New Year's Resolution: A Simple Trick to Stick to Your Diet
Sarah-Jane Bedwell, SELF magazine
Did you make a New Year's resolution to lose weight this year? If so, the key to success may not be just what's on your plate, but also the plate itself. Studies show that once food is on our plate, that we will most likely eat nearly all of it. That means the bigger your plate, the more calories you will unintentionally consume. And our dinner plates have gotten bigger and bigger over the years--in the 1960s, the average dinner plate was 8.5 inches in diameter and held around 800 calories worth of food, whereas today's dinner plate is an average of 12 inches in diameter and holds approximately 1900 calories worth of food! (Check out the size difference between the white [dinner] and brown [salad] plates!)
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So all you need to do to eat less at meals is opt for a salad plate for your grub instead of a traditional dinner one. Healthier habits don't always have to take more time, guys: Quick fixes can turn into easy-to-stick-to ways of getting results fast!
To make this simple swap work for you, look for a salad plate that is:
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Less than 9 inches in diameter.
A contrasting color to the food that you are eating. Research shows that people eat more when the food they are eating is close to the same color of the plate. So to eat less without even trying, eat light-colored foods like pasta off of a darker plate and darker colored foods like steak off of a white plate.
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Square in shape. Although there is no formal research that I currently know of that proves you'll eat less off of a square plate, many people swear by square plates for portion control stating that the shape with the sharp edges makes it harder to pile too much food-as in out on the edges-on the plate.
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