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.
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