17 Dec Automatic Weight Loss Intro

1. First realize that deprivation diets don’t work.  Our bodies, our brain, and our environment all fight against us when we deprive ourselves.  Start with simply reducing your food intake until you are 80% full.  Increase you fruit and vegetables by 20%.
2. Slow down as you eat and limit distractions.  It takes 20 minutes for our brains to realize we are satisfied.  If you clean you plate in 10 minutes, you think you are still hungry so you continue to eat.  If you slow down or wait a few minutes your brain should catch up, and you will feel satisfied.
3.  As objects get larger, we progressively underestimate the size of the object.  People tend to do this with everything such as weight, height, brightness, loudness and food portion sizes.  The smaller the meal the more accurate we estimate its caloric content.  Normal weight individuals underestimate how much they eat by 20%.  Obese people underestimate how much they eat by as much as 50%.  They do this not because they are obese, but because their portions are much larger.  If the container is larger we automatically pour more shampoo, dishwashing detergent, and liquid plant food, therefore, purchase food in smaller packages.
4. Don’t eat out of containers or off the serving plate.  Serve your food on a plate so you can see how much you are actually eating.  If you eat out of a container, you lose track of how much you eat.  Relative to the amount in the container or the serving plate, what you eat will seem much smaller than it actually is.  The simple act of Preplating our food will reduce the amount that we eat by 14%.
5. We consume less if we see what we have already consumed.  If you have several glasses of a beverage that contains calories, then serve each refill in a new glass.  Don’t remove the empty glasses from the table.  The same can hold true for eating ribs and chicken wings.  Don’t remove the bones from your plate.  These simple steps act as reminders of the quantity of food or drink we have consumed.  Unfortunately studies reveal that most people do not accurately track how much they consume.
6. The size and shape of our plates, glasses, bowls, and utensils matters.  Eat from 8 inch plates instead of 12 inch plates.  We tend to more accurately estimate drink portions if we serve into a tall slender glass as opposed to a short squatty glass.  Eat with smaller forks and spoons.  All of these things will help us eat less without having to use our precious and finite willpower.
7. Be aware that increased variety can increase our consumption.  When we decrease the variety of foods, we eat less.  This is one of the ways that many fad diets work.  If you can only eat beats and lettuce every day, who wants to eat.  The opposite holds true as well.  Think back to a Thanksgiving when everybody chipped in and the table was a veritable smorgasbord.  I typically only get a small portion of anything, but by the end my platter sized plate is stacked full for my long winter’s nap.  Even the appearance of increased choices increases the amount that we eat.  One study compared the number of M&M’s people eat if they are all the same color versus multicolored.  The more the choices in colors the more we eat. Another study compared groups that were given the choice of three yogurt flavors versus one.  Three choices of flavors increased the consumption of yogurt by 23%.   Be aware of the temptation of variety.

Here’s to the Journey

(David W. Ball, MD, an Internal Medicine physician, founder of NuVitality Health – a wellness education company, and co-founder of Life Changing Fitness – a fitness facility for Every Body)