Tuesday Tip: Visual cues

Tuesday Tip: Visual cues 👀

Portion control is one of the biggest issues when it comes to losing weight.We often gauge how much to eat by how much food is placed in front of us; the eat what’s on your plate approach. This holds true even when the plate refills e.g. in one study those eating soup from a bowl that secretly refilled from a hidden tube consumed 73% more than those using a regular bowl.

When it comes to snacks (biscuits, crisps etc) ‘you can’t eat just one,’ right? If we have larger bags we eat more. With the cost of living crisis this may become more of an issue as we buy in bulk to save money. However visual cues to portion size can mean people eat less e.g. in one study on stackable crisps (Pringles) researchers inserted a red crisp to indicate portion size. Participants weren’t told what it meant. Those with the red crisps tended to stop eating sooner. It acted as a sort of “stop sign,” a subconscious indicator you’ve had enough. In another study participants were given unlimited fried chicken wings whilst watching a film. One group had the bones cleared from their plate regularly, one didn’t. Those who kept their bones ate less as they had a visual reminder of what they’d eaten.

Essentially there are 3 reasons we overeat beyond satisfaction in these scenarios:

– We lose track of how much we have eaten.

– We perceive a ‘normal amount’ of food to be whatever the serving size happens to be.

– Eating becomes a semiautomated habit, continuing until interrupted e.g. you’re focused on the TV instead.

Visual cues help regulate how much you eat by showing appropriate serving sizes, helping you track what you’ve eaten and interrupting habitual eating. How can we do this?

• Smaller plates or bowls = smaller portions. You’ll often eat less.

• Buy pre-portioned snacks or measure snacks into a bowl and leave the packet in the cupboard.

• Leave wrappers, drinks cans etc on the table so you can see how much you’ve eaten/drunk.

• Pay attention to what you’re eating and avoid prolonged mindless eating.

These small changes can lead to big calorie savings over time!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx