Visability and Convenience

Give us the skinny in the losers lounge.
(Anything off topic)

Visability and Convenience

Postby Unca_Tim » October 2nd, 2007, 9:13 am

ITHACA, New York (CNN) -- We are powerless to ignore the clarion call of the candy jar, the beckoning of the buffet, the summons of the snack cupboard.

At the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, Professor Brian Wansink studies how people behave around food.

That's the conclusion of Brian Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating" and head of Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab.

Wansink has spent a career watching how people behave around food -- at home and work, in sit-down restaurants and buffets, and in the many other places where Americans routinely chow down.

"We believe we have all the free will in the world. We believe we overeat if the food is good or if we're really hungry. In reality, those are two of the last things that determine how much we eat," Wansink says. What really influences our eating, he says, are visibility and convenience.

In one experiment, Wansink placed candy jars of chocolate in office workers' cubicles for a month. Then, he moved the candy six feet away. Simply having the candy closer meant the office workers ate five more candies a day. That adds up to 125 calories a day, or 12 pounds a year.

"Something that's very visible, every time we see it we have to make a decision. Do I want to eat that? Do I not want to eat that? Do I want that candy on my desk, or do I not want it? We can say no 27 times, but if it's visible, the 28th or 29th time, we start saying, 'Maybe.' By time 30, 31, we start saying, 'What the heck? I'm hungry,' " Wansink says.

"America's Killer Diet"
Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains how we really are what we eat.
3 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday ET

"In a similar way, convenience also tends to do the same thing. If it's really convenient and there's nothing to stop us from reaching out and grabbing something, we'll continue to do something until something tells us to stop."

In one telling experiment, Wansink divided a group of 150 test subjects into three, giving a third canisters of potato chips with every seventh chip dyed red. Another third received canisters with every 14th chip dyed. Other ate from canisters with no dyed chips.

Test subjects with no dyed chips ate an average of 23 chips; those with every 14th chip dyed red ate an average of 15; those with every seventh chip dyed red ate an average of 10.

The red chips provided what Wansink calls a "pause point," an interruption that forces the eater to ask whether he or she wants to eat more. For this reason, Wansink says the 100-calorie containers of chips or cookies work to help 70 percent of people eat less. When they finish the container, they pause and ask themselves whether they want more.

Wansink has found you'll eat more if you're eating:

• "family style" with the serving bowls on the table.

• directly from the bag or carton.

• on a bigger plate or from a bigger container.

• in front of the television, in the car, with friends.

Even if we know all about mindless eating, Wansink says we can't help ourselves. He's proven this point by giving a 90-minute class to graduate students about eating more from larger containers and then secretly observing them at a Super Bowl party six weeks later.

Wansink's solution: Surrender. Accept that you will give in to temptation and eat mindlessly.

What really influences our eating, he says, are visibility and convenience. Keep healthy snacks close at hand.

"When it comes down to it, we're efficient people," Wansink says. "We want something that's convenient. And if it's fruit or vegetables that's a whole lot more convenient than that cake that's wrapped up in the freezer, guess what's for snack today? Fruits and vegetables."
Unca
"Failure is a choice"
~From a dream~
User avatar
Unca_Tim
Site Admin
 
Posts: 2645
Joined: July 15th, 2003, 11:33 pm
Location: The Great Northwest

Postby DntCryLilEmoGrl » October 2nd, 2007, 9:33 am

thats a really good article. thank you!
"Soon to be mrs sexy pants"
lilemo's getting married on April 6th 2008!!!!!

started changing my life 5/15/06
restarted 10/01/07
User avatar
DntCryLilEmoGrl
Preferred Member - #40 Club
 
Posts: 488
Joined: May 11th, 2006, 8:44 am
Location: Casslberry FL

Postby fairladyj » October 2nd, 2007, 11:32 am

"We want something that's convenient. And if it's fruit or vegetables that's a whole lot more convenient than that cake that's wrapped up in the freezer, guess what's for snack today? Fruits and vegetables."


Not necessarily - I've eaten frozen cake before - and frozen candy bars, and frozen pie, and... :lol:
Jennifer in Michigan

If you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got!
User avatar
fairladyj
Trusted Member - #10 Club
 
Posts: 85
Joined: January 10th, 2007, 10:38 am
Location: SE Michigan

Postby Serendipity » October 2nd, 2007, 11:40 am

I read that article, too, and it's so true! Case in point: My recent cruise packed full of buffets where the amount on my plate many times had nothing to do with how hungry I was. A scoop of this and a scoop of that soon becomes a plate full. My only consolation was that looking around, I was doing much better than most....I mean, I was only having one dessert or one extra roll and others were piling their plates high. Somehow I talked myself into thinking that better than horrible was ok, but in fact, better than horrible can still be quite horrible.
jo
276/135 since December 1, 2006
Image
"Grandma, how did you make yourself so little?", My grandson, Jake
User avatar
Serendipity
Preferred Member - #140 Club
Preferred Member - #140 Club
 
Posts: 3552
Joined: November 20th, 2005, 9:22 pm
Location: Pittsburgh Area - !!!GO STEELERS!!!

Postby DogMa » October 2nd, 2007, 3:23 pm

I've kept a full candy jar on my desk at work for at least four years, and I count the times I've eaten from it on one hand. ... And in the past nine months, I haven't done it even once.

I believe very strongly in free will, especially when it comes to food.
Robin

203/130/130
Reached goal in August 2006
Added BodyBugg in May 2009
New ticker: 136.6/123.2/130
Image
User avatar
DogMa
Preferred Member - 70# Club
 
Posts: 6657
Joined: June 9th, 2005, 5:40 pm
Location: North Texas


Return to What's Shakin'



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests

cron