MyNetDiary Blog

Veggies for the Great Recession. Part 1: Cabbage & Carrots

While I was checking out at the grocery store last night, I couldn’t help but marvel at how inexpensive my veggies were –they were by far the least expensive items in my basket. Fresh fruits and vegetables can be very expensive depending upon what, where, and when you buy them, but they can also be one of the best buys in the market. There are a number of extremely nutritious inexpensive choices that are typically available all year round in most grocery stores. Let’s explore two of my favorites – cabbage and carrots.

Cabbage

Cabbage is a great source of Vitamin C, Vitamin K, antioxidants, and anti-inflammatory phytochemicals.  One cup of shredded cabbage contains about 20 calories and if you eat green, you’ll get 47% Daily Value (DV) for Vitamin C and 66% DV for Vitamin K.  If you go for red, then the same amount of cabbage will give you 67% DV for Vitamin C and 34% DV for Vitamin K. Savoy cabbage is very similar in nutrients to green cabbage.

Green and red cabbage purchased whole is the least expensive way to go, even when you lose up to 20% of the weight by coring and trimming off the outer leaves. Green cabbage is often less expensive than red, and where I live, it goes for about $0.59/lb (3.7 cents/oz) whereas the edible trimmed cost is $0.74/lb (4.6 cents/oz).  Red cabbage costs about 6 cents/oz trimmed. So that cup of shredded cabbage (2.5 oz) will cost somewhere between 12.5 cents – 15 cents.

Want to try a recipe that got user reviews? Try Cooking Light’s Sweet & Sour Baked Cabbage.  

Carrots

I can’t give carrots enough kudos. This common root vegetable is a Vitamin A superstar! One small peeled carrot contains a whopping 142% DV for Vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), 17 calories, and only 4 grams of carbs. Despite their sweet flavor, carrots are not high in sugar and they have a low glycemic load. And that beautiful orange color is also a mighty source of antioxidant power.

The least expensive way to purchase raw carrots at the grocery store is to buy a bulk bag of raw, unwashed carrots. A 5 lb bag at my market costs $2.99/5 lb. An average weight loss with peeling is 15%, so the edible cost is $0.70/lb or 4.4 cents/oz. So that small carrot only cost me 7 cents since I washed and peeled it myself.

The most expensive form of carrot will typically be brand name organic washed/trimmed styles (e.g. Bunny Luv organic shredded carrot) – my store charges $1.69/10 oz bag (or about 17 cents/edible oz). Small bags of washed and trimmed organic baby carrots are also a bit pricey at 12 cents/oz - nearly triple the price per edible ounce compared to unwashed, unpeeled bulk carrots. Still, you have to decide what your time is worth.  

For tasty recipes using carrots, check out Eating Well’s “Easy Carrot Recipes.” If you live in an area where parsnips are available and affordable, then try Cooking Light’s “Carrot-Parsnip Soup with Parsnip Chips.”    

In addition to cabbage and carrots, there are other nutritious, low cost veggies to include your recession-proof budget. Stay tuned for more ideas using dark greens, herbs, and other root vegetables!

Have questions or comments about this post? Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources

Agriculture Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Food Yields: Summarized by Different Stages of Preparation. Agriculture Handbook No. 102. 1975.   

Local Harvest. Community Supported Agriculture. Support your local farmers and get super local fresh produce! Many CSAs will deliver directly to your doorstep.  

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

Romance Me with Chocolate!

Move over wine and flowers, there is another aphrodisiac to compete for winning my heart this Valentine’s Day – chocolate! What is it about chocolate that makes us so darn happy and perhaps, “in the mood?” It’s probably a combination of factors - naturally occurring psychoactive molecules (how’s that for a money word?) combined with a delightful texture and flavor. If you are looking for chocolate with the highest concentration of healthful and psychoactive molecules, then go for the darkest chocolate you can find. The cocoa mass or liquor is the source of the psychoactive, antioxidant, and nutrient content in chocolate – so chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa will have more of these beneficial molecules. 100% unsweetened chocolate or cocoa powder will have the highest content of all.  

Texture & Taste

Don’t discount the sheer gustatory pleasure of consuming chocolate. It has as much to do with the enjoyment of chocolate as anything else. That luscious silky texture is partly due to its melting temperature of 95°F (35°C) – this is just under our average body temperature of 98.6°F (37°C). To get the best flavor, place chocolate in your mouth and hold it there for a few seconds. Once it starts to melt, your tongue in concert with a working nose, will allow you to perceive a range of flavors as well as experience the silky texture as you roll the chocolate around in your mouth before swallowing. Yes, heaven on earth.  

Energizing

Stimulants increase alertness, excitement, locomotion, and heart rate. Whereas coffee has enough caffeine to knock your socks off, dark chocolate has just enough to gently peel them off. Dark chocolate (70-85% cocoa) has about 23 mg caffeine per 1 oz serving compared to about 100 mg per cup of drip coffee. Cocoa also has another stimulant, theobromine, which is also responsible for making dogs very sick when they eat our not-well-enough-hidden stash of chocolate.

PEA, a.k.a. “the love chemical”
For those of you who swear by chocolate’s aphrodisiac properties, it could be the PEA (Phenylethylalanine) content that is revving your engine. PEA is a stimulant that can produce euphoria and satisfaction. It is chemically related to amphetamine.

Antioxidants

In addition to pleasure, chocolate is good for your heart health. Consuming cocoa flavonoids (polyphenols) helps reduce blood pressure, improve blood flow, lower LDLs, raise HDLs, and overall, lower risk of heart disease. But how much do we have to eat to see these health effects? Dr. Eric Ding posted (see MyNetDiary’s blog) that we would have to eat about 400-500 mg of dark chocolate every day to get enough flavonoids to see these health effects. However, there could still be some benefit to consuming small amounts of chocolate daily, as Taubert et al. reported in “Effects of Low Habitual Cocoa Intake on Blood Pressure and Bioactive Nitric Oxide” (JAMA, 7/4/07). In their small study, they saw reduced blood pressure in folks with hypertension with only 6.3 grams (1/4 oz) of dark chocolate consumed daily for 18 weeks.  

Nutrients

Surprise! Per ounce, dark chocolate is a good source of iron (3.4 mg or 19% DV), copper (0.5 mg or 25% DV), and dietary fiber (3 g). Although dark chocolate is high in saturated fat, studies have shown that it does not promote heart disease or raise LDL levels. This is in part related to the type of saturated fat in cocoa - stearic acid.

Milk vs. White vs. Dark

Milk chocolate has less cocoa and more added sugars and fats (e.g. milk fat) than dark chocolate – which is going in the wrong direction for heart health. White chocolate has no cocoa at all, only cocoa butter and added ingredients. So, for a sweet that is packed with the most healthful molecules, go with dark chocolate with the highest cocoa content you can find.  

Try pairing a dark chocolate (e.g. 85% cocoa) with fruit and champagne to start your Valentine’s Day evening off right – with or without your true love! Your brain and your heart will thank you for it.  

Have questions or comments about this post? Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources

Jim Spadaccini. Exploratorium, Exploring Online. The Sweet Lure of Chocolate.

Freemantle, M. What’s That Stuff? CENEAR. 2000;78(49):82.

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

Trying to Build Muscle? Don’t forget about calories!

Building muscle requires some additional protein but not as much as you would think. There are three keys to building muscle:
1.       Additional calories to support an increase in muscle mass.
2.       Additional protein to support an increase in muscle mass.
3.       Adequate resistance training to stimulate an increase in muscle mass.

I will leave the strategies for effective resistance training to our guest athletic trainers and exercise physiologists - this post will address calories and protein intake.

Protein & Calories

Excess protein beyond the maximum that a body can utilize will not get stored as muscle.  Rats!  One’s body appears to max out in terms of how much protein it can use “anabolically” – that is, how much protein can be incorporated into other protein tissues over the course of a day.

The RDA for protein for adults is only 0.8 grams of protein/kg body weight (or 0.36 grams/lb body weight).  Maximal anabolic use ranges between 1.2 – 1.7 grams/kg body weight (0.55 – 0.77 grams/lb) depending upon sport, with power/strength training in the upper end of the range.  For instance, a 68 kg (150 lb) person’s estimated maximal use of protein is going to be somewhere between 82 – 116 grams per day.  If that person consumes 200 grams of protein, then up to 84 grams might get used for purposes other than protein synthesis.  Nitrogen gets stripped off the protein building blocks (amino acids), and then those carbon backbones get oxidized for energy or they get shunted into other pathways such as carbohydrate production and fat storage.   If you are in a calories deficit to lose weight, then those molecules are likely to be used for energy.  If you are in a calories surplus, then they are likely to be stored as fat.  

If you eat a lot of protein, then you better have good kidneys! The stripped off nitrogen gets converted to ammonia and then to urea, which is then excreted in the urine.  

Spread It Out!

The information in this post come mostly from “Advanced Sports Nutrition, Second Edition” by Dan Benardot, PhD, RD, LD, FACSM. Benardot recommends avoiding “peaks and valleys” of intake throughout the day if maintenance or growth of muscle mass is desired. Consuming calories and protein throughout the day in meals and snacks readies the body for muscle growth when an appropriate stimulus presents itself. Consuming carbs and some protein after training appears to be particularly helpful in maximizing muscle growth. As well, good quality protein is important.  Whey seems to be particularly helpful – a natural source is milk.  

Vegans need to be especially careful to get enough calories and protein for muscle growth. Please see the Academy of Nutrition & Dietetics position paper on Vegetarian Diets. If you click on the PDF link, you will see the entire report, which was written by vegetarian dietitians.  

What If I Want to Lose Weight?

A calories deficit will allow you to lose weight but weight loss will always include both body fat and some amount of lean body mass (e.g. muscle). You can minimize loss of muscle during weight loss by continuing to exercise, including regular resistance training, and not going too low in your calories intake.  When you don’t meet your calories required for basal metabolism, your body accelerates loss of both lean body mass and fat so that your total energy expenditure can drop quickly. You can view your BMR calories in MyNetDiary Details tab on the web, or in My Plan in apps.

Are You Choosing the Right Goal?  
If you are a competitive athlete, then consider visiting a sports medicine facility so that your body composition (i.e. percentage of body fat and lean body mass) can be tested accurately. You would benefit from having a weight goal based upon a range of body fat percentage in line with your sport.  Contrary to what many athletes assume, sometimes a better goal for performance is not weight loss or gain per se, but a change in body composition. And that may or may not involve a net change in weight.

Have questions or comments about this post?  Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or Facebook page.  I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources
Benardot, D.  Advanced Sports Nutrition, Second Edition. Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, 411 p.

Clark, N.  Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook, Fourth Edition.  Human Kinetics, Champaign, IL, 461 p.

Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Nutrition.  Nutrition & Athletic Performance.  J. Am. Diet. Assoc.  2009;109:509-527.  Access online here. Be sure to click on the PDF link below the abstract for the full report.

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

Dietary Control of Blood Pressure – It’s Not Just About Sodium

Controlling blood pressure can be accomplished by exercise, losing weight if overweight, diet, and/or medication. Although most messages we hear about dietary control of hypertension focus on salt or sodium reduction, it is only one of four important minerals that affect blood pressure control. Ideally, our eating plan will limit sodium but it will, just as importantly, contain a good supply of three minerals important in controlling blood pressure: magnesium, potassium, and calcium. This recommendation is based upon extensive research behind the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute’s “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension” or DASH Eating Plan.  

DASH Eating Plan

You might recall seeing the DASH Eating Plan as U.S. News & World Report’s winner of both the “Best Diets Overall” and “Best Diets for Healthy Eating” categories in their annual survey. This survey uses health experts to rank eating plans by various categories, including the two listed above as well as “Best Weight-Loss Diet,” “Best Diabetes Diet,” “Best Heart Healthy Diets,” “Best Commercial Diet Plans,” and “Easiest Diets to Follow.” In all categories except for the one that was not applicable (“Best Commercial Diet Plan”), DASH placed in the top ten for all rankings.  

So, what is the DASH Eating Plan? The food groups that get star billing are nuts, seeds, legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy and lean proteins. Foods high in added sugars are the most severely restricted of all. Following this plan results in a nutrient intake that is high in magnesium, calcium, potassium, and fiber, generous in protein, and very low in added sugars, saturated fat, and cholesterol.  

Food Sources of Magnesium and Potassium

The large number of servings of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and legumes might seem like a lot, but to ensure an adequate intake of fiber, potassium, and magnesium, it is necessary. If you find that your MyNetDiary reports reveal a low intake of these minerals, check to see if there is missing data for those nutrients in the foods that you have logged. Food labels are required to list calcium, but not magnesium or potassium. I find that the USDA generic food items for basic unprocessed foods (e.g. nuts, seeds, legumes, veggies, dairy, and fruit) typically contain more nutrients than brand items. If you find that the brand you use has complete information but is not displayed, then you can edit the food item to include those nutrients if the item is “user contributed.” If it is a system-entered item, then you can take a photo of the food label and request an update if you have the iPhone app.  Or, you can simply copy and edit a system-entered food to include the full nutrient content.

You can check nutrient levels in your daily log, but here is a sample list of foods particularly high in potassium and magnesium (values from MyNetDiary).

Magnesium:  1 oz pumpkin seeds (173 mg), 1 oz sesame seeds (102 mg), ¼ cup wheat bran (90 mg), 1 oz almonds (80 mg), ½ cup cooked Swiss chard or spinach (77 mg), 1 oz dark chocolate (65 mg), ½ cup cooked black beans (61 mg).

Potassium:  medium baked white potato (940 mg), medium baked sweet potato (564 mg), 1 cup yogurt (470 mg), ½ cup cooked spinach (423 mg), medium banana (423 mg), ¼ cup dried apricots (376 mg), 1 cup milk (376 mg).

Consider upgrading your subscription if you are unable to track magnesium or potassium (calcium is included in all subscriptions). You can customize your nutrient goals for those three nutrients using the DASH guidelines (magnesium 500 mg, potassium 4700 mg, and calcium 1250 mg).

Sodium:  2300 mg vs. 1500 mg

The researchers who developed the DASH Eating Plan found that an intake of 2300 mg sodium along with a diet rich in magnesium, potassium, and calcium was effective at lowering blood pressure.  This is very helpful information for those of us still struggling to lower our sodium intake.  Once you reach an average intake of 2300 mg sodium, consider reducing your goal to 1500 mg if you belong to a higher risk group:  have high blood pressure and/or are middle-aged (or older) or African American.

Have questions or comments about this post?  Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or Facebook page.  I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources:

Harvard Health Publications. Beating High Blood Pressure with Food.

Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health.  Magnesium. Calcium. Contains useful information about food sources of these nutrients, not just supplement information.

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

Important Tips for Calories Tracking Using MyNetDiary

If you are new to MyNetDiary or to calories tracking in general, then please read these tips for ensuring a safe and effective tracking experience.  

MyNetDiary Articles

MyNetDiary has a library of articles on nutrition, weight, and exercise on the main website in the Diet Articles section under the Weight Loss tab. If I had to pick one article to read then it would be “The Dreaded Weight Plateau” since it addresses why we don’t lose weight at the rate we expect, as well as why we plateau. But if you can, please read all of the articles – they are very helpful.

MyNetDiary Blog

MyNetDiary is fortunate to have two writers on staff, a dietitian (me) and a professional health writer. We also occasionally have guest writers who are experts in their field. Take advantage of our twice-weekly posts to learn more about nutrition, weight, exercise, health, and disease prevention.  If I had to pick one post that you should definitely read to use MyNetDiary more effectively, then it would be “Setting a Healthy Target Weight”. If you are curious, our top blog posts for 2011 are listed here.  

Target & BMR Calories

MyNetDiary is designed to give you flexibility for goal setting so we allow Target Calories for weight loss to dip below your estimated BMR calories. This is helpful in the case where a health professional estimates your caloric needs to be lower than MyNetDiary’s calculations (which uses the Institute of Medicine’s DRI equations). However, if you do not have a recommended calories level from a health care professional, then I strongly urge you to adjust your goals so that your Target Calories rise to at least meet your estimated BMR calories. You can check your BMR calories in the Details tab on the web or in My Plan in apps. To increase your Target Calories, simply decrease your weekly rate of weight loss. You can also do that by increasing your Target Weight or by entering a Target Date that is further out. Meeting BMR calories is important to lower nutritional risk, minimize loss of lean body mass, and to promote a healthy eating pattern that is permanent and sustainable while you lose weight.  

Important: to avoid overestimation of your Target Calories, set your overall activity level to “sedentary” if you plan to enter daily exercise. Do not log activities of daily living since they are already included in all activity levels. If you don’t log exercise, then choose the lowest activity level that truly captures your daily experience. See your Account tab on the web for more descriptions of activity levels.  

Community Forum

We all need inspiration, feedback, and sometimes, just a good listener so take advantage of our Community Forum. You can post on public forum threads, join existing groups or teams, or even create your own group and invite others to join you. The easiest place to browse these options is on the web version.

If you want specific help from me, the consulting dietitian, then please be sure to post your questions on “Ask a Dietitian” thread. Also, if you want me to view your data, then change your “Information Sharing” setting in your Community Profile on the web so that I can see your basic data. Identifying information is not revealed. 

FAQs Page

There is a lot of information about how MyNetDiary works on our FAQs page. As well, if you are curious as to what subscription levels offer, then view our feature comparison chart. Both pages are found on the main website before you login.  

Have questions or comments about this post?  Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

Extra Resources

Harvard School of Public Health. The Nutrition Source: How to Get to Your Healthy Weight.  

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

How to Exercise While in a Hotel without a Gym or Pool

Getting exercise while traveling for business can be a real challenge - we are often limited to exercising in our hotel room. If you have a choice, then choose a hotel that has a gym or a pool, even if it means spending a little bit more money. But if you don’t have that option, then it is helpful to have a program you can do safely in your room or on the hotel premises when exercise outside is not possible.

Cardio Exercises

Aerobic activity, or cardio, is one that raises your heart rate and keeps it raised for the duration of the activity. Moderate intensity activity will increase your heart rate to 50% - 70% of your maximum, whereas vigorous intensity will raise it to 70% - 85% of your maximum heart rate. A rough estimation of one’s maximum HR is 220 – age in years. In the case of a 50 year old, their estimated maximum heart rate is 170 beats per minute (BPM) and they would aim for a heart rate of 85 – 120 BPM for moderate intensity or 121 – 145 BPM for vigorous intensity exercise. Here are some ideas on how to get aerobic activity when stuck in your room or limited to the hallways and stairwells.

Cardio in the building:
- Walk the hallways of each floor of the hotel, including walking up the flight of stairs between each floor.
- For a higher intensity workout, simply walk up and down all flights of stairs (don’t take a break by walking the hallways).
- If you are very fit then you might consider going up the stairs by two steps or even running up the stairs.

Cardio in the hotel room:
-Dancing - move both your legs and arms. For inspiration or motivation, use dance or Zumba DVDs.  
-Marching - lift the knees, move your arms above your heart, and move across the room.  
-For higher intensity exercise (and if you are in a street-level room with no guests below you), then consider jogging or running in place, dancing with more jumping, skipping rope, or run a calisthenics routine without rest stops.  
-Quickly roll back and forth on a king-sized bed.
-Although jumping on the bed would be a fun way to get cardio, I would not recommend it if you want to avoid extra room charges!

Weight Resistance Exercises

Strength training in a hotel room is especially challenging if you are very strong since you have to rely on using your own body weight to provide the resistance. This can increase the risk of injuring your hands or wrists. However, for most of us, the task is a bit easier since less resistance needs to be applied to get a challenge (because we are not that strong).  To get the most out of your workout, especially if time is short, choose exercises that use multiple muscle groups simultaneously (compound exercises) over those that only work one muscle (isolated exercises).  Here are some of my favorites:

Push-ups.  If you have limited strength, then try knee push-ups or wall push-ups instead of traditional push-ups. If you are very strong, then try increasing the resistance by placing your feet on the bed and your hands on the floor.

Bent over rows with Aquabells (travel dumbbells). If you don’t have travel dumbbells, then you can make some! Ask the hotel restaurant for two empty milk or juice containers (with caps) so that you can fill with water to use as dumbbells (gallon = 8 lbs, quart = 2 lbs). If you are fairly strong, then you might consider investing in a portable chin up bar so you can do pull-ups instead.  

Squats & lunges. These are great for all-over lower body conditioning but be smart – make sure you use good form to avoid knee and back injury. Check out safety videos on squats and lunges.

Abdominal exercises. These can be performed easily in your hotel room. For core exercises beyond the simple crunch, take a look at the Mayo Clinic’s “Slide Show: Exercises to Improve Your Core Strength.” Also, see MyNetDiary’s post on core strength.  

You might want to practice your routine at home before you “take it on the road.” Ideally, have a trainer watch your form while executing new exercises.

Have questions or comments about this post? Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Forum or the MyNetDiary Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources

Cameron McGarr, C.S.C.S. Men’s Health. Who Needs a Gym?

CDC. Target Heart Rate and Estimated Maximum Heart Rate.

Katherine Isacks, MPS, RD. MyNetDiary. Physical Activity.  

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

Size Matters: A Quick & Dirty Guide to Controlling Portion Size

Although most of us think we are good guessers when it comes to portion size, we aren’t! We are easily tricked into overestimating or underestimating portion size, and therefore, calories. Small differences in portion size might not seem like a big deal, but those differences add up over time and can help you make or break your weight goals. So learn tips on how to err on the side on minimizing, not maximizing calories. Most of the tips listed here are adapted from Brian Wansink’s “Mindless Eating.”

1.       Container Size

We think portions are smaller when their containers are large and conversely, we think portions are larger when their containers are small. These tips are especially important for those of you who do not measure or who just measured a food or beverage once and then shifted to “guestimating” thereafter.

Use tall, skinny glasses instead of short, wide glasses. The same amount of liquid (e.g. 1 cup) will look like more in a tall, skinny glass than when it is contained in a short, wide glass. We tend to drink more calories from short, wide glasses. Practical tip: don’t throw out your short, wide glasses – instead, use them for water. This will encourage you to drink more water.

Use smaller plates (8-9 inches) instead standard dinner plates (10-12 inches). Don’t guess – take out a ruler or measuring tape and measure the total diameter of your plate. Are your plates really large? Consider using salad plates instead of dinner plates, or simply buy smaller dinner plates.

Use custard cups instead of bowls. Pyrex custard cups will hold about ½ cup or 4 fl oz without spilling over the sides. Regular-sized bowls can easily hold up to 12 fl oz (up to about 1½ cups). Custard cups are perfect for ice cream, puddings, fresh fruit salad, and other foods that you wish to limit to a ½ cup serving.

2.       Color & Contrast

If the food and dish have a similar color, then we are more likely “over serve” ourselves compared to a target amount (and therefore, eat more calories). Example: attempting to serve oneself one cup of cooked white pasta on a white plate. When the food and plate have a high color contrast, we tend to guess lower – that is, we tend to “under serve” ourselves (e.g. white pasta on a black plate). And interestingly, the reverse is true if the plate and tablecloth have a high contrast – we tend to over-serve food (e.g. white plate on a black tablecloth). The key is contrast rather than plate color per se. Van Ittersum and Wansink published a great article on this subject: “Plate Size and Color Suggestibility: The Delboeuf Illusion’s Bias on Serving and Eating behavior.” The article will be published in the Journal of Consumer Research, but it is accessible online ahead of print here. If you prefer a brief summary of that study, then check out Ann Lukits’ article, “Tricking the Eye To Keep From Heaping Plates” in The Wall Street Journal, November 29, 2011.    

3.       See All You Eat

Assemble all meal components (prepared, that is) so that you see everything you are about to eat for that meal. Once you finish your meal, do not go back for seconds. When we eat multiple courses, we lose track of how much we have eaten and tend to eat more calories. Keeping visual reminders on the table of how much food or drink we have consumed (e.g. empty beer or soda bottles, empty plates, bowls, or glasses, bones, etc.) helps us eat fewer calories than if there are no visual reminders. Practical tip:  avoid “all you can eat” restaurant specials and buffets.  

Good luck experimenting with portion size! Have questions or comments about this post? Please feel free to comment on MyNetDiary’s Community Forum or MyNetDiary Facebook page. I would love to hear from you!

Best,
Kathy Isacks, MPS, RD
Consulting Dietitian for MyNetDiary

More Resources

Katherine Isacks, MPS, RD. MyNetDiary. Hidden Cues to Eating.  

Katherine Isacks, MPS, RD. MyNetDiary. Measuring & Estimating Portion Size.  

Wichita State University. Visual Estimates of Serving Sizes.  

Disclaimer: Please note that we cannot provide personalized advice and that the information provided does not constitute medical advice. If you are seeking medical advice, please visit a medical professional.

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