The ‘clean plate’ mentality drives us to overeat? • Hacker News Board

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

#71

Post by nkrisc » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 7:17 PM UTC

PunchTornado wrote: post #23

sixstringtheory wrote: post #12

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.

In the U.S. no one cares. Maybe you'll get a look in a very expensive restaurant but they'll probably do it anyway.

I've had food boxed up in a ~$100 per person restaurant before and it was completely normal for them.

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

#72

Post by Wowfunhappy » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 7:40 PM UTC

This should be common sense.

Obviously, wasting food is bad. But if you've already served yourself too much, it's a sunk cost. This should be taught to kids, even if it's a somewhat more complicated lesson.

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

#73

Post by code_duck » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

I was affected by a similar philosophy for a long time. For me, it’s an aversion to wastefulness for the theoretical sake of ecology and economics. The logical flaw I’m seeing now is that overeating to the point of obesity or indigestion is more of a waste and throwing the food away, and what I need to do is purchase less or give it to someone else.

Even worse, I have celiac and an esophagus condition that is much worse with overeating, and habitually at restaurants I’d clean my plate because I thought getting a takeout box was a waste, but I did not want to see the food be thrown out. I also see a similar pattern with containers of packaged food. I’m much more likely to finish that last one or two cookies or handfuls of chip crumbs and leave them for later.

I’m not sure that this study contains any new useful advice, but it is a real phenomenon.

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

#74

Post by torstenvl » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:11 PM UTC

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.

When I studied in France, my host family taught me that, instead, it was an insult to eat everything on your plate.

Eating everything on your plate indicated that you were ravenously hungry, taking advantage of your host's hospitality.

Leaving just a little uneaten meant that you ate as much as you could because you found the food delicious.

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

#75

Post by miguelrochefort » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:20 PM UTC

I never leave anything on the plate, unless it's so bad I wouldn't eat it even if I was starving. I do this even at all-you-can-eat buffets.

To avoid overeating, I only eat once a day.

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

#76

Post by jasonkester » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:20 PM UTC

ratsz wrote: post #69

adamnemecek wrote: post #7

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

Agreed. And they won't sell the "kid" portions to adults.

One of the nice things about having kids is that you have a socially acceptable way to purchase a happy meal for yourself. (Because how are they to know how many kids you have.)

It's the only workable way to get a sensible fast food portion size.

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

#77

Post by jasonkester » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:25 PM UTC

PunchTornado wrote: post #23

sixstringtheory wrote: post #12

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.

Nah, they know they're serving you twice as much food as a human can eat.

Cut everything neatly in half when it arrives and move it off to the side for easy boxing. Then eat a sensible amount and ask for a box for the rest.

Places that don't expect this will signal as much by serving you a portion that wont make you ill.

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

#78

Post by rootusrootus » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:29 PM UTC

ourmandave wrote: post #40

The best that ever happened to my health was gaining complete control over what I eat. I eat only what I want, when I want. And how much I want. The trade off, of course, is dying alone. But hey, health!

It seems odd those would be related.

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

#79

Post by option_greek » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:41 PM UTC

I never really understood why one shouldn't waste food. On other hand there are several reasons why one might waste a bit of it (may be it wasn't as tasty as expected/you overestimated your hunger).

It's not like food prices fluctuate based on everyone wasting certain portion of food. Global food prices are usually dependent on the supply side more than demand side.

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

#80

Post by tapland » Tue, Dec 25, 2018, 8:44 PM UTC

saagarjha wrote: post #15

nostrademons wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It works when you serve yourself or otherwise have control over your own portions. When I moved away to college I found that suddenly I usually cleaned my plate and didn't overstuff myself. Ditto when I cook for myself. Not everybody eats under those conditions. When I was a kid my parents would always put food on my plate, and I was expected to eat it all. They usually put too much, because nobody wants to be the pa…

Interestingly, the my parents were the ones serving me for the majority of my childhood. I guess they had already internalized this rule and knew how much food I needed ;) At restaurants, we would usually skimp on appetizers and other “fluff” before the main course, which I have found makes the total amount of food not overly large.

Tbh your post reads as 'I avoided overeating by me learning how much I needed to eat and me never putting extra on the plate'

In reality I guess you had unusual parents who were good at telling how much you needed, so you didn't avoid this problem in any way at all, you were just not subject to it.