How the size of what you eat affects how much you eat

Ever had someone use the expression "your eyes are bigger than your stomach"?  It is often used when people choose more food than they can possibly eat.  (Thank goodness takeaway containers were invented!).

There is a large psychological part to how much we eat.  From the size of the bowl, the size of the portion or the size of the eating implement.  Other factors such as the hunger signals to the brain can often lead to over ordering.  The fact that the stomach is a limited size will always set a limit on what we consume.  But our brain can often tell us differently.

In Dr Karl's article  "Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs" - he touches on some of these aspects of portion sizing and how much we eat and why. 

Supermarkets often play upon your appetite when you shop.  If you shop when you are hungry, you will tend to make more purchases, especially of more fatty foods that are appealing to a quick solution to hunger.  Ever notice that stores put chocolates and other lollies, chips, etc in prominent locations towards the start of your supermarket journey?  This is not by accident.  They know you are less cautious about spending at the start and will make impulse decisions.  After all, once you have the chocolate in the trolley, it is rare that you will remove it.  And they know you still need the staples that you came shopping for, so you won't neglect getting them.

We all enjoy our indulgences, but understanding how food manufacturers and shop designers take advantage of large amounts of psychology and where we are tempted is important.  Just to get you started, try and observe what colours are used predominately in packaging for sweets such as chocolates and lollies, and other snack items.  In future articles I will go into some of these aspects.  After all, to be forewarned is to be forearmed....just so we can even out the odds.

The Wrap: A catchup from the world of science, diet, nutrition and health - A calorie is not a calorie

Last week I gave some introductions about some of the areas of interest and sources for information on the world of science as it relates to health, diet, nutrition and health.

Hopefully you have had the chance to digest that and are ready for a new serving.

In this blog I won't try and retell the information available, but simply provide an introduction and feedback.

Going back to basics, many people wonder what a calorie is, especially when we read the nutrition information on the back of the packet.  In this article, Dr Karl explains that not all calories are the same, and the way the body uses them can be very different.

The article:

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2013/11/12/3889049.htm

What is interesting is how a calorie is just a measure of energy but its use in food labeling doesn't take into account the source of the energy.  As you can see from the article, what the calorie is contained in makes a big difference into its effect on the body and how the body uses it.  So when we read the calorie count, the missing information is where it is coming from.  You will need to read the levels of protein, fat and sugars to help be guided on its nutritional use.  Also remember that your body needs a certain level of fuel each day, so make sure it is getting the right types of fuel to match what you are doing, but also that you enjoy what you are eating and reward yourself for choosing wisely.

A big thanks to the ABC for making these articles available.

Perspective and experiences and desires drives how we relate to things and what we expect.

We receive some very positive feedback on our garlic bread from people and it always surprises me.  Why?  The feedback is that the garlic butter used contains real garlic and the bread is so lovely.  The reason I am surprised is that I would only ever think of making garlic bread using real garlic, real butter and good quality bread.

But this is symbolic of what we want to do and achieve at Bella's Bites - use genuine ingredients, cook with authenticity and provide a great dining experience.  We want you to expect good quality food and genuine flavours.  So whether it is seeing and tasting garlic in a slice of garlic bread, or tasting rosemary and sage in our slow cooked pork stew, or apples in our moist apple cake, you can know that the flavour you taste is only from the same ingredient used.

One of our regular customers, who will admit freely that she is a tough but fair food critic, said that she could taste that our food was not commercially made.  It was the loveliest compliment, because she then explained that this meant she could taste that our food was made with genuine ingredients, without shortcuts and made  to a high level of quality with heart and soul put into it too.

As I write this I am eating our slow cooked herb pork stew and to me, this stew is exactly what she is referring to.  We take hours to cook it, we use our own, made stocks, heating it and adding specific flavours that compliment the pork.  We make our own seasoned flour so we can get the right flavours in the coating.  We use white wine to soak up the flavours after browing the pork.  Yes it takes time and effort, but getting the feedback from our customers that they can taste the results of this effort makes it worthwhile.

Another comment we often get about our dessert cakes - our moist apple cake, and our carrot cake is "you can tell these are home made".  Again, the people who say this are providing a compliment as they explain that they can taste the real ingredients.  They can also taste that it is not commercially manufactured in having to be full of preservatives and sugars so it can survive being transported and stored for a period of time before consumption.

Just as importantly as the feedback we get when things are done well, we also value feedback when things don't go well!  We need to know where we can improve, and sometimes it is simply that we have used the same ingredient but there is some variation in it that has affected the flavours.  One example is in our Spicy Sausage Salad.  Customer feedback was that the spicy cured meat we were using didn't have enough "kick".  Some sausages have variation in their flavour and we could taste ourselves that there was sometimes a reduction in spice that wasn't acceptable. To this end we have chosen a slightly spicier salami to ensure we can provide a good level of spice consistently.  We hope you can taste this too!

Hopefully seeing and tasting good quality food that is filling, made with a focus on health and nutrition and fresh ingredients, as well as great value for money will help shift your perspective in what you expect from food.  Hopefully you can also just enjoy relaxing at Bella's Bites.

Who is Dr Karl?

In my previous blog, I noted that one source of useful and reliable information was from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and one of its key science collaborators  - Dr Karl. 

Why is he called Dr Karl?  Australia is an informal country where most people call each other by their first names.  In Dr Karl, most people call him by his first name as his last name is Kruszelniki, which, even for a multi-cultural society is still hard for many people to pronounce. I  recommend you read a bit about Dr Karl and you will see he is very well credentialed - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Kruszelnicki

Dr Karl has a site on the ABC website that is useful reading - http://www.abc.net.au/science/drkarl/greatmomentsinscience/

His podcasts are available on the Apple iTunes site - just search for him or follow the URL:
https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/dr-karls-great-moments-in/id83142643?mt=2

Over my next few posts I will pick out some of the podcasts related to food and nutrition and introduce them for your reference, including the iTunes URL.  I hope these will be informative.  After that, I will also provide some other useful articles on the same types of topics. 

The science of nutrition

Many people wonder why we have tried to create a menu that is healthy and how we have done it.  There is a lot of research available to help with understanding how the body uses the food - it's fuel source.  Some of it is quite confusing. A lot of it is performed or paid for by large food and chemical companies or their industry organisations, so the information is not without prejudice.  So if you are looking into research and information, always check who performed the research and who paid for it.  Or you can find some trusted reporting organisations and journals that will do this checking for you and read them.  I do this and it helps me a lot.  Often these same journals and reports make it easier for me to understand the key points and how to apply it.

So who are some of these journals and reporters?

Journals - sources such as the New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet are great for medical information.  New Scientist magazine is a wonderful resource and makes things into easier to understand.  I also enjoy listening to Dr Karl from the Australian government broadcaster (so it is not able to be manipulated by commercial interests).  His podcast is available on the internet and he also prints the same on the ABC website - http://www.abc.net.au/science/drkarl/greatmomentsinscience/
Dr Karl has some great articles and podcasts on health and nutrition and it is a easily digested 5 - 6 minute podcast.  In my next blog post I will make note of some of the interesting food and nutrition articles he has put together.

One of the best ways to help our bodies is to understand what goes into them, and how we use it.  So I encourage you all to spend some time to read the information available.  After all, a few minutes reading on how dieting workds may be more beneficial than trying to understand which latest diet to use!