Truck and Barter: Do you want to eat more? Here's how!

November 03, 2004

Do you want to eat more? Here's how!

By Kevin

The November 2004 Issue of Harvard Health Letter ($) asks "Why do we eat so much?" The answers: we eat too slowly, with too many people, with people who are too important to us, our food is too visible and accessible, we have too many choices, and stock up on prepackaged goodies. There was also this gem :

Plate, bowl, and cup size are important... In one experiment, researchers had people eat soup from bowls that were secretly connected to a hose that added more soup while they ate. They ate over 75% more from these "bottom-less bowls" than from normal bowls.

So now you know how you can cram even more food into you.

Also note that women eat 13% more when they're with men than when with women.

Posted at November 3, 2004 04:32 PM

Comments

You ought to pick up a copy of Fat Land (ISBN: 0618380604). It takes the reader through:

(1) Why food is so cheap
(2) Why we eat so much
(3) What the excess is doing to our national health

The author drones on a bit in some points, but it's very, very interesting. The phenomenon you mentioned was discovered by pioneers in the fast food industry in the 80s, who learned that they could make more money if they sold larger portions at slightly higher costs than the smaller portions (i.e., with a lower dollar / amount). People were two self-conscious to buy two orders of french fried for themselves, but wouldn't hesitate to buy one order that was twice as large.

Comment by Scott at November 3, 2004 05:37 PM | Permalink