Is Your Dinner Plate Undermining Your Weight Loss Efforts?

Podcast Description:
Explore the fascinating psychology of the eating environment in this engaging episode of Dr. Pepper…Really? Learn how subtle factors like plate size, color, and shape can unconsciously influence your eating habits, from how much you serve yourself to how satisfied you feel after a meal. Drawing on groundbreaking research, including studies on the Delboeuf illusion and the psychological impact of color, we break down how these environmental cues can lead to overeating or help curb your appetite.

Our host, noted endocrinologist Gary Pepper, M.D.,  provides practical tips, such as choosing smaller plates or experimenting with blue dinnerware, to help listeners take control of their eating behaviors in simple yet effective ways. This episode also introduces the innovative Color Shapes and Sizes (CSS) system, a thoughtfully designed eating tool that combines aesthetic appeal with scientific insights to encourage healthier habits.

Perfect for anyone curious about the hidden factors that shape our eating experiences, this podcast delivers actionable advice to transform mealtime and support your wellness goals. Don’t miss this opportunity to unlock the science of mindful eating and turn your plate into a powerful tool for positive change.

Gary Pepper, M.D., an associate professor at a prominent medical school and endocrinologist with 40 years of experience, brings clarity to numerous topics within the field of metabolic health. His view points are unhindered by corporate interests, unlike many other current "thought leaders" in medicine. Dr. Pepper, a dedicated educator, established his homebase website www.metabolism.com in 1996 and has blogged on important topics since then. Not one to be left behind by technology he began podcasting in 2020 with the onset of the pandemic and continues publishing vlogs on YouTube at his channel metabolism123. So whatever your choice in media, you will be gaining fresh insights by tuning in to his opinionated shows or reading his blogs on critical health topics.

Transcript

 When you sit down to eat, how often do you think about your plate? Probably not too much, right? Well, it turns out that some of those instincts that have developed over so many years do influence us in ways that are maybe below conscious. And things like the size, shape, and even the color in your environment of your plate can influence how much you eat and how satisfied you are with your meal.



 Some scientists think that it can also influence the taste of your food. In that regard, just think about a red M&M and whether or not you think that it tastes different than the brown or blue M&M.



 Well, the science behind these effects is fascinating and supported by a large volume of credible research. One of the best known of these scientists in this field is Brian Wansick, who was a professor at Cornell and published a book in 2006 called "Mindless Eating." And in the book, he covers many aspects of the science behind how much and what kind of food we eat and how that's influenced by the environment.



 So the first aspect of our environment, our plate environment, is the size of the plate. And I think most people would believe that a smaller plate tends to create an environment in which people are likely to eat less. But there's actually a scientific reason behind that, and it's called the Delbauff Illusion.



 Have you ever seen an optical illusion where you're being asked to pick two circles, which one of them is larger, and you're surprised to find that both of them are of equal size? Well, this optical illusion is part of the plate phenomenon. If you place a standard meal on a large plate, it's going to look smaller than if you put the same portion on a small plate. And because you can see that the portion is small on a large plate, you're going to tend to over-serve on that plate and be tempted to overeat as a result. There have been a number of simple experiments which were conducted by Dr. Wansink and his colleagues that sought to prove this point. In one experiment, they took two groups of people going in to see a short movie, and all participants got containers of popcorn more than they could eat during the movie, but one container was substantially bigger than the other.



 And what they found was those with the larger containers ate about 33% more than those with the smaller containers.



 Another example was individuals given cereal in a small or large bowl, and found that those with the large bowl ate about 16% more. And finally, at an open buffet, those participants who got a large plate as opposed to those who got a smaller plate ate 45% more food, and wasted a lot more as well. So a practical tip is simply to use a smaller plate. Most dinner plates are about 12 inches in diameter, so something 9 inches or less would be substantially visually different. And you can try this out for yourself by obtaining a smaller plate and seeing if it, over time, makes any difference to the amount of food that you're eating. Now the next aspect of our perception that might influence how much we're eating is color. And there's been a lot written about the effect of color on how much we eat and how we taste our food as well. Just think back on the phenomena of the red M&M versus a brown M&M, and how you might convince yourself that the red one tastes sweeter than the brown, even though they are made from the same ingredients. For instance, that the color red may be a stimulant to eating, and that's why some restaurants decorate a lot with red wallpaper or red tablecloths, etc. You may have also heard that blue is an appetite suppressant. Well, from the point of view of the color blue, there's a lot to say about how our bodies are developed to recognize the color blue particularly. And to give a little bit more credibility to the points I'm trying to make, I'd like to play a clip from a lecture by Dr. William Lidwell, a professor at University of Houston, who's an expert on the use of psychological environmental issues such as color, both at home and at work. Let's listen to Dr. Lidwell.

"And it turns out there's some interesting and unique properties of the color blue, therapeutic properties, that set it apart from other colors.  Properties that in some respects seem almost magical."

Well, as you can see, there is a foundation for the effect of blue. And inside our eyes, we have special receptors for the color blue. And those receptors trigger chemical changes within our brains, which can have dramatic effects on our behavior, such as affecting our alertness or sleep patterns, or perhaps even cravings for certain foods.



 In nature, there aren't that many foods that are blue. And food that is spoiled or toxic tends to change colors, which could be perceived as in the blue spectrum. For that reason, we have developed an aversion to blue food or blue environment when we're eating food. And this may explain some of the findings regarding the effect of blue to reduce our food consumption. However, blue is not all bad. And in other experiments, it was found that blue can stimulate alertness and creativity. And along with that, it can suppress the hormone in our brains that leads to fatigue called melatonin. And that's why some experts recommend not exposing yourself to blue light, such as from your mobile device screen before bedtime. But that's a whole other story. So a practical suggestion would be to experiment the color blue if you have access to blue dinnerware, or blue tablecloth, or other blue items you could put in the environment and test out whether or not you can determine an effect. Now, I would recommend that you have patience here, though, because these adjustments are subtle. They're not like taking an injection of some medication or swallowing an appetite suppressant. But given enough time, they could influence your behavior to the point where you see noticeable differences. Now, our final attribute is the shape of the dinnerware and something we'll call rim size. Obviously, the rim is the outer edges of your plate. And some plates are designed so that the rim stands out as a separate part of the plate where food is not placed. And it has been found that a large white rim around the food portion of your plate can also evoke the Delbauf Illusion, meaning that the amount of food that you place in the center of a plate with a large white rim, the portion may appear smaller so that you're tempted to add more food and eat more food. So another practical tip is to opt for dinnerware that has either a thin rim or no rim at all, and particularly to avoid a stark contrast to the food color by using a shade such as white. So there you have it, some simple little tricks that you can try on yourself in your own kitchen or dining room to determine whether these perceptual cues can make a difference in how much you need and your level of satisfaction with the amount you eat. Another approach is to make use of commercially available products that are designed for portion control and to try to take into account the underlying psychology of eating. Personally, I haven't been too impressed with what I saw as these systems appear to be more designed for a classroom than a kitchen, and not to take full consideration of all the possible benefits of the psychology.

For that reason, my colleagues and I have tried to come up with a system that employs all of these subconscious cues to make the most of this scientific information, while at the same time appealing to our general sense of aesthetics. We call the system Color Shapes and Sizes, or CSS for short, and the plate and bowl are pretty to look at, but they also, as mentioned, incorporate the subconscious cues to help us manage our eating habits. In addition, we've tried to keep it simple and low cost. There's no subscription and there's no prepackaged foods to buy. So if you're interested in learning more about our Color Shapes and Sizes method, please visit our websites, cssdiet.com or semagludiet.com.



where you can learn more about it. So I hope you got a lot out of our podcast for today, and we would hope that you'd come back soon to listen to more of our content. And please help us out if you can by putting a like on this channel and subscribing, because that helps us continue to be able to provide you this type of content. So stay well, and we hope you return to Dr. Pepper Really....really soon. Thanks.