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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.
Me: Got a stamp?
Mom:
In adulthood though, having completely restructured my diet to something devoid of calorie-dense, quickly-digested fillers, none of this matters. I never have leftovers of whatever I'm eating, just to avoid the hassle; food going bad, or simply less cleanup. It's of no lasting negative consequence to my weight.
I think this issue is largely a red herring as a result. What you're eating dictates the significance of how much. If you fix the what, how much becomes irrelevant.
Furthermore, what's on the plate matters as well. Three fried pieces of chicken and mashed potatoes with gravy is not the same as broiled chicken with steamed vegetables.
I suspect - based on anecdotal evidence - people who often over eat also too often eat badly.
At the risk of sounding preachy, I was raised with the “clean plate” philosophy and avoided overeating by planning beforehand what I could reasonably eat, and never putting anything more on my plate. Once you get rid of the incentive at the very end to eat just a bit more, I don’t see this as being a huge problem anymore.
At buffets I either pick small plates or intentionally pick a small number of items regardless of how much of the plate is used.
With soda for instance I eventually realized that the main reason I was drinking a certain amount was a combination of the cup size and the straw. I switched to tiny cups that I drank from directly and found I could easily make that last a meal and have some left. Now I barely drink soda.
So either you eat yourself into a depression or you get depressed because your constant throwing away is fucking up [your ability to stay on] the planet. Such great times to be alive.
Because not putting more on your plate than you’re going to eat isn’t an option?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> "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 sho…
The missing implication, that even parents completely missed, was “you should be grateful to have food, and you show that gratitude by eating all the food on your plate.” Still completely unhelpful to the starving, and still orthogonal...
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…
That makes sense as a training mechanism for kids to not just overfill their plates regardless of how hungry they are. But it is important to realize that food that you force someone to eat after they feel properly full is worse than wasted. Not only have you already spent time and money to prepare it, which you won't get back, but you also just made their stomach ache. And you have taken whatever little agency they…
As I noted every decision is modulated by parental intervention — if a kid made an obvious mistake, possibly intervene early “are you sure you want six bao? Just take a couple — you can always have more” or late “ok, but see the problem? Next time let’s be more careful.”
Yeah, parenting is non-algorithmic, and once (if?) you get good at it it’s too late to do it again.
Another solution is making smaller portions. The sizes restaurants give you are ginormous.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.