a tool like the hunger scale to help you evaluate how hungry you really are.

Your Need For Fuel

Physical hunger is a basic survival mechanism. It lets your brain know that your body needs nourishment and energy and then prompts you to eat for fuel. We’re born with this ability; think about babies and how they cry when they need food and how they stop eating when they’re full.

But many of us eat so frequently that we never get to the point of letting our bodies knock on the door to tell us that they’re hungry and really need to be fed. We just eat.

Those of us who struggle with our weight might not even know – or remember – what hunger feels like. If you eat just to eat – rather than in response to hunger cues — you can become disconnected from the signals that let you know when you’re actually hungry and when you’re full.

The Hunger Scale

There’s a hunger scale you can use to help identify how hungry you are and when it’s reasonable to eat. The scale goes from 1 to 10 with 1 being ravenous and 10 being so full that you feel sick.

The Scale:

You’re ravenous and too hungry to give a hoot about what you eat
You’re starving and absolutely must eat immediately because you’re irritable, cranky, and have no energy
You’re hungry and the urge to eat is strong
Your hunger pangs are signaling the first signs of hunger; you’re a little hungry
You’re satisfied – not hungry but not full and you’re not aware of food in your stomach
You’re fully satisfied and are aware of food in your stomach
You’re very full, your stomach feels stretched, and you’re past the point of satisfaction but can still find room for more
You’re uncomfortable because your stomach is too full and you really wish you hadn’t had those last few bites
You’re stuffed, very uncomfortable, and your clothes feel very tight – that belt buckle or snap on your jeans doesn’t stand a chance
You’re beyond full and feel sick, miserable, and you don’t want to move

Calorie Savers

Try asking yourself, “What number am I at?”

If you’re above a number 5 you’re not physically hungry and something else is triggering your eating.
If you’re at number 4 you can wait to eat or eat a little bit.
If you’re at a 3 – it could go to 2 — it’s a good time to heat – have you noticed that food tastes pretty good when you’re hungry?
If you’re at number 1 you really need to eat — but pay attention to what you’re doing. When you’re starving you don’t care too much about what or how much you eat – and usually end up shoveling food in as quickly as possible – which can result in overeating (pigging out) and ending up at a 7 and up.
You should generally stop eating if you’re at a 6, sometimes a 7.
Gauge your hunger. If you’re only a little hungry, only eat a little. Preventive eating – or eating because you might be hungry in a little while – can cause you to pack in a lot of calories.

You’ll be able to find 49 more calorie saving tips in my soon to be released book. Sign up in the box on the right to be notified by email when it becomes available and get your free copy of “How To Decode A Restaurant Menu’s Words And Phrases” as a bonus.

Is It Your Head Or Your Stomach That’s Saying “Feed Me”?

April 9, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

“I’ve got to have a donut—the kind with chocolate icing and sprinkles.” “I really, really want some crispy, salty French fries and a strawberry shake.” But, are you really hungry or is it your head that’s yapping at you?

Your head can be very proficient at ringing the mindless eating bell. It’s often the culprit when you find yourself eating even though your body isn’t physically hungry. For instance, it’s not unusual to eat in response to a learned behavior. Does your head tell your body to eat everyday at noontime — whether or not your body actually needs food?

What’s Head Hunger?

Head hunger comes on suddenly. Does this sound familiar: you’re not hungry – and then all of a sudden you absolutely must have a candy bar or a slice of pizza, or a warm and gooey chocolate chip cookie.

Head hunger might appear as a craving, or when you find yourself mindlessly munching, or when you eat in response to triggers – and you’ve not stopped for a second to ask yourself if you’re really hungry (or maybe you have and decided to ignore the answer).

Head hunger can happen at any time — with no physical symptoms — and might be triggered by time cues and sensory triggers, like smell, taste, or texture. Obsessing about food, certain habits (like watching TV, working on the computer, or driving), and emotional or personal triggers can all make you think that you’re hungry when you really aren’t.

What Does A Growling Stomach Mean?

Physical hunger, or stomach hunger, comes on slowly and usually happens two to four hours after you’ve last eaten. With true physical hunger you might have an empty or growling stomach, lightheadedness, hand tremors, fatigue, or a headache. It’s your body’s way of telling you that it needs fuel and it’s time to eat. Depending upon how truly physically hungry you are you can be satisfied with almost anything – unlike the cravings for sugar, salt, fat that frequently ring the head hunger bell.

Calorie Savers

Head hunger will eventually go away if you ignore it. Your body isn’t telling you it needs food for sustenance. It’s your head talking to you, and sometimes it’s doing so in quite a loud voice.

Try to put off shoving some food into your mouth by distracting yourself and not engaging in conversation with your head hunger. It usually goes away if you divert your attention. Often a cup of tea or coffee or a glass of water will do the trick, too.

If your hunger is really screaming at you it might be tough to ignore. Ask yourself when you last ate. If it’s been three to four hours you might actually be physically hungry and not just head hungry. Have something to eat!

This post is a selection from my upcoming book about 50 easy ways to save calories.

Do You Make 2, 20, Or 200 Food Decisions Every Day?

April 4, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN 1 Comment

How many times a day do you think about food? How many times a day do you make a food choice? How do your environment and surroundings influence those decisions?

People grossly underestimate how many daily food related decisions they make – not by a little but by an average of more than 221 decisions.

And, most people are either unaware of how their environment influences their decisions — or they’re unwilling to acknowledge it.

Who, What, Where, When, And How Much

In one study The Cornell Food and Brand Lab asked 139 people to estimate how many decisions they make about food and beverages during one day. Then they were specifically asked how many “who, what, where, when, and how much” decisions they made for a typical snack, beverage, and meal – and how many meals, snacks, and beverages they ate during a typical date.

14.4 VS. 226.7 Decisions

The researchers then created an index to help them estimate the number of total decisions made daily. On average, people guessed they made 14.4 food related decisions each day. Amazingly, the researchers estimated that the average person in the study made 226.7 food related decisions each day. Obese people who participated in the study made 100+ more food related decisions than overweight people.

Bowls, Plates, And Packages

Another study of 379 people analyzed the effect of environmental factors like package size, serving bowl size, and plate size on how much they ate. Half of the people were assigned to what was called “exaggerated treatment” – they had larger packages, bowls, and plates than the other half of the people in the study. On average, 73% of the people who received “exaggerated treatment” thought they ate as much as they normally would – except they actually ate 31% more than the people who ate from the regular size packages, plates, and bowls.

When they were told how much more they ate and then were asked why they thought they might have eaten more:

8% admitted they might have eaten more
21% said they didn’t eat more
69% said that if they did eat more it was because they were hungry
Only 4% believed they had eaten more because of the larger sizes that acted as environmental cues.

Of the 200+ food related decisions you make each day, how many of them are heavily influenced by environmental factors like the size of food packaging and the bowls and plates you use for your food?

Can you save yourself some calories by paying attention to your food choices and decisions and by “sizing down” your bowls and plates?

Is It Coffee Or Chocolate That’s Keeping You Awake?

April 2, 2013 By Penny Klatell, PhD, RN Leave a Comment

You’ve finished dinner – perhaps you’re stuffed to the gills – and some chocolate along with the check. It could be those squares nicely wrapped in shiny foil or it could be some chunks of the really dark stuff artfully arranged on a plate.

Somehow there magically seems to be some room for the chocolate to fit in your already full belly. And, just maybe, this chocolate follows a chocolate dessert that tasted so fantastic that you wanted to lick the bowl. All of that was washed down by a wonderful cup of coffee.

Then you get home and sleep is just downright elusive. You wonder why you’re wide awake since you’ve been on the go all day.

Here’s a thought – it might be the caffeine found in coffee (or tea) and chocolate. There isn’t a huge amount in chocolate, but perhaps enough – especially if you’re a chocoholic – to help tip the insomnia scales when it’s combined with a day’s worth of other caffeinated food and drinks.

Caffeine And Chocolate

Here are a couple of facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but — depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re working your way through some of those oversized bars or you’re a little kid stuffing in a bunch of fun-sized bars.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 oz) bars of milk chocolate to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 ounce cup of coffee. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar. If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories for an 8 ounce cup (black, no sugar).

Dark chocolate has more caffeine content than milk chocolate. But it would still take four regularly sized bars to get the same amount that you’d find in one cup of black coffee.

Something To Think About

The next time you find yourself reaching for those foil wrapped chocolate squares after dinner (or the ones placed on your pillow in some hotels) you might consider the caffeine if you want a restful sleep.

It’s also worth it to remember that getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween, Easter, and other chocolate heavy holidays might have a whole lot to do with both the sugar and the amount of caffeine in the chocolate candy.

Caffeine In Chocolate

Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 oz: 9 mg caffeine

Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 oz: 20 mg caffeine

Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces: 9 mg caffeine

Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces: 20 mg caffeine

Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar: 17 mg caffeine

Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar: 42 mg caffeine

Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar: 9 mg caffeine

Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar: 36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee:

Coffee, generic brewed, 8 oz: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 oz, 266 mg caffeine)

Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 oz: 206 mg caffeine

Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 oz: 320 mg caffeine

Coffee, generic instant, 8 oz: 93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)

Espresso, generic, 1 oz: 40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)

Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 oz: 75 mg caffeine

Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 oz: 5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

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