“Mindless Eating” and the Subway ‘Health Halo’
Brian Wansink, director of Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab, is the author of a new book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think
Most of us don’t overeat because we’re hungry. We overeat because of family and friends, packages and plates, names and numbers, labels and lights, colors and candles, shapes and smells, distractions and distances, cupboards and containers.
Our studies show that the average person makes around 250 decisions about food every day – breakfast or no breakfast? Pop-tart or bagel? Part of it or all of it? Kitchen or car? Yet out of these 200+ food decisions, most we cannot really explain. Mindless Eating shows what these decisions are and how to make them work for you rather than against you.
The fact we like comfort foods is predictable, but it is also somewhat predictable which foods we will like, when and why we like them, and when all of it backfires. For starters, we found that men prefer meal-related comfort foods like steak, pasta, pizza, burgers because they make them feel special and well-taken care of. Women, on the other hand, don’t think of these as comfort foods. These foods reminded them of work – cooking and clean-up. Women much preferred the convenience of the snack foods, like cookies, chocolate, and ice cream. Eating ice cream from the container equals no cooking and no clean-up.
A recent USA Today article discusses Wansink’s “McSubway” project:
Wansink and his colleagues have reported some of their findings and are releasing more information in October’s Journal of Consumer Research.
In one study, the researchers gave 46 graduate students a coupon for a McDonald’s Big Mac, which at the time had about 600 calories, or a Subway 12-inch Italian sub with meat, cheese and mayonnaise, which had about 900, he says. The students weren’t told the number of calories in their sandwiches. Participants also were given a menu and asked to indicate what extras they would like to order, if anything.
Those given the Subway coupon were more likely to order a large drink and less likely to order a diet soda. They also were more likely to eat chocolate-chip cookies.
Those with the Subway coupon ended up ordering a meal with an average 1,011 calories. Those with the McDonald’s coupon got meals with an average of 648 calories.
In another test, people ate more snacks later in the day if they had eaten a Subway sandwich than a Big Mac, even though both had been made to equal about 600 calories.
Though Subway has a health halo, “there’s also a health shadow that’s cast on McDonald’s. People know what they are eating may be indulgent, so they come much closer to estimating the right number of calories,” says Wansink, the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think.
As Fat Loss Victory has always contended, keeping a food diary is essential for weight loss success, as it makes us conscious of our eating habits – what we eat, when we eat, and why we eat. Holding ourselves accountable for what we eat will help cut down on “mindless eating.”
[...] gabajtd wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptPop-tart or bagel? Part of it or all of it? Kitchen or car? Yet out of these 200+ food decisions, most we cannot really explain. Mindless Eating shows what these decisions are and how to make them work for you rather than against you. … [...]