7 secrets of highly obese people

[spokewench]

"They use larger plates. When offered two plate sizes, 98.6 percent of those with the highest BMIs took the larger of the two plates to the buffet. A bigger plate tricks your eye into thinking you're not eating as much, and stuffing more food onto your plate -- and into your mouth. Use a smaller plate, get a smaller belly"

I just finished reading The 9-inch Diet. It's not really a diet book. It's more about how we've slowly been led into eating more at each meal through a series of subtle changes, one of which is that the average size of a dinner plate has expanded from the former norm of 9-inches to a current norm of 12. The author advocates the simple little change of purchasing and using 9 inch dinner plates. You'll quickly adjust to the smaller plate size, and naturally eat less food.

Larger plates are almost impossible to avoid. I went to the store and bought a set of dishes a few months ago. (a set of 4 plates, bowls, etc.) when I put them away in my cabinets, the dinner plates were about 1/2 inch too large to fit completely so my door is slightly ajar.

Well, I decided to get some more dinner plates and salad plates and got some plates in sets of 4 (that did not match my set); (you can only buy that set as a set). To my surprise, they are just a hint bigger than the first set and I had to move my plates into the lower cabinet cause they would not fit!

Yikes, what an issue to have!

I have to admit that I often eat off of the salad plates instead of the dinner plates since I don't eat that much.

[Susan Otcenas]

when I put them away in my cabinets, the dinner plates were about 1/2 inch too large to fit completely so my door is slightly ajar.

That was one of the things that got the author of the book thinking about plate size. He bought an older home, one in which 9-inch plates fit just fine, but his "modern" plates wouldn't allow the cupboard doors to close! Newer homes come with deeper cabinets, to accomodate all the oversized plates we use these days!

[smilingcat]

I was good today... I saved half my sandwitch instead of devouring it and feeling like a stuffed turkey afterwards.

The plate size got me thinking too, so I measured te plate that was used to serve my sandwitch (freebie at the coffee house where I hang out often). and sure enough that plate was around 12 inches. yeah I can be a uber nerd. Then again I can't help it.

It's not just us or the serving size or the plates. It's happening to our kitchen appliances as well. Fridge is lot lot bigger, and my poor oven looks more like an easy bake oven compared to today's built in oven. One in my house measures around 23"?? and the newer models are 26" and more up to date ones are 28" or even 32" wide. I can't replace my broken oven in my kitchen cause the new ones will not fit!!

[redrhodie]

I had to get nerdy and measure my plates, too. The ones I use most are 8". I got them at a restaurant supply store in NY. They're those classic diner plates with the maroon border. Not really anything pretty about them, but they're indestructible, and I guess they keep me from loading up!

I can't remember now because I got them a long time ago, but I bet I got them because they fit in my tiny NYC cabinet.

[Eden]

hmmmm my dinner plates are about 10 inches, but the area that you actually put food on is 7.... I rarely use them though. I tend to prefer bowls.

Smilingcat is so right about appliances - we didn't want a big fridge. It's just the two of us and I like to shop daily, so a huge side by side would not only waste space in my small house (the fridge isn't even in the kitchen - its in the pantry), it would go largely unused. Small fridges in this country were all seriously ugly with no amenities - like not even movable shelves at the time (this was about 15 years ago), but we'd been overseas - and were soooooo jealous. In Japan, Italy and England where living spaces are mostly much smaller than we have here small appliances were seriously stylish. We finally did find a place here selling a Swedish brand. We ended up with a really nice, really energy efficient fridge eventually, but it took a lot of effort.

[ny biker]

If you can't get a small plate (if you're in a restaurant, or for whatever reason), it's still useful to be aware of the size of the plate and the way it masks the large amount of food you've been served, so you can eat the right portion size anyway.

Last year I started to really focus on eating only until I felt full, even if there was still food left on the plate. It worked to help me lose some weight, and I'm also saving money -- instead of sandwich for lunch and snack in late afternoon, I eat 1/2 sandwich at lunch and other half in late p.m., so I'm not buying snacks anymore. I'm eating less for dinner too.

When I had to buy a new refrigerator last year, I was amazed at all of the gigantor models they had in the stores. When I was growing up there were 8 people living in our house (2 parents, 5 kids, 1 grandma) and we got by with a fridge that would be considered on the small side today.

[Tuckervill]

The other thing I do in restaurants is divide my food in half before I eat it, and then only eat half. Some people I know ask for a to-go box right away and divide it up and put it in the box so they're not tempted. I'm okay with it being on the plate until I'm done.

Karen

[shootingstar]

Maybe I'm just not seeing things completely: I would have thought at least having the freezer part abit big is helpful to those who garden veggies/fruits and have to freeze alot.

Our freezer part of fridge is abit underutilized..about only 1/4 full. What we have right now is cut pieces of fresh frozen salmon (I bought whole, cleaned fresh salmon and cut it up into meal size portions for freezing), fresh blueberries and raspberries that we bought & froze, dearie's bagels, and less than 8 small meal serving sizes of fresh chicken breast. I am the one that tends to buy any meat, divide it up and freeze. At other times of year, we may have 2-3 meals worth of frozen homemade soup or a few small bags of frozen chopped up pumpkin or butternut squash.

That's all that we will probably do in terms of using our underutilized freezer.

Fridge came automatically with our unit.

I never knew about new homes having cabinets to fit bigger dinner plates. Nor smaller fridges as more expensive. Things one learns on TE.