In today's world of Big Gulps and supersized portions, one giant question looms: How does overindulgence affect our pleasure of food?
To provide an answer, Baba Shiv, MBA, PhD, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and colleagues performed a series of experiments investigating how your feeling of satiety impacts the likelihood that you'll soon eat the same food again. Their findings offer insights for both individuals that have trouble eating and drinking in moderation and those who are picky eaters.
During the first study, students tried three different flavors of crackers, selected their favorite and then were instructed to eat a specific number. They rated their enjoyment after eating each one. According to a business school release:
The students who ate the larger portion (15 crackers) reported significantly lower enjoyment than those who ate the smaller portion (3 crackers).
These findings replicate previous ones on "sensory-specific satiety": Each bit of the same food is less pleasant than the one before it. Thus, the bigger the portion, the less enjoyment you get out of the last few bites.
More importantly, participants' enjoyment of the last cracker (manipulated by portion size) seemed to influence how soon the students wanted to eat the crackers again: Participants who ate a small portion typically opted to receive a giveaway box of [crackers] sooner than did participants who ate the larger portion.
In another study exploring behaviors of finicky eaters, study authors gave one group of participants sips of juice and two crackers to eat. A second group was also given the juice and crackers, but had the added distractor task of counting "e's" in a series of passages before drinking more juice. Results showed that the crackers partially reset their satiety level, allowing students to find the second sip of juice as enjoyable as the first. Shiv notes in the release how these findings could be useful for parents trying to get their little ones to eat more veggies:
Parents of picky eaters could keep this lesson to heart, says Shiv. Rather than insisting that your child eat every last bite of broccoli, introduce another taste in the middle of the serving of broccoli, to reset levels of satiety. Next time there's broccoli on the plate, your youngster may be more willing to eat it again.
Findings from the third experiment reinforced previous research showing that mindful eating, consuming food slowly and paying attention to its texture and flavor, could prevent overeating and yield other health benefits. More from the release:
If you keep in mind the pleasure you had with your first sips of wine, you may be able to moderate your consumption by recognizing that overall, you will feel more pleasure if you sip slowly while you eat. Similarly, if you focus on what a kale smoothie tastes like with the first sip, and don't force yourself to finish the last bits after it has stopped tasting good, you might be more willing to have it again for lunch tomorrow.
Previously: Snack time: Study shows smaller portions equally satisfying, Can moderate behavior revisions add up to better health?, Can edible “stop signs” revive portion control and curb overeating? and How eating motivated by pleasure affects the brain’s reward system and may fuel obesity
Photo by Neil Conway
