How to create a healthy food environment at home

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

How big are your bowls?

Have  you ever thought about how big your dishes are, or  your  glasses?  I have. The nutrition work on mindless eating informs me it is very important to think about the size of your cups and bowls.

There is a wealth of research looking to the size not only of our bowls and plates, but also cups, glasses, and  cutlery. It is almost as if we no longer make active choices about what we consume – we eat what is in front of us. A good example of this is what you might plate for your self at home, and what might be plated for you at a friend’s house, or perhaps in a restaurant. All 3 meals may be similar but the platings will often be very different. We eat what is on the plate.  Unfortunately,  plates, bowls and glasses  are now 30% bigger than they were 50 years ago.  You might not think this an issue until you realise we are plating bigger servings.

Plating a bigger portion means eating a larger serving.   Plating a smaller portion can subtly make a difference to the number of calories we eat every day, this simple trick by itself could help us lose weight.

Consider these examples of outcomes from ‘mindless eating’ research:

1. We pour out more cereal from big boxes than from small cereal boxes
2. We plate more food  onto big plates and pour more into big bowls than small plates or bowls
3. We give ourselves more food if we are provided with bigger  serving spoons than smaller ones

Further research has demonstrated that having this information at our fingertips is not enough  – even for the highly educated. We need to physically change our environment if we want this knowledge to work in our favour

Use these tips for easier healthier living

1. Serve your main course on a smaller plate

2. Use your big glasses for water

3. Serve wine or a soft drink in your smallest glasses

4. Serve puddings and desserts in small bowls or cups

5. Serve healthier salads on larger plates.

Simple steps to a healthier lifestyle.

By improving your environment through smaller dishes, smaller wine glasses and bigger water glasses you won’t have to make decisions towards ‘choosing’ the smaller serving  of food or drink.  Those decisions will be automatically made for you. We stop serving food onto our plate when the plate looks full. We  stop eating when there is nothing left on the plate. Right?   By eliminating yet another food based decision from our daily lives we keep our willpower reserves in good order for when have to make the more difficult food choices. So big plate? Little plate?  Now you know…

If you would like me to help you create your healthiest food environment at home, get in touch. I am here to help, support and guide you towards your best health.