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Obesity: Drink till you drop

economist.com

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Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#51

Post by notauser »

jacquesm wrote: post #31
wwortiz wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it uncommon for European restaurants to bring out another plate/silverware if asked, or just considered bad manners? I'm genuinely curious, but perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying. Also I'm curious if doggy bags imply the same connotations where you are from, as here they imply simply bringing leftovers home, although it has been a very long time since I've heard the term doggy bag and am more accustomed…

> Is it uncommon for European restaurants to bring out another plate/silverware if asked, or just considered bad manners? I'd hate to try :) I've never ever seen anybody do that, except for maybe asking for an extra spoon to share a desert. > Also I'm curious if doggy bags imply the same connotations where you are from, as here they imply simply bringing leftovers home, although it has been a very long time since I'v…

I live in London and I frequently split a meal with someone. I have never had a restaurant complain.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#52

Post by tlrobinson »

Maciek416 wrote: post #3

I'd like to know how much obesity is caused by a structural "finish everything on your plate" problem. By this I mean the tendency of certain folks to finish everything that is served, no matter what their hunger level is. Also, I've heard it said that people who eat from smaller plates will consume fewer calories over time. In the study, the group given water also had their food portions slashed by a substantial amo…

When I was a kid I wouldn't feel obligated to finish everything on my plate. When I started buying my own food I almost always ate everything even if I was satisfied. I think subconciously I thought I should eat a little extra just in case I couldn't buy my next meal. Perhaps it's an evolutionary instinct.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#53

Post by araneae »

philwelch wrote: post #37
araneae wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. There's a reason ballerina dancers eat tissue paper.

Seriously ? I want to know more.

There's really not much more to know; it's a weight maintenance technique, since cellulose is indigestible. Force = mass*gravity and all that. The lighter they weigh, the more height they can achieve. Gymnasts have to worry about their weight for the same reason; that's why child gymnasts actually have an advantage over adult gymnasts, hence the Chinese gymnast boondoggle. But they can be stockier as they're always moving under their own power. Ballerinas are under even greater pressure to be light because their partners have to lift them.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#54

Post by moeffju »

wwortiz wrote: post #30
jacquesm wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a cultural thing. As a European in North America you find lots of those things where the 'right' thing to do is less than obvious, and restaurant etiquette is one of those. Americans visiting Europe would find themselves in a similar situation if they asked for a doggie bag. Most places wouldn't even be prepared to handle such a request. But then again, the portions are so much smaller that a request of that nat…

Is it uncommon for European restaurants to bring out another plate/silverware if asked, or just considered bad manners? I'm genuinely curious, but perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying. Also I'm curious if doggy bags imply the same connotations where you are from, as here they imply simply bringing leftovers home, although it has been a very long time since I've heard the term doggy bag and am more accustomed…

In Germany (Hamburg and Berlin) I have never had problems when asking for additional plates or silverware to share meals. Also, a lot of places can and will pack your leftovers if you ask them, but I believe it's not quite as accepted as the 'doggy bag' is in the US.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#55

Post by petercooper »

wwortiz wrote: post #30
jacquesm wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a cultural thing. As a European in North America you find lots of those things where the 'right' thing to do is less than obvious, and restaurant etiquette is one of those. Americans visiting Europe would find themselves in a similar situation if they asked for a doggie bag. Most places wouldn't even be prepared to handle such a request. But then again, the portions are so much smaller that a request of that nat…

Is it uncommon for European restaurants to bring out another plate/silverware if asked, or just considered bad manners? I'm genuinely curious, but perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying. Also I'm curious if doggy bags imply the same connotations where you are from, as here they imply simply bringing leftovers home, although it has been a very long time since I've heard the term doggy bag and am more accustomed…

Frequent US traveller here from the UK.

as here they imply simply bringing leftovers home, although it has been a very long time since I've heard the term doggy bag and am more accustomed to people asking if anyone wants a box or their leftovers wrapped up.

It took a while for me to get used to the US phenomenon of asking for leftovers to be "boxed up" and I've noticed a similar level of surprise with less travelled Europeans I've taken to the US.

I'm used to it now (though I still wouldn't ever do it myself) but this is not even slightly common or acceptable practice in the UK. Such a request wouldn't be met with disgust or offense, though, merely confusion. I doubt many places except Chinese restuarants/takeouts would have anything to put the food in anyway.

So, yeah, this is a very American practice from the UK POV. I'd be surprised if it weren't common somewhere in Europe, though, but I've never seen it happen on my travels.

Splitting a meal or asking for more utensils to share a dish isn't exactly common here either but it is done, especially in pubs or similarly low-end places.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#56

Post by count »

WilliamLP wrote: post #38
tommizzle wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would say it's pretty common knowledge in the fitness world. I think this quote explains the concept nicely: "The second rule of fat loss is that healthy fat does not make you fat. Excess calories, in particular excess from the wrong calories makes you fat. This is a very hard concept to get across. People still believe that fat makes you fat and will argue without you to the grave while they eat a gallon of low fa…

You're preaching to the choir here. What you're not going to be able to demonstrate is that, in laboratory controlled conditions where literally every calorie is counted by a scientist, and all variables are taken into account (e.g. hyrdation levels) that one kind of calorie leads to a "metabolic advantage" over another and lead to more or less fat loss or gain given adequate protein . This would be a kind of holy gr…

This covers some of that very well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#57

Post by elptacek »

The advice I read (somewhere, so long ago I don't remember) is that sometimes when you think you're hungry or craving something, you're really thirsty. This has worked well for me for many years, and usually means I don't end up eating anything at all. Too bad it doesn't help with anxiety.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#58

Post by rdtsc »

iuytrfghj wrote: post #36
mgkimsal wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just a random anecdote here on portion sizes: Piper's in Raleigh has a really good fish n chips plate - my wife loves it. However, it's an insanely huge portion. $13.95, but it's more than enough for two people (she split it with a friend last time and they couldn't finish it). Dropping the sizes in half and making it $10.95 would still be a good value (well, in line with the rest of their portions, FWICT). The waitr…

>I just do not understand restaurant portion sizings. The food is a very small part of their costs. They can double the amount of food for a cost of $1, charge an extra $2 AND have many more customers for their great value! It's like selling home PCs with a 1Tb drive, most users don't need it but it only costs them $5 more than a 500Gb drive.

Why don't European restaurants do it. Is food more expensive there or is it just considered bad form or somehow un-sophisticated to serve giant portions.

I would also guess that it depends on the type of food. High quality, fresh organic produce is a lot more expensive, so perhaps for some food items it really is about the price. For example the fish in fish and chips could be some really expensive fish. Doubling the portion would be a lot more than adding another $1 to the cost.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#59

Post by hugh3 »

araneae wrote: post #53
philwelch wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seriously ? I want to know more.

There's really not much more to know; it's a weight maintenance technique, since cellulose is indigestible. Force = mass*gravity and all that. The lighter they weigh, the more height they can achieve. Gymnasts have to worry about their weight for the same reason; that's why child gymnasts actually have an advantage over adult gymnasts, hence the Chinese gymnast boondoggle. But they can be stockier as they're always m…

I went googling but couldn't find any evidence of it actually happening; I did find this snopes thread in which it's discussed as a possible urban myth:

http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_to...

It seems to me unlikely, given that eating tissue paper is really difficult and in my opinion it would take far more willpower to force down enough tissue paper to induce satiety than it would to just stay hungry. It would be much easier to eat, say, a pound of celery, which would be calorifically indistinguishable from the paper.

Besides, real ballerinas must do a hell of a lot of exercise. I'm thinking they probably eat like athletes, not like teenagers with eating disorders.

Re: Obesity: Drink till you drop

#60

Post by hugh3 »

shrikant wrote: post #20

Me and the significant other have known this for quite a while. Frankly, I'm REALLY surprised that this wasn't an established scientific result. The way it works IMHO is not too obscure - water fills you up and gives you the impression of being 'full' earlier, so you tend to reduce your regular food intake. Feeling 'fuller' equates to being satiated for a lot of people (including me), so the tendency to chow out at r…

Frankly, I'm REALLY surprised that this wasn't an established scientific result.

There must be an awful lot of things which are very hard to prove in a proper controlled study, but which are totally obvious to anyone who tries them. To prove something about diet to everybody's satisfaction I'd have to get dozens of volunteers, compensate them properly for their time, carefully monitor what they eat, and worry about all sorts of experimental artifacts coming from the fact that they know they're taking part in a dietary experiment. As you can see in this thread, people are still complaining that this presumably-expensive experiment still doesn't really prove its point.

Alternatively, to prove it to my own satisfaction I can try it out for two weeks and see whether it works. And that's all I really care about.

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