How to Eat Less Ice Cream . . .

We’ve already seen that plate sizes have mushroomed in recent years, and may play apart in the overweight epidemic. Now a group of food and nutritional experts attending an ice-cream social were subjected to an interesting test. They were randomly handed out either a 17-ounce or a 34-ounce bowl, and a 2-ounce or 3-ounce scoop, and told to help themselves to ice cream.

Each bowl was weighed before the ice cream was eaten, and the guests were asked to estimate how much ice cream they had taken. For the most part, being ‘experts’, they judged the amount of ice cream better than most Americans would. However, those using the larger bowls took an average of 31% more ice-cream – and all but 3 of the 85 finished what was in their bowls. Using the larger scoops resulted in a 14.5% increase in the amount taken.

One would expect food and nutrition experts not to fall for the allure of larger bowls or spoons. But they did, obviously. This little study suggests that overweight people, or those setting up house, can eat less by reducing the visual cues provided by larger plates, bowls, and utensils. There are plenty of other cues to be tackled – music, temperature, time spent at the table, and so on – but this is relatively simple first step.