Diets Just Eat Less? IsThat Really All There Is To It?

Studies Show 4 Proven Tricks to Eat Less Food

by Mike Geary, Certified Personal Trainer, Certified Nutrition Specialist

Author - The Truth About Six Pack Abs

I found these 4 tricks (that are proven to help people eat less food and overall calories) while reading a fascinating book recently called 59 Seconds by Richard Wiseman. I think you'll find these very helpful if you're looking to control your caloric intake and reduce your body fat.

These tricks were tested in scientific studies and are quick and easy to implement. I thought these were VERY interesting...

Trick #1 to Eat Less -- Several studies prove that the size of the bowl, plate, or spoon that you use can directly influence how much food and calories you consume.

Richard Wiseman, in the book 59 Seconds, talks about one study conducted where party guests were randomly given either 17 or 34-ounce bowls and 2 or 3 ounce spoons, and allowed to help themselves to ice cream. It was found that the party guests given the large spoons and large bowls had eaten 14% and 31% more ice cream respectively, than the people using the smaller spoons or smaller bowls. Interesting huh!

Another study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania used a bowl of M&Ms that were left in the hallway of an apartment building. A sign next to the bowl told people to help themselves to the M&Ms. Some days a tablespoon sized scoop was used in the M&Ms and on other days, a larger scoop was used in the bowl. The researchers found that the larger scoop caused people to take TWICE the amount of M&Ms on average compared to the people that had used the smaller scoop.

I've also seen studies referenced in the past that showed that people who used larger plates consumed more calories than those using smaller plates.

The lesson -- Use smaller plates, bowls, and silverware and you may inadvertently reduce your calorie intake. This also means saying NO to seconds and thirds!

Trick #2 to Eat Less -- You've probably heard before that eating slower can help you to eat less because it gives time for the fullness signal to reach your brain and thereby shut off your appetite before you've eaten too much.

However, this study below found a twist on this!

According to Mr. Wiseman in the book 59 Seconds, a study at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center had overweight participants eat a meal at 3 different speeds:

a) their normal rate

b) half their normal rate

c) their normal rate at first, followed by half their normal rate (normal-slow combo)

The results were interesting... Eating at the slower rate caused the men to eat less, but not the women (that's weird!). However, the 3rd group that combined the normal pace at first with the slower rate after that caused both the men and women to have a large reduction in their appetite and eat less. The normal-slow combo was found to be more effective than just the slow-only group. Why? I have no idea, but those are interesting results!

Mr Wiseman stated that the lesson here to eat less is "to start at your normal speed but then savor each and every mouthful".

Trick #3 to Eat Less -- According to the book 59 Seconds, a series of experiments conducted in offices compared putting chocolates right on people's desks vs placing the chocolates six feet away. In another experiment, the chocolates were put inside either transparent or opaque jars. When the chocolates were placed on the person's desk instead of 6 feet away, people ate on average 6 more chocolates per day per person. Also, the chocolates in the transparent jars were eaten 46% more quickly than the opaque jars.

Just shows... out of sight, out of mind! As you may already know, I recommend never even having junk food around your house at all...that way, you're never tempted by it and you're forced to only eat healthy foods... but then you can use your weekly cheat meals to eat junk food out at a restaurant. That way the junk food is never in your house to begin with!

Trick #4 to Eat Less -- Studies have found that people eat significantly more when they are distracted by TV, movies, games, or other distractions. In one experiment mentioned in the book 59 Seconds, people who were more absorbed by a movie ate significantly larger amounts of popcorn compared to those that were paying less attention to the movie.

In another experiment, people who actively listened to a detective story during lunch (being distracted by the story), ate 15% more food than those who sat in silence during their lunch.

The lesson -- ditch the TV and other distractions and focus on your food! Enjoy every bite of your food and you will naturally consume less calories while enjoying your food more.

Restricting Calories And Extending Your Life

Calorie Restriction (CR) is getting a great deal of media attention due to studies that find animals raised on restricted calories live longer and suffer from fewer diseases. That advice may seem counter to the “bodybuilding/fitness lifestyle” we all follow.

Sure, we all know excess calories—minus any exercise to counter those additional calories—represent a negative for general health and longevity, but should people be severely limiting their calories?

As many of you know, studies have suggested that lower calorie intake translates into longer life spans in animals and—perhaps—people. However, this conclusion is controversial and far from conclusive in my view. For example, a recent study suggests that fat mass, not calorie intake, is what is responsible for longer life spans, at least in mice. (1)

And what does the bodybuilding lifestyle strive for? More muscle and less body fat! Remember, as one would expect, caloric intake and low body fat (leanness) are directly interrelated, which makes it difficult to determine the relative importance of each (CR vs. bodyfat levels) and their contributions to longevity. Thus, researchers are now trying to separate the two issues.

Recently, a Dr. Kahn and colleagues from Harvard Medical School created a strain of mice that lack insulin receptors in their fat cells. As insulin is a primary hormonal mediator of body fat levels in response to caloric intakes, this lack of insulin receptors in the animals’ fat cells caused the mice to have reduced fat mass (less body fat)—and also protected them from age-related problems, such as obesity. However, their calorie intake remained normal and no restriction was required to get the effect that would normally be seen with CR!

The researchers found that the experimental mice lacking insulin receptors in their fat cells had an approximately 18% increase in mean lifespan over their non-modified red eyed squeaky counterparts.

Studies like this one are helping to sort out the effects of leanness (body fat levels) and CR, and their respective effects on longevity and—perhaps—disease prevention. As we can’t all have our insulin receptors removed from our fat cells, researchers are looking to develop drugs to reduce—or block—insulin action in fat cells in humans.

Although such drugs could potentially have side effects, they may also be able to prevent obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic diseases related to body fat and excess calories, without having to use strict CR. Hey, we might even live longer!

Bottom line here is, I would not leap onto the CR bandwagon just yet, but would attempt to keep my body fat level low and under control via good nutrition and the bodybuilding lifestyle.

People who allow themselves to get fat (“Dude, I am off season!”) may not be optimizing their longevity, but heck, the guy who actually invented the theory of CR and longevity—Dr. Roy Walford—who practiced CR, died at the very average age of 79, so take that for what it’s worth…

I would like to thank Will Brink for this article. Will is the author of Fat Loss Revealed and Bodybuilding Revealed two of the most successful and complete fat loss and muscle building programs available today.