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The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

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Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#21

Post by xvilka »

sethammons wrote: post #2

Mom: "There are starving kids in China, eat all your food!". Thanks Mom; kids are still starving there, and now America is fat. --unkown comedian. I was told, as a kid, that it was rude to not eat all the food put in front of you, especially at other people's houses. Other parents would comment on how polite we children were for clearing our plates.

China? These days it is largely not suffering the problem of starving people. There are new countries who joined this "club" though. Not to mention Venezuela and Yemen where everyone is on brink of death from starvation.

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#22

Post by raymondgh »

The almond experiment sounds ridiculous! Asking people to imagine eating ten chocololate-covered almonds then to guess how much they’d like to eat another after their hypothetical consumption? Does this produce results as reliable as actually eating the almonds in the first place?

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#23

Post by PunchTornado »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #12
adamnemecek wrote: post #7

Another solution is making smaller portions. The sizes restaurants give you are ginormous.

Ridiculous idea to downvote. I almost never finish restaurant meals, I’ll take the second half for lunch the next day or give it to someone on the walk home. But suggesting portion control would be advocating more personal responsibility, so maybe that explains peoples’ “disagreement.” So much easier to toss in the trash, right?

I always feel bad when asking to pack the leftovers at the restaurant.

is it rude or a sign of being poor? I'm unsure.

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#25

Post by drchickensalad »

starefossen wrote: post #6

At least where I live in Norway I would argue that it is not the amount of food you eat during a meal that is a problem but everything else in between regular meals (coke, chocolate, chips etc.).

I've eliminated all snacking and soda calories from my life and I still have a big problem with maintaining/losing weight. Definitely should be helping though.

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#26

Post by gumby »

Our household rule was "if you put it on your plate you had to finish it; if someone else put it on your plate you don't have to" (with some parental modulation such as "yes you are having some of these Brussels sprouts" or "finish the beans before you go for seconds").

Parents don't like to see food wasted (it took money to buy and time to prepare and the alternatives aren't good for kids) but these rules were also on us: don't put an unreasonable amount of food on the kids' plates.

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#27

Post by johnisgood »

sethammons wrote: post #2

Mom: "There are starving kids in China, eat all your food!". Thanks Mom; kids are still starving there, and now America is fat. --unkown comedian. I was told, as a kid, that it was rude to not eat all the food put in front of you, especially at other people's houses. Other parents would comment on how polite we children were for clearing our plates.

> "There are starving kids in China, eat all your food!"

This does not make much sense to me. If eating all your food is the only alternative to throwing food out, it is sort of OK, but even then, it does not solve the issue at all because you are the one eating all the food, not the starving kids in China.

Additionally, why come up with such nonsense? This is one of the worst things you could do to your kid. You should instead educate them and tell them the actual reasons for why one should not waste food.

Mind you, if you cook less instead, then you would not have to eat them, nor throw them out. :)

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#28

Post by nanomonkey »

adamnemecek wrote: post #7

Another solution is making smaller portions. The sizes restaurants give you are ginormous.

This seems like an under served market. When I was in SE Asia I loved the fact that I could purchase small meals off the street at regular intervals. They were inexpensive and hassle free.

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#29

Post by bdhess »

sixstringtheory wrote: post #14
yhoiseth wrote: post #3

As a rule of thumb, I tell myself that it’s better to throw away food than to overeat. (Preparing just the right amount is even better, but more difficult.)

What about saving for the next day, composting or donating? As a former professional cook it burns me to see such a casual suggestion to waste food. I’ve worked for people who would weigh the food you swept up off the floor at the end of the day to illustrate waste.

You’re a professional cook, and personal food waste bothers you?

That’s surprising to me given my own experience behind the scenes with institutional food service, which involved massive amounts of waste.

Re: The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat?

#30

Post by lostapathy »

koolba wrote: post #11
adamnemecek wrote: post #7

Another solution is making smaller portions. The sizes restaurants give you are ginormous.

Restaurant portions of of crappy food (high calorie, low nutrient, heavily over salted) are large. Restaurant portions of food you’d actually do well to eat on a regular basis aren’t large. They’re usually tiny compared to DIY at home. Order a “pasta with scallops” for an extreme example of how many you actually get vs what you could get if you cooked it yourself.

The amount of scallops is probably reasonable, but the pound and a half of pasta you get is not.
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