Eat Out Eat Well

Restaurants, Diners, Fast Food

Why Do You Still Eat More . . . Even When You’re Stuffed?

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You’ve been eating all day.  Eating everything – a bagel for breakfast, a chesse Danish for a midmorning snack, lunch with some friends.  This is followed by  a latte in the afternoon – and why not a cute cupcake to go with – or perhaps it’s a workday and you amble down to the hall to the vending machine or the snack room.  Oh, and it’s someone’s birthday so there’s that delicious birthday cake sitting in the middle of the table.  A little nibble of some cheese around six.  Uh oh.  Dinner plans that night – how can you eat more?

Somehow There Always Seems To Be Room

Into the restaurant.  A darn good one.  Good company, too.  How can you not go for it?  The food is supposed to be phenomenal.  You’re not hungry, but you eat, and eat.  Appetizer, entrée, bread, salad, and then it’s time for dessert. But dessert sounds appealing. And the chocolate whatchamacallit is what this restaurant is known for. You order it and eat it – every last fork full.

What Gives (certainly not your waistband)?

Amazingly, the signal to stop eating is usually not because your stomach is full (except in some extreme cases), but, according to Brian Wansink, PhD, author of the book, Mindless Eating,  a combination of things like how much you taste, chew, swallow, how much you think about the food you are eating, and how long you’ve been eating.

Incredibly, the faster most people eat, the more they eat. Eating quickly doesn’t give your brain the chance to get the message that you’re not hungry any more.  Research shows that it takes up to 20 minutes for your body and brain to get the message — a satiation signal — and realize that you’re full.  Think how much you can eat in that time span of 20 minutes – a burger, fries, pie, pizza, ice cream.  This calorie fest is all in added time — the time after your stomach is full but your brain hasn’t gotten the message yet.

Twenty Minutes Or Less

Research has shown that Americans start and finish their meals — and clear the table — in less than 20 minutes.  A study published in the journal Appetite, found that people eating lunch by themselves in a fast food restaurant  finish in 11 minutes, they finish in13 minutes in a workplace cafeteria, and in 28 minutes at a moderately priced restaurant.  Eating with three other people takes about twice as long – which ends up still being a really short chunk of time.

SocialDieter Tip:

Slow down when you eat.  Give your brain a chance to catch up.  How many times have you devoured what you’ve made or bought for lunch and then, almost immediately, decided that you’re still hungry?  So, you eat a whole bunch more – once again in a short period of time.  Then, about half an hour later, as your belly feels like it’s going to explode and you can’t unbutton any more buttons on your pants – you realize that you should have stopped before the seconds.  With slower eating (and maybe as some research suggerst, more chewing) and better pacing, your brain has a chance to synch its signals with the messages generated by putting food in your stomach.  You can even make yourself get up from the table and do something else – and promise yourself if you’re still hungry in 20 minutes you can have more.  If you’re in a restaurant, it’s the perfect time to excuse yourself and go to the rest room.  In most cases, after the 20 or so minutes, your belly and brain are both happy and you won’t want more to eat. Calories and uncomfortably expanding stomach saved!

Do Your Surroundings Affect How Much You Eat?

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Edgartown, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusets

Madison Square Garden, New York City
Volpaia, Tuscany, Italy
Penn Station, New York City

Where Would You Rather Eat?

Duh!!!  Obviously, most people would choose the beautiful settings in the Martha’s Vineyard or Tuscany pictures — or anywhere in the world that is just as serene and welcoming.

But . . . the real question is:  what is your goal?

The Setting And Your Surroundings Will Affect How Much You Eat

They will also affect how fast you eat and how long you take to eat.  According to Brian Wansink, author of Mindless Eating and director of Cornell’s Food and brand Lab, the atmosphere of a restaurant can get you to overeat in two ways:  if it’s really pleasant you want to stay longer — and therefore order and eat more, or if it is very brightly lit and perhaps loud and irritating you usually gulp and run, probably overeating before you realize that you’re full.

Red and Gold Decor Versus White Tablecloths

Fast food and high turnover restaurants are decorated for speed eating.  No pleasant pastels and soft music here. Instead you’ll find loud music, noise reflecting off of hard surfaces, and high arousal color schemes, often red and gold.  It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to communicate to your brain that  you are full and this red and gold, noisy environment makes you gulp your food and reach for more way before 20 minutes have come and gone.

On the other hand, people tend to linger at restaurants with low lighting, soft music, flowers, and tablecloths.  The attentive waitstaff are there to offer you more and more food courses — and you are likely to jump at the offer(s). In this type of eating environment you end up ordering and eating more than you had planned.

SocialDieter Tip:

Restaurant decor is not an accident — it is designed with the intention of keep you at the table longer or getting you to eat and run.  How long does it take you to gobble down a Big Mac or chow mein?  The red and gold color schemes in many Chinese and fast food restaurants encourage you to chow down quickly.   The white tablecloths and soft music of the “fancy” restaurant you frequent make it oh so easy to linger longer — and order another glass of wine, dessert, coffee, and after dinner drink.  Know your setting:  pace yourself in the speed environment and avoid the temptation to keep ordering in the relaxed environment.

Are You Drinking Your Calories?

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Lazy, Hazy Days Of Summer

It’s summer.  It’s hot.  You’re thirsty.  You want some shade and something cool – or maybe ice cold – to drink.

Just remember – a lot of those cool, refreshing drinks come with a hefty dose of calories.

Check Out The Calories

You might be surprised at the caloric content of a drink you have been having for years.  There is a wide variation in the number of calories even in the same category of drinks.  Do a little research and learn your best choice and then make that your drink of choice.  You often can be satisfied with, for instance, a bottle of beer that has around 100 calories rather than another brand that has around 300.

Of course, there’s always water, plain or flavored (beware the vitamin enhanced kinds with added sugar)!

Non-Alcoholic Drinks:

Water and Sports Drinks

  • Gatorade:  12 oz, 80 calories
  • Propel:  24 oz, 30 calories
  • SoBe Lifewater:  20 oz, 90 calories
  • Glaceau Smart Water:  33.8 oz, 0 calories
  • Vitamin Water:  20 oz, 125 calories
  • Vitamin Water 10:  20 oz, 25 calories

Iced Coffee and Tea Drinks

  • Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta:  16 oz, 430 calories
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Sweet Tea:  16 oz, 120 calories
  • Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino:  16 0z (grande), 240 calories
  • Starbuck’s Coffee Frappuccino, light:  16 oz grande), 110 calories
  • Tazo Unsweetened Shaken Iced Passion Tea:  0 calories
  • Iced Brewed Coffee with classic syrup:  12 oz (tall), 60 calories

Soda

  • Coke Classic:  one 20 oz bottle, 233 calories
  • Diet coke:  one 20 oz bottle, 0 calories
  • Mountain Dew:  one 20 oz bottle, 290 calories

Alcoholic Drinks:

Beer

  • Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale:  one 12 oz bottle, 330 calories
  • Samuel Adams Brown Ale:  160 calories
  • Amstel Light:  95 calories

Wine

  • Red Wine:  5 oz, 129 calories
  • White Wine:  5 oz, 120 calories
  • Sangria:  8 oz, 176 calories

Alcoholic Drinks

  • Mojito:  7 oz, 172 calories
  • Frozen Magarita: 4 oz, 180 calories (the average margarita glass holds 12 oz, 540 calories)
  • Mimosa:  137 calories
  • Gin and Tonic:  175 calories

SocialDieter Tip:

According to CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest), carbonated soft drinks are the single biggest source of calories in the American diet.  We tend to forget about the calories in sugared sports drinks and in sweetened ice teas, juices, and alcoholic beverages.  Alcohol has 7 calories per gram  — compared to protein and carbs which have 4 calories per gram and fat which has 9 calories per gram.     Couple the alcohol with sweetened juices, syrups, and, in some cases, soda, and you could be drinking a significant portion of your suggested daily calorie allowance.  There are low and lower calorie choices in each category of cold drinks.  Choose wisely, sip slowly, limit the repeats and/or alternate with water, seltzer, diet soda, or iced tea or coffee.

Olive Oil Or Butter On Your Bread?

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Shiny Foil Packets Of Butter

It used to be only butter on bread – big slabs, small pots, or foil wrapped rectangles.  You can still find all of these – what would a diner be without those sometimes rock hard, sometimes soft and squishy, gold or silver foil wrapped butter packets?

Butter or Oil?

Butter has stiff competition from olive oil for bread sopping and dipping – as opposed to butter spreading.  Olive oil arrives green or golden, plain, herbed or spiced.  It can be just plopped down on your table, or poured with flourish from a dark tinted bottle.  Some restaurants offer a selection for dipping – and attempt to educate you about the variation in flavors depending upon the olives’ country of origin.

Hidden cameras in Italian restaurants showed that people who put olive oil on a piece of bread eat more fat and calories than if they use butter on their bread. But, the olive oil users end up eating fewer pieces of bread.

For the study, 341 restaurant goers were randomly given olive oil or blocks of butter with their bread. Following dinner, researchers calculated the amount of olive oil or butter and the amount of bread that was consumed.

How Much Butter, How Much Oil, How Much Bread?

Adult diners given olive oil for their bread used 26% more oil on each piece of bread compared to those who were given block butter, but they ended up eating 23% less bread in total.

The researchers found:

  • Olive oil users used 26% more olive oil on each slice of bread compared to block butter users (40 vs. 33 calories)
  • Olive oil users ate 23% less bread over the course of a meal than the people who used butter

The olive oil users had a heavier hand than the butter users – for individual slices of bread.  However, over the course of the meal when the total amount of bread and either oil or butter was accounted for, the olive oil users used more per slice, but, overall they ate less bread and oil over the course of the meal. They also took in 17% fewer bread calories:  264 calories (oil eaters) vs. 319 calories (butter eaters).

SocialDieter Tip:

Butter, oil, and bread all add significant calories to a meal. A tablespoon of olive oil has 119 calories, a tablespoon of butter has 102 calories, one pat of butter has around 36 calories.  Butter and oil are all fat; olive oil is loaded with heart healthy monounsaturated fat, butter is filled with heart unhealthy saturated fat.  Bread varies significantly in calories depending on the type of bread and the size of the piece.  Most white bread and French bread averages around 90 to 100 calories a slice. Most dinner rolls average 70 to 75 calories each. The bread and butter or olive oil pre-dinner (and maybe during dinner) ritual can be a real caloric bump for a meal, without much nutritional value.  So many of us chow down mindlessly on bread and butter or oil before a meal – because we’re hungry – or, because it’s there for easy nibbling.  Choose to eat it or don’t let the bread basket land on your table.  The choice is yours – just be mindful of the calories.

Why Do You Eat — Even When You’re Not Hungry?

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Have you ever looked down to see crumbs all over your lap with a telltale wrapper clutched in your hand, and asked yourself, “Why did I eat that?”  Or, maybe after your second helping of spaghetti followed by ice cream, followed by a horrendously full stomach you’ve thought, “I’m such an idiot, why did I eat all of that?”

Why, Oh Why?

Why do we eat so much – often when we’re not even hungry? There are a bunch of reasons. They’re not difficult to understand – the hardest part is forcing yourself to take a good look at your habits and routines.

What Time Is It?

You might not realize it, but your body generally likes routines and your brain likes structure. One reason you’re hungry at noontime is because you’ve taught your body to expect breakfast, lunch and dinner around the same time every day. So you eat at the appointed hour – hungry or not.

See It, Eat It

Your body anticipates what and when food is coming. Doesn’t your mouth water thinking about Mom’s Christmas cookies or the hot cheesy pizza from your hometown hangout? How difficult is it to not eat once your mouth is watering and the thought of that food gets into your head?

Variety Is The Spice Of Life

You could chow down on a large meal but, as full as you might be, still make room for dessert.  Why? Probably because your desire for something sweet hasn’t been satisfied. Monotony often leads to searching for something different.  Ever been on a diet where you eat the same thing all of the time?  What generally happens when you can’t stand it any more?  Enough said.

Doesn’t That Smell Delicious?

Sight and smell can start a cascade of appetite signals.  The wafting scent of something delicious is one way your body knows that food is close by. This can trigger insulin secretion – which makes you think you’re hungry. If you think you’re hungry, you eat.

Booze

Beer, wine or liquor can impair your judgment, which often results in eating more.  Watching what you eat is harder if you’ve been drinking.

It’s Cold Outside – Or In The Restaurant

Ever walk into a restaurant and feel like you’re going to freeze? Restaurants often intentionally keep the thermostat set low because the colder the temperature, the more you tend to eat.  Heat can act as a satiety signal. Your metabolism tends to drop when it’s time to eat and eating warms you up.

Candy, Pasta, Cereal, Bread, Cookies; Refined Carbs and Sugars; A Whole Lot Of White Stuff

If you eat a meal that’s filled with refined carbohydrates like white pasta or white rice, in only a few hours your body may crave food again. Simple carbohydrate foods are digested quickly which causes blood sugar to spike and then drop. When your blood sugar crashes, you’re a lot more interested in food because your body is sending messages to take in food to help raise blood sugar levels again.

Habits and Routines

Doing the same thing each day, taking the same route home, going into a restaurant with a certain specialty, walking into Mom’s kitchen and heading straight for the cookie jar, are all habits or routines.  For instance, many people find that changing up the route home – avoiding passing right by their favorite bakery or ice cream parlor – will eliminate the craving for a food that had become part of an afternoon routine.

Holidays, Traditions, and Celebrations

Somehow special events scream, “All filters, guards, restraints, and rational thinking are dismissed for the event, day, or season.”  Think about the last wedding you went to, Thanksgiving dinner, or last year’s mega Christmas party.  Did you eat and drink more than you wanted to – or should have?  Why? For many of us a special occasion signals eat and drink without constraint.

Happy, Sad, Spurned, Rejected, And Any Emotion In Between

Yep, emotions. Emotional eating is a frequently a way people suppress or soothe their stress, anger, fear, boredom, sadness, loneliness, and a whole spectrum of negative emotions. These are things that can be caused by major life events or by the hassles of every day life. High calorie, sweet, and fatty foods, often in large quantities, tend to be the choice of emotional eaters.

SocialDieter Tip:

Most of us have times when we eat when we’re not hungry.  Sometimes it’s a one shot deal – or maybe it’s something that happens annually, like at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  We can learn to manage by balancing caloric intake and increasing activity levels.  But, if emotional eating triggers smothering stress or unhappiness with food – or if eating becomes a form of procrastination or relief from boredom, extra weight can begin to pile on.  It may be time to take stock of your habits and routines and to come up with a plan to shake things up a bit.