Yet another study that illustrates the maybe common-sense notion that you shouldn't eat when you're not hungry. This is such a hard thing to do. When there's food around the house, it tends to get eaten. And it takes a conscious effort to not finish the entire ginormous portion of food that gets served at most restaurants. You eat the bag of popcorn until it's empty, right?
It's the French paradox redux: Why don't the French get as fat as Americans, considering all the baguettes, wine, cheese, pate and pastries they eat?
Because they use internal cues -- such as no longer feeling hungry -- to stop eating, reports a new Cornell study. Americans, on the other hand, tend to use external cues -- such as whether their plate is clean, they have run out of their beverage or the TV show they're watching is over.
Science Daily
I blame society. Who wasn't scolded as a child to finish everything on their plate? That's the cue, right? That's when you know you're done eating, regardless of whether or not you're actually full: the plate's empty. I'd like to see the study that looks at French and American ex-pats, to see if this type of thing is inherent in each country. In other words, if I've been living in France for a year, do I still follow the same cues? Also lends more credence to the "many small meals throughout the day so you're never actually super hungry" theory of diet.
Link via Boing Boing
When I was a kid my dad always shoving that "clean your plate" mantra into our heads. Part of me hated him for that. When I was full, I was full. Why keep eating if your body is telling you to stop?
Now that I'm a father, I do the opposite. When my son is hungry, he tells me, and gets something. If he can't eat all of what I give him, I either finish the rest off myself, put it in the fridge, or throw it out to the critters.
I will not impose that 'clean your plate' crap on my child. Will not.