Anyone trying this Alli system ????

[Bablefish]

Good luck to you LSUmama. Wow, that seems like fast recovery for a hysterectomy.

I have been beating myself up because the scale is stuck again, despite a strict, strict diet and grueling exercise sessions. I tried some capris on tonight though and felt vindicated. A month ago, I couldn't even zip them up - there was my big tummy hanging out. Now they are zipped and fastened!! They are still tight, but I have hope.:)

[Bablefish]

Oh, I forgot to comment on the water. Yes, I am thirstier. I have always been a big water drinker and now I find myself chugging a whole bottle to quench my thirst. That's good, because you could get dehydrated real fast if experiencing side effects. My skin is not suffering the dryness though - I have oily skin. However, I will say that I am having no symptoms of taking Alli at all for the past two weeks. No "oil". I'm debating weather or not to purchase the next month's supply. I think my body has adjusted to it and it is no longer a weight loss tool. I'll make up my mind at the next weigh in. However it is on sale right now at a local store for $20 less.

[DolphinFan]

Hey everyone..happy HUMPDAY!!!

 

I wanted you tell you about a book I am reading for an online book club I am a member of (free if anyone is interested). Every Monday we start a new book and Suzanne (the narriator) starts at the beginning of the book and by the end of the week, we usually get through the first chapter. If I like it, I usually order the book from the Library or go out and buy it so I can finish it. This is one I think I may want to buy. Its all about what makes us eat, choices we make, how lighting, etc. enfluence our choices.

 

If anyone is interested, I can email you Mon-Wed. read and you can join and start reading on your own (there is a whole list of book choices you can choose from. I read Fiction, non-Fiction, Mystery, Pre-Pub.). Just send me your email address to cbirdsong@casham.com.

 

Maybe we can discuss the book if anyone is interested..maybe a mini-on-line book club :-)

[DolphinFan]

Good luck to you LSUmama. Wow, that seems like fast recovery for a hysterectomy.

I have been beating myself up because the scale is stuck again, despite a strict, strict diet and grueling exercise sessions. I tried some capris on tonight though and felt vindicated. A month ago, I couldn't even zip them up - there was my big tummy hanging out. Now they are zipped and fastened!! They are still tight, but I have hope.:)

Way to go!!!! Sometimes its not the pounds that count..you can weigh more but be in a msaller size because you are lsoing fat and gaining muscle.

[DolphinFan]

Oh, I forgot to comment on the water. Yes, I am thirstier. I have always been a big water drinker and now I find myself chugging a whole bottle to quench my thirst. That's good, because you could get dehydrated real fast if experiencing side effects. My skin is not suffering the dryness though - I have oily skin. However, I will say that I am having no symptoms of taking Alli at all for the past two weeks. No "oil". I'm debating weather or not to purchase the next month's supply. I think my body has adjusted to it and it is no longer a weight loss tool. I'll make up my mind at the next weigh in. However it is on sale right now at a local store for $20 less.

Don't want to scare you but have you ever been tested for diabetes? Excessive thirt is one of the symptoms? I'm sure you are ok..too much water can't hurt you (I think). Try dieting without the pills for awhile or "shake up" your food routine. Try eating different foods, maybe increase your calories for a few days and then bring them down again..I've heard sometimes this helps to "trick" your body. Either way, we are here for support!!!!!

[Bablefish]

Thanks for the concern and encouragement, DolphinFan. I have many diabetic symptoms - the thirst has always been there and I drink something all day long. Water, ice tea - no sugar or sodas though. I've been tested, but I've also had a doctor look at me and ask if I was diabetic - weird. My dad had adult onset diabetes, and that is a big reason for wanting to get this weight under control. Also, by eliminating sugars, I have almost cured my arthritis, which kept me from exercising. It was a vicious cycle. I could barely walk without a cane (no, I'm not even that old) but now I'm averaging 5 miles a day and I want to RUN!!!

 

I am shaking up my food choices and it paid off. I went up two pounds yesterday (I've been fluctuating) but today I was down 4 - so I have broken my two week "wall". I eliminated my bowl of nightly microwave popcorn (Lord, did I look forward to that). By bowl, I mean big mixing bowl! I actually am going back to Atkins, and combining it with the Alli by making low fat choices. It seems drastic, but I need something drastic to keep going. I needed to see that scale move. No problem with TEs from upping my protein intake, because I am making wise choices. Tuna, lots of salads, salmon, chicken, fish. No cheese or mayonaise . Plenty of vegetables. Green beans, brocolli, cauliflower, squash. Egg whites are always good.

 

I'm not much of a reader - maybe I should make a change there too, and challenge my brain.

 

....................and how are you doing??? :D

[DolphinFan]

Thanks for the concern and encouragement, DolphinFan. I have many diabetic symptoms - the thirst has always been there and I drink something all day long. Water, ice tea - no sugar or sodas though. I've been tested, but I've also had a doctor look at me and ask if I was diabetic - weird. My dad had adult onset diabetes, and that is a big reason for wanting to get this weight under control. Also, by eliminating sugars, I have almost cured my arthritis, which kept me from exercising. It was a vicious cycle. I could barely walk without a cane (no, I'm not even that old) but now I'm averaging 5 miles a day and I want to RUN!!!

 

I am shaking up my food choices and it paid off. I went up two pounds yesterday (I've been fluctuating) but today I was down 4 - so I have broken my two week "wall". I eliminated my bowl of nightly microwave popcorn (Lord, did I look forward to that). By bowl, I mean big mixing bowl! I actually am going back to Atkins, and combining it with the Alli by making low fat choices. It seems drastic, but I need something drastic to keep going. I needed to see that scale move. No problem with TEs from upping my protein intake, because I am making wise choices. Tuna, lots of salads, salmon, chicken, fish. No cheese or mayonaise . Plenty of vegetables. Green beans, brocolli, cauliflower, squash. Egg whites are always good.

 

I'm not much of a reader - maybe I should make a change there too, and challenge my brain.

 

....................and how are you doing??? :D

I too am pre-diabetic. My mom has adult diabetes so i really have to watch myself too.

 

I hit my 10 pounds this week so now just need to lose another 30!

[newbiecruiser09]

Good morning all!! I resisted my dtrs bday cake last night, weighed in this am and lost 2 lbs this week!! I think the Alli is helping (and no more Te's thank heavens!) I have not lost 2 lbs in a week since I started WW last fall. 17 down 37 to go!!

 

Another possible pre diabetic here. Both my maternal g'parents had adult onset and mom is pre-diabetic. She has cut out a lot of sugar (and lost weight to boot) and is fine for now. I never had gestational diabetes with my kids but both were big (son was 9 lbs 5 oz and 5 days early, dtr was 8 lbs 11 oz and 2 weeks early) so I know I need to watch things. Really hard for me to cut sugar--the bday cake is calling as I type. Must flee to laundry!!!

 

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

[DolphinFan]

Good morning all!! I resisted my dtrs bday cake last night, weighed in this am and lost 2 lbs this week!! I think the Alli is helping (and no more Te's thank heavens!) I have not lost 2 lbs in a week since I started WW last fall. 17 down 37 to go!!

 

Another possible pre diabetic here. Both my maternal g'parents had adult onset and mom is pre-diabetic. She has cut out a lot of sugar (and lost weight to boot) and is fine for now. I never had gestational diabetes with my kids but both were big (son was 9 lbs 5 oz and 5 days early, dtr was 8 lbs 11 oz and 2 weeks early) so I know I need to watch things. Really hard for me to cut sugar--the bday cake is calling as I type. Must flee to laundry!!!

 

Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Congrats on the weight loss (and passing on the cake)!!!

[DolphinFan]

MINDLESS EATING

Why We Eat More then We Think

by Brian Wansink, Ph.D. (nonfiction)

A Bantam Book

Published by Bantam Dell

ISBN: 9780553384482

Copyright © 2006 By Brian Wansink

To reference this email: MINDLESS (Part 1 of 5) ======================================

** I'm giving away 10 titles from my NonFiction bookshelf this week.

Just send me an email with your comments about this week's book and you'll be entered in the drawing. Be sure to include a mailing address. Send your email to: enter-to-win2@emailbookclub.com

INTRODUCTION

The Science of Snacking

Everyone--every single one of us--eats how much we eat largely because of what's around us. We overeat not because of hunger but 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. This list is almost as endless as it's invisible.

Invisible?

Most of us are blissfully unaware of what influences how much we eat. This book focuses on dozens of studies involving thousands of people, who--like most of us--believe that how much they eat is mainly determined by how hungry they are, how much they like the food, and what mood they're in. We all think we're too smart to be tricked by packages, lighting, or plates. We might acknowledge that "others" could be tricked, but not us. That is what makes mindless eating so dangerous. We are almost never aware that it is happening to us.

My lab's research has shown that the average person makes well over 200 decisions about food every day. Breakfast or no breakfast?

Pop-Tart or bagel? Part of it or all of it? Kitchen or car? Every time we pass a candy dish or open up our desk and see a piece of gum or a PowerBar from 1997 we make a food decision. Yet out of these 200-plus food decisions, most we cannot really explain.

But what if we could? If we knew why we ate the way we do, we could eat a little less, eat a little healthier, and enjoy it a lot more.

This is why when it comes to what we eat, lots of people are interested. Getting people to eat healthy foods in the right amounts is of interest to dietitians, calorie counters, and physicians, but also to brand managers, parents, and even governments. It's also of interest to the U.S. Army, "Better Homes and Gardens," and whoever's making your dinner tonight.

Since founding the Food and Brand Lab in 1997, I have designed and conducted over 250 studies, written over 100 academic articles, and made over 200 research presentations to governments and governors, to top universities and companies, to culinary institutes and research institutes, and I have presented my research results on every continent but Antarctica. Many of the studies in this book have been reported on the front pages of the "Wall Street Journal"

and in the "New York Times" and "USA Today." They have also been reported in the "National Enquirer," "Annals of Improbable Research," and "Uncle John's Bathroom Reader." They've been featured multiple times on "20/20," the BBC, and other network TV shows, and they've been bantered about by Rush Limbaugh and berated by Dr. Laura.

I'm on a mindless-eating mission. Still, I'm never sure what to say when someone asks how I first became interested in food, psychology, and marketing. I usually say, "I really liked Vance Packard's 1957 book, 'The Hidden Persuaders,' because he tried to show how advertising unconsciously influences us. I think this also happens when we eat, except the hidden persuaders are the way we set up our tables, our kitchens, and our routines."

While that's true, it's not the whole truth.

 

My boyhood summers were spent with my brother and cousins on my uncle and aunt's 138-acre farm near Correctionville, Iowa. The highlight of the end of every summer was the day Aunt Grace and Uncle Lester took us to town to see a movie, followed by a stop at a place I remember as the Dairy Freeze.

But in 1968, grain prices were low. When I innocently asked Uncle Lester why we weren't seeing a movie that year, he summarized the state of agricultural economics in seven words, "We would if people ate more corn." To an 8-year-old, this pretty much translated into "If I ever hope to see a movie again, I'd better think of a way to get people to eat more vegetables."

Fast-forward to 1984.

With a newly minted master's degree in communication research, I was working on a consulting project for "Better Homes and Gardens (BH&G)." One day, the director of editorial research, the late Ray Deaton, showed me four different "BH&G" cover ideas for an issue that was being published in 10 months. All four had the same cover photo and looked identical when I first saw them from four feet away. When I moved closer, I discovered the only thing that

differed: the six "cover blurbs," or teaser phrases, on the left side of the cover. Ray asked me to predict which cover would sell the most copies and why. I pointed to one and said, "I think this one will do best because it uses shorter, little phrases." Without blinking, he said, "Your intuition just cost us over a million dollars in newsstand sales." He went on to explain that every month "BH&G" took the best ideas for cover stories, developed four or more sample covers with a different mix of blurbs, and then asked over a thousand nonsubscribers which version they would be most likely to buy off the newsstand. With a circulation base of over 7.2 million readers, they did not use hunches and intuition. They did research so they could predict which magazine a blond, 37-year-old Wisconsin mother of two would pick up, flip through, and buy when standing in the checkout line at Safeway.

 

Cont. Tues.

[DolphinFan]

I was stunned. I was also hooked. Maybe I could learn to predict what foods people would eat--even if they themselves could not.

Within six months I had applied to a Ph.D. program in Consumer Behavior at Stanford, telling them that I wanted to do research on how to "get people to eat more vegetables." Six eye-opening years later, I was a marketing professor at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, with a fuzzy dream of starting a food psychology lab.

 

A "lab" may conjure up images of test tubes, bubbling beakers, arcing electricity, and researchers with Einstein hair. Sometimes this is close to the truth, even in food research. Consider the physics of French fries. The Argonne National Laboratory helped McDonald's discover how to speed up the time it took to cook French fries. A team headed by physicist Tuncer Kuzay put sensors inside frozen French fries to best determine how to deal with the steam that was created by melting ice crystals. They then designed special frying baskets that cut 30 to 40 seconds off the frying time for each batch.

In contrast, food psychology labs typically study human behavior, and these labs look like mock living rooms, kitchens, or restaurants. Some might be rigged with one-way mirrors, camouflaged cameras, and tables that have hidden scales under the plates. Others might include a row of cramped three-feet-wide tasting booths where people can taste-test different foods without being distracted.

Still others might have small soundproof rooms for indepth interviews or larger rooms where groups are brought in to answer psychological surveys related to food.

There are dozens of psychology labs that study food either part-time or full-time. They can be found at great universities in the United States, Britain, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Finland, and elsewhere. They can be found in the U.S. Army. Some of the more secretive ones can even be found in food companies.

Each of these labs uses different methods to study how we eat. But what all the noncommercial labs have in common is that they aim at publishing their findings in the best academic journals they can.

Journals like the "Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA);" "British Medical Journal (BJM);" "Obesity Research;"

"Journal of the American Dietetic Association;" "International Journal of Obesity;" "Journal of Consumer Research;" "Appetite;"

"Journal of Marketing;" "Food Quality and Preference;" or the "Journal of Marketing Research," to name just a few. Most of the researchers in these labs hope that what they publish will help make people's lives better. Does it? A lot of it is pretty much ignored. But the 10 percent that does make a certifiable difference is the reason many of these researchers will never retire--even when they're no longer being paid.

In this book, I'll refer most often to four labs that have shaped the questions I see as particularly significant.

 

The University of Illinois Hospitality Management Program. One strength of the HM Program at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign is its research restaurant, the Spice Box. This facility has been used by Jim Painter and myself to study how menus, lighting, music, wine, waitstaff, and dining companions influence how much we eat and how much we enjoy the food. It's open only one to two evenings per week, and it costs less than $25 for an elegant, candlelit, white-tablecloth meal. This is a win-win-win situation. Diners get great meals, students get great experience, and researchers get great studies. The insights discovered there about menu design, food descriptions, food presentation, and ambience are coveted by the food industry, including leading restaurant chains. With dozens of people involved in each research project, many of these results accidentally leaked out to company newsletters and planning meetings months before they were officially published in an academic journal.

The Penn State Department of Nutritional Science. This is the home of Dr. Barbara Rolls' lab, where innovative work with food formulations has shown how variety and caloric density influence how much we eat. If you've read one of the popular weight-loss books "The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan" or "The Volumetrics Eating Plan," you are familiar with some of their work. The lab's food buffet has conclusively proven to the food industry that it can design profitable, lower-calorie foods that consumers love to eat.

(continued on Wednesday)

[DolphinFan]

(continued from Tuesday)

Dr. Leann Birch's lab, also at Penn State, has done much of the most clever pioneering work on how children eat, showing--among other discoveries--that they're just as susceptible to being fooled by food tricks as adults.

The U.S. Army Natick Labs. As Napoleon famously said, "An army marches on its stomach." Food is a big part of morale in the Armed Forces, as well as a key component of physical readiness and endurance. The strength of the Army Natick Labs is in sensory evaluation, and this lab has employed or hosted about every leading expert in the field. Nearly every day of the year researchers use nine high-tech, computerized taste-testing booths to discover how foods taste differently when they're eaten in the dark, or when they're given bogus expiration dates, or when they're eaten off paper plates instead of olive drab plastic. Led for 40 years by Drs.

Herbert Meiselman and Armand Cardello, the experiments in this lab helped the Army learn how foods can be developed, packaged, and served in ways that make soldiers enjoy them more--and eat them all.

The Cornell Food and Brand Lab. This is my own lab, now relocated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to Cornell University. Our focus is on the hidden persuaders around us that influence how much we eat--and how much we enjoy it.

One part of the lab is connected to my office and to viewing rooms by two-way mirrors, hidden cameras, and sensors located under dinner plates. In less than three hours we can transform the lab to look like a kitchen, or a dining room, or a living room, or a den with a big screen TV. This lets us examine how the placement of the food on the table, the size of the plates, the type of lighting, or the kind of television show people watch--among dozens of other variables-- influence how fast they eat and how much they eat. We bring people into the lab for lunch, dinner, parties, or a snack and we carefully watch and measure what they do under these different conditions.

If a study shows something "works" in the lab, we next test it in "real world" settings. We've gone to Chicago movie theaters, New Hampshire restaurants, Massachusetts summer camps, Iowa grocery stores, Philadelphia bars, Michigan diners, San Francisco homes, and U.S. Army bases, and we have interviewed or surveyed people in nearly all of the contiguous forty-eight states. We're looking to see if the same factors that work in the lab also influence everyday people in everyday situations.

Incidentally, all of these studies are preapproved. Today, each study planned by university researchers must be submitted to that university's Institutional Review Board to ensure it won't harm the participants. Why would someone participate? If they're college students, they usually get extra credit. If they're "real people,"

they're paid $10-$30, or given free food, movie tickets, and so on.

Their identity is always protected--whatever they say and do is anonymous, and any record of their participation is eliminated once we analyze the data.

 

As I mentioned, many of the larger food companies have in-house labs that typically do taste tests. That is, they pay consumers to try a new food or a reformulated recipe, and to rate whether they like it or not. Although most of these companies are also interested in food psychology, few of them employ the specialists necessary to design subtle experiments and analyze seemingly confusing data. That's why they often come to the academic labs for help or advice.

Some labs, like ours, have a policy of not working directly for food companies. This eliminates conflicts of interest, and enables us to immediately publish our results in scientific journals and to share them with health professionals, science writers, and consumers. But because all labs need money to buy food, pay graduate students, and keep the lights on, this also means we rely on grants and gifts.

We've had pieces of projects funded by consumer organizations and by grants from the Illinois attorney general, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Council for Agricultural Research, and the National Soybean Research Center. In most years this has worked well and has provided freedom and a sense that good things were happening. In other years, I've had to cover the deficit out of my own pocket. We do the research we think is most urgent and interesting, and "then" we try to find a way to pay for it.

There are dozens of other food labs around the world, and I'll acknowledge their work as it comes up, but most of the research described here is from my own Food and Brand Lab. First, I can provide the sometimes ridiculous "color" of what happened. Second, the studies were planned to be interlocking pieces of a big story about the hidden food persuaders in our lives and how we can make mindless eating work in our favor.

 

Is This a Diet Book?

To those of us who love food, a diet is pretty much "die" with a "t"

on the end. (In fact, "diet" comes from a Latin word which means "a way of life.") I love a great meal. My wife graduated with honors from Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, and we both passed the first level of certification to become French-certified wine sommeliers. Yet although we end many evenings with a candlelit dinner and a full-bodied glass of wine, I start many mornings with a fast-food breakfast and a full 32-ounce Diet Coke. Reporters often seem puzzled--even semi-disapproving--with my dietary "way of life."

I love all food--the sublime, the ridiculous, the refined, and the gross. Like a parent who loves his or her children no matter how different they are, I love the "galette de crabe" at Le Bec-Fin, the Cini-minis at Burger King, and the braised duck tongue at the night market in Taipei.

This book is not about dietary extremism--just the opposite. It's about reengineering your environment so that you can eat what you want without guilt and without gaining weight. It's about reengineering your food life so that it is enjoyable and mindful.

Food is a great pleasure in our life--not something we should compromise. We simply need to shift our surroundings to work "with"

our lifestyle instead of "against" it. This book uncovers the hidden persuaders that lead us to overeat and shows us how to eliminate them. On the other hand, if you are running an Army food service, coaxing people to eat in a nursing home, or simply catering to fussy eaters in your home kitchen, the same research can show you how to encourage them to mindlessly eat more of the healthy food that they need.

(continued on Thursday)

[DolphinFan]

(continued from Wednesday)

Traditional diet books focus on what dieticians and health practioners know. This book focuses on what psychologists and marketers know. There are no recipes--only scientifically based findings. Marketers already know some of what you will read, and they use it relentlessly so that you buy their hamburger instead of their competitors'. But this is not an evil conspiracy. Some of the tactics they use are the same ones your grandmother used to make sure you had a great Thanksgiving dinner, and they are ones you can use to make your next dinner party a success.

Traditional diet books lead most people to throw up their hands in frustration and deprivation and to buy another diet book that might promise a less painful way to lose weight. Instead, this book shows you how to remove the cues that cause you to overeat and how to reengineer your kitchen and your habits. You won't be a swimsuit model or a Chippendale dancer next week, but you "will" be back on course and moving in the right direction. You can eat too much without knowing it, but you can also eat less without knowing it.

The best diet is the one you don't know you're on. Let's begin.

 

CHAPTER ONE

The Mindless Margin

Did you ever eat the last piece of crusty, dried-out chocolate cake even though it tasted like chocolate-scented cardboard? Ever finish eating a bag of french fries even though they were cold, limp, and soggy? It hurts to answer questions like these.

Why do we overeat food that doesn't even taste good?

We overeat because there are signals and cues around us that tell us to eat. It's simply not in our nature to pause after every bite and contemplate whether we're full. As we eat, we unknowingly-- mindlessly--look for signals or cues that we've had enough. For instance, if there's nothing remaining on the table, that's a cue that it's time to stop. If everyone else has left the table, turned off the lights, and we're sitting alone in the dark, that's another cue. For many of us, as long as there are still a few milk-soaked Froot Loops left in the bottom of the cereal bowl, there is still work to be done. It doesn't matter if we're full, and it doesn't matter if we don't even really like Froot Loops. We eat as if it is our mission to finish them.

 

Stale Popcorn and Frail Willpower

Take movie popcorn, for instance. There is no "right" amount of popcorn to eat during a movie. There are no rules of thumb or FDA guidelines. People eat however much they want depending on how hungry they are and how good it tastes. At least that's what they say.

My graduate students and I think different. We think that the cues around us--like the size of a popcorn bucket--can provide subtle but powerful suggestions about how much one should eat. These cues can short-circuit a person's hunger and taste signals, leading them to eat even if they're not hungry and even if the food doesn't taste very good.

If you were living in Chicago a few years back, you might have been our guest at a suburban theater matinee. If you lined up to see the

1:05 P.M. Saturday showing of Mel Gibson's new action movie, "Payback," you would have had a surprise waiting for you: a free bucket of popcorn.

Every person who bought a ticket--even though many of them had just eaten lunch--was given a soft drink and either a medium-size bucket of popcorn or a large-size, bigger-than-your-head bucket. They were told that the popcorn and soft drinks were free and that we hoped they would be willing to answer a few concession stand-related questions after the movie.

There was only one catch. This wasn't fresh popcorn. Unknown to the moviegoers and even to my graduate students, this popcorn had been popped five days earlier and stored in sterile conditions until it was stale enough to squeak when it was eaten.

To make sure it was kept separate from the rest of the theater popcorn, it was transported to the theater in bright yellow garbage bags--the color yellow that screams "Biohazard." The popcorn was safe to eat, but it was stale enough one movie-goer said it was like eating Styrofoam packing peanuts. Two others, forgetting they had been given it for free, asked for their money back. During the movie, people would eat a couple bites, put the bucket down, pick it up again a few minutes later and have a couple more bites, put it back down, and continue. It might not have been good enough to eat all at once, but they couldn't leave it alone.

Both popcorn containers--medium and large--had been selected to be big enough that nobody could finish all the popcorn. And each person was given his or her own individual bucket so there would be no sharing.

As soon as the movie ended and the credits began to roll, we asked everyone to take their popcorn with them. We gave them a half-page survey (on bright biohazard-yellow paper) that asked whether they agreed to statements like "I ate too much popcorn," by circling a number from 1 (strongly disagree) to 9 (strongly agree). As they did this, we weighed their remaining popcorn.

When the people who had been given the large buckets handed their leftover popcorn to us, we said, "Some people tonight were given medium-size buckets of popcorn, and others, like yourself, were given these large-size buckets. We have found that the average person who is given a large-size container eats more than if they are given a medium-size container. Do you think you ate more because you had the large size?" Most disagreed. Many smugly said, "That wouldn't happen to me," "Things like that don't trick me," or "I'm pretty good at knowing when I'm full."

That may be what they believed, but it is not what happened.

Weighing the buckets told us that the big-bucket group ate an average of 173 more calories of popcorn. That is roughly the equivalent of 21 more dips into the bucket. Clearly the quality of food is not what led them to eat. Once these moviegoers started in on their bucket, the taste of the popcorn didn't matter. Even though some of them had just had lunch, people who were given the big buckets ate an average of 53 percent more than those given medium-size buckets. Give them a lot, and they eat a lot.

"And this was five-day-old, stale popcorn!"

We've run other popcorn studies, and the results were always the same, however we tweaked the details. It didn't matter if our moviegoers were in Pennsylvania, Illinois, or Iowa, and it didn't matter what kind of movie was showing; all of our popcorn studies led to the same conclusion. People eat more when you give them a bigger container. Period. It doesn't matter whether the popcorn is fresh or fourteen days old, or whether they were hungry or full when they sat down for the movie.

Did people eat because they liked the popcorn? No. Did they eat because they were hungry? No. They ate because of all the cues around them--not only the size of the popcorn bucket, but also other factors I'll discuss later, such as the distracting movie, the sound of people eating popcorn around them, and the eating scripts we take to movie theaters with us. All of these were cues that signaled it was okay to keep on eating and eating.

Does this mean we can avoid mindless eating simply by replacing large bowls with smaller bowls? That's one piece of the puzzle, but there are a lot more cues that can be engineered out of our lives.

As you will see, these hidden persuaders can even take the form of a tasty description on a menu or a classy name on a wine bottle.

Simply "thinking" that a meal will taste good can lead you to eat more. You won't even know it happened.

(continued on Friday)

[Pamywyner]

Hi everyone! Well, I experienced my first TE's today!!!!! :eek: OMG! Bright orange when I wiped! Several tiny drops of orange in the toilet and fairly lose stools. (sorry to be graphic) I can not figure out what I ate that was high in fat. I am soooo careful and haven't eaten anything different lately EXCEPT for a medium sized spring roll last night. I actully measured the ounces and it was 2 ounces so, I counted it at about 10 grams of fat. I had that for dinner along with an english muffin with a smidge of margarine and jelly. (came home from work late and didn't want to eat anything too heavy) So..... all was fine first thing this am and then about 20 mins before I left for the salon this afternoon, sure enough, there was the bright orange!!!! I was nervous that it was going to be 'uncontrolable' but, it wasn't. I made it thru all my clients without a problem. Sooo nerve-wracking!

 

How was everyone else's day???

 

Pam

[Pamywyner]

UGH... worse TE's this morning!!! :( Hopefully they end soon. I'm afraid to take the alli now. Thank goodness today is my day off! Anyone know how long this may last??

 

I'm down another pound tho! ;)

[Willie T]

I'am a stylist also, and started Alli last Sat. It is nerve wracking working that close with people. But so far, no problem.(knock wood :) ) Also, no results.:( Counting grams like a mad woman, and calories. Drinking tubs of water too. I've always seen results with an Atkins type, low carb. diet, but never low fat for me. I thought with Alli it might work. If it makes a person lose 50% more, and I've followed the rules, I'am thinking without the pills, I probably would have gained some this week. Grrrr.:mad:

Not giving up! It's only the first week. But if by next week I still don't see and weight dropped, I will ditch it and go on to something else.

So wishing I were still ;young, and the weight came off easier.:o

[newbiecruiser09]

WillieT: Are you eating ENOUGH fat? your body may think it is starving and conserve vs lose fat. Keep at it, it took me about 3 weeks to see a 2 lb lose (before that it was .5, .2). I think the Alli helps from what everybody says, it is just not an instant fix (what is?!?!?!!?)

 

Pam: so sorry about the Te's. It may have been something you ate 2-4 days ago. I ate on Easter and got TE's on Weds after. It only lasted about 12 hours for me so hopefully you are done. I too was afraid to go back on the pills but I did and I think it is keeping me on track.

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Stay strong! Maggie

[DolphinFan]

UGH... worse TE's this morning!!! :( Hopefully they end soon. I'm afraid to take the alli now. Thank goodness today is my day off! Anyone know how long this may last??

 

I'm down another pound tho! ;)

Are you sure its not a bug or something? I know everyone in my office has had it in the last 2 weeks..myself included!!

[DolphinFan]

I'am a stylist also, and started Alli last Sat. It is nerve wracking working that close with people. But so far, no problem.(knock wood :) ) Also, no results.:( Counting grams like a mad woman, and calories. Drinking tubs of water too. I've always seen results with an Atkins type, low carb. diet, but never low fat for me. I thought with Alli it might work. If it makes a person lose 50% more, and I've followed the rules, I'am thinking without the pills, I probably would have gained some this week. Grrrr.:mad:

Not giving up! It's only the first week. But if by next week I still don't see and weight dropped, I will ditch it and go on to something else.

So wishing I were still ;young, and the weight came off easier.:o

You said your watching your claories..are you eating enough (at LEAST 1200) a day???

 

Don't give up..it really does work!!

[DolphinFan]

Here is the last bit of the book read. I really think I want to get this book and read it!

 

(continued from Thursday)

As Fine as North Dakota Wine

The restaurant is open only 24 nights a year and serves an inclusive prix-fixe theme dinner each night. A nice meal will cost you less than $25, but to get it you will have to phone for reservations and be seated at either 5:30 or 7:00 sharp. Despite these drawbacks, there is often a waiting list.

Welcome to the Spice Box. The Spice Box looks like a restaurant; it sounds like a restaurant; and it smells like a restaurant. To the people eating there, it "is" a restaurant. To the people working there, it's a fine dining lab sponsored by the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Spice Box is a lab where culinary hopefuls learn whether a new recipe will fly or go down in flames. It's a lab where waitstaff discover whether a new approach will sizzle or fizzle. It's also a lab where consumer psychologists have figured out what makes a person nibble a little or inhale it all.

There is a secret and imaginary line down the middle of the dining room in the Spice Box. On one Thursday, diners on the left side of the room might be getting a different version of the shrimp coconut jambalaya entree than those on the right. On the next Thursday, diners on the left side will be given a menu with basic English names for the food, while those on the right will be given a menu with French-sounding names. On the Thursday after that, diners on the left side will hear each entree described by a waiter, while those on the right will read the same descriptions off the menu. At the end of the meal, sometimes we ask the diners some short survey questions, but other times we carefully weigh how much food our guests have left on their plates. That way we don't have to rely on what they say, we can rely on what they do--which version of shrimp coconut jambalaya they polished off.

But on one dark Thursday night in the first week of February 2004, something a little more mischievous was planned for diners who braved the snow to keep their reservations. They were getting a full glass of Cabernet Sauvignon before their meal. Totally free.

Compliments of the house.

This cabernet was not a fine vintage. In fact, it was a $2 bottle sold under the brand name Charles Shaw--popularly known as Two Buck Chuck. But our diners didn't know this. In fact, all the Charles Shaw labels had been soaked off the bottles and replaced with professionally designed labels that were 100 percent fake.

Those on the left side of the room were being offered wine from the fictional Noah's Winery, a new California label. The winery's classic, italicized logo was enveloped by a simple graphic of grapes and vines. Below this, the wine proudly announced that it was "NEW from California." After the diners arrived and were seated, the waiter or waitress said, "Good evening and welcome to the Spice Box.

As you're deciding what you want to eat this evening, we're offering you a complimentary glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. It's from a new California winery called Noah's Winery." Each person was then poured a standard 3.8-ounce glass of wine.

About an hour later, after they had finished their meal and were paying for it, we weighed the amount of wine left in each glass and the amount of the entree left on each plate. We also had a record of when each diner had started eating and when they paid their bill and left.

Diners on the right side of the room had exactly the same dining experience--with one exception. The waiter or waitress's carefully scripted welcome introduced a cabernet "from a new 'North Dakota'

winery called Noah's Winery." The label was identical to that on the first bottle, except for the words "NEW from North Dakota."

There is no Bordeaux region in North Dakota, nor is there a Burgundy region, nor a Champagne region. There is, however, a Fargo region, a Bismarck region, and a Minot region. It's just that there are no wine grapes grown in any of them. California equals wine. North Dakota equals snow or buffalo.

People who were given "North Dakota wine" believed it "was" North Dakota wine. But since it was the same wine we poured for those who thought they were getting California wine, that shouldn't influence their taste. Should it?

It did. We knew from an earlier lab study that people who thought they were drinking North Dakota wine had such low expectations, they rated the wine as tasting bad "and" their food as less tasty. If a California wine label can give a glowing halo to an entire meal, a North Dakota wine label casts a shadow onto everything it touches.

But our focus that particular night was whether these labels would influence "how much" our diners ate.

After the meals were over, the first thing we discovered was that both groups of people drank about the same amount of wine--all of it. This was not so surprising. It was only one glass of wine and it was a cold night. Where they differed was in how much food they ate and how long they lingered at their table.

Compared to those unlucky diners given wine with North Dakota labels, people who thought they had been given a free glass of California wine ate 11 percent more of their food--19 of the 24 even cleaned their plates. They also lingered an average of 10 minutes longer at their table (64 minutes). They stayed pretty much until the waitstaff starting dropping hints that the next seating would be starting soon.

The night was not quite as magical for those given wine with the North Dakota label. Not only did they leave more food on their plates, this probably wasn't much of a meal to remember, because it went by so fast. North Dakota wine drinkers sat down, drank, ate, paid, and were out in 55 minutes--less than an hour. For them, this was clearly not a special meal, it was just food.

Exact same meals, exact same wine. Different labels, different reactions.

Now, to a cold-eyed skeptic, there should have been no difference between the two groups. They should have eaten the same amount and enjoyed it the same.

They didn't. "They mindlessly ate." That is, once they were given a free glass of "California" wine, they said to themselves: "This is going to be good." Once they concluded it was going to be good, their experience lined up to confirm their expectations. They no longer had to stop and think about whether the food and wine were really as good as they thought. They had already decided.

Of course, the same thing happened to the diners who were given the "North Dakota" wine. Once they saw the label, they set themselves up for disappointment. There was no halo; there was a shadow. And not only was the wine bad, the entire meal fell short.

After our studies are over, we "debrief" people--often by e-mail--and tell them what the study was about and what results we expect. For instance, with our different wine studies, we might say, "We think the average person drinking what they believe is North Dakota wine will like their meal less than those given the 'California' wine." We then ask the kicker: "Do you think you were influenced by the state's name you saw on the label?" Almost all will give the exact same answer: "No, I wasn't."

In the thousands of debriefings we've done for hundreds of studies, nearly every person who was "tricked" by the words on a label, the size of a package, the lighting in a room, or the size of a plate said, "I wasn't influenced by that." They might acknowledge that others could be "fooled," but they don't think "they" were. That is what gives mindless eating so much power over us--we're not aware it's happening.

Even when we "do" pay close attention we are suggestible--and even when it comes to cold, hard numbers. Take the concept of anchoring.

If you ask people if there are more or less than 50 calories in an apple, most will say more. When you ask them how many, the average person will say, "66." If you had instead asked if there were more or less than 150 calories in an apple, most would say less. When you ask them how many, the average person would say, "114." People unknowingly anchor or focus on the number they first hear and let that bias them.

[needalatte74]

I just started this morning and the only thing I'm feeling so far is a bit gassy. My cruise is exactly 3 months away and I really need to get down about 20 lbs fast.

 

Wish me luck..

[DolphinFan]

I just started this morning and the only thing I'm feeling so far is a bit gassy. My cruise is exactly 3 months away and I really need to get down about 20 lbs fast.

 

Wish me luck..

Good luck..let us know if you have any questions!!!

[Pamywyner]

No, it was definitely not the stomach bug!! Bright orange again this morning and quite of bit of greasy orange dots floating in the toilet. UGH.... still can't figure out what I ate a few/couple of days ago. I'm always so careful!

 

Had a pretty good day though. Luckily I wasn't working and I skipped my pill with lunch. I did just take one with dinner tho... We'll see what happens. I don't have to work this weekend, so hopefully I'll be ok.. eating lightly.

 

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

Liz, how are you doing?

[Bablefish]

Willie, hang in there for awhile. It is definitely slow going as we get older, but I'm slowly, very slowly making progress. I'm down four pounds this week by going back to Atkins and still taking the pills, but I have had to be very careful in my food choices. This is drastic dieting, but I was desperate. Now I'm down 14 pounds in six weeks and a total of 21 pounds in 3 months.

 

I know it's discouraging to read someone else can lose 40 pounds in that time, but that's great for them. I could do that once too. My problem is I let the weight creep back up and then it's a nightmare to get it off again.

 

Pam, I'm sorry about your TEs. That sounds what happened to me after my one binge with icecream and potato chips. Mine was so drastic, I didn't stray off course again. It's worse though that you can't narrow down the food that triggered it. It all comes down to the fat grams.

 

Welcome to Needalatte. This is a small but good group.

 

Good morning head cheerleader Dolphinfan! :D and a good morning and good luck this weekend to all!

[Pamywyner]

Thanks Bablefish!! You're doing great too! So far so good since yesterday around 10:00 am! We'll see how today goes. I was all set to give up when I first noticed the TE's. I said to myself that I was never gonna chance that again but, I really like the weight loss I've been seeing so, I'm gonna keep trying. Like I said, it wasn't uncontrollable so, I can handle it. I will be even more careful counting those fats!

 

I'm down 12.5 in about 4 weeks so, I am happy.

 

I hope everyone has a nice Saturday!!! :)