The Dumbest "Why You're Overeating" Article I've Ever Read

jesshasredhair

Here it is with my comments below.

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from Women’s Health Magazine online

Why You’re Overeating
Posted on December 9, 2011 by Caitlin Carlson


Step 1: Whip up a batch of pasta and red sauce (we won’t tell if you dump a few cans of Prego into a crock pot!).

Step 2: Put a stack of plates (half white and half red) next to your gourmet feast and serve dinner to a group of friends buffet style. Let your guests take as much as they want, but don’t let them dig in until everyone’s plate is full.

Step 3: Take a look at each guest’s plate (or channel your inner Bill Nye and weigh each plate with a kitchen scale and find the average weight for the red plates and for the white plates). Which plates are stacked with more pasta?

If the red plates have some extra heft, your results are in line with those of a just-released study published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

It turns out the color of your plate can affect how much you eat. When the color contrast between the plate and the food is low (think mashed potatoes on a white plate), people tend to put more food on their plate. Researchers found that when it’s high (mashed potatoes on a red plate), people put, on average, 10 percent less food on their plate.

The table color matters too! The study found that people served themselves less food when there was little color contrast between the plate and the table surface.

Don’t let your eyes fool you into eating excess calories. Be strategic when grabbing a plate from the cabinet, or use the finding as an excuse to shop for cute plates in an assortment of colors!



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My response --

Step 1: No

Step 2: Really? Do I really have to do this stupid experiment? Don’t let people dig in until everyone’s plate is full? Who writes this ****?

Step 3: No

Dumbest article ever, down to the last line about shopping for “cute plates in an assortment of colors”…and someone got paid to write it! I don’t know why, but I’m highly irked.

The real reason you might be overeating, according to Athena Jess (http://theathenproject.wordpress.com):

- You’re bored

- You need a kitchen scale and some measuring cups

- Your feeling sad and the solution is drowning your sorrows in a plate of pasta

- You’re happy and celebrating

- You're not on MFP

- It’s Thanksgiving

- It’s Christmas

- It’s your birthday

- It’s Monday

- You have no concept of how much you’re actually eating

- Unresolved family-of-origin issues

- You are trying to fill some emotional void

- You’re out with friends

- You’re not paying attention

- You had some cocktails

- As long as the food is within arms reach, you will continue to eat compulsively (this would be my personal favorite)

- You didn’t plan this meal well enough

- It just looks good and you want to

- You’re training for a triathlon, which makes you (incorrectly) think you can eat everything in sight cuz you’re “in training” (again, one of my faves and a personal contributor to weight gain or lack of loss)

So many reasons…

PLATES?!?!?


Myfitnesspal.com is one possible solution and I'm so glad I have finally embraced it!!!!

sunkisses

LOL yeah, that article was poorly written in that it doesn't make its point straight off. And then when the point is made it's like, ".......uh ok." Feels like 30 seconds of your life you'll never get back. :laugh:

The writers of these articles really need to remember that correlation =/= causation. I doubt the people who've been heavy their whole lives got that way because of poorly chosen dinner plates.

Thanks for the giggle.