I first became aware of Brian Wansink’s work on “mindless eating” during a presentation by my students in Sensation/Perception. The students reviewed one of Brian’s studies that showed how people are likely to eat more popcorn if it’s served in one of those enormous buckets you see at the movies. What caught my attention was Wansink’s conclusion that we make about 250 food-related decisions per day. Good grief. The next time we heard about Brian was when he won an IgNobel for his bottomless soup bowl experiment. That was just too much fun! After that, I started following the Mindless Eating website more regularly.
Brian Wansink and the Bottomless Soup Bowl
Consequently, I was delighted to learn from Cal Poly’s Center for Obesity Prevention and Education that Dr. Wansink would be speaking at Cal Poly on April 2nd. I ordered my tickets! I may have maintained my weightloss for over a year and a half now, but I’m always up for learning new ways to eat more healthfully.
8 Comments
msirna · March 7, 2009 at 5:31 pm
There have been flyers posted to our bathroom doors in the dorm about the Mindless Eating presentation. It sounds really interesting. Hopefully I’ll get to go and learn a lot about our eating habits and pick up tips on how to eat healthier!
Christinawright · March 8, 2009 at 9:16 pm
I spent about 2 months in Europe a year ago and I never really noticed how huge our portions are until I was faced with how other countries eat! There’s a reason why our country is one of the leading places for obesity, our portions are way too big and they just keep getting bigger!! There is no reason to have so much food on our plates, but we have grown so accustom to them that it does even phase us to say, “yeah, super size that!”
raquelart22 · March 9, 2009 at 7:48 am
I have never heard of Brain Wansink and I am excited to hear that he will be speaking at Cal Poly next quarter. I have a confession to make, I am the person who MUST have popcorn when I especially attend a movie at the movie theaters. I love extra butter on my popcorn and I don’t even buy my snacks at the movies, I just bring it from home. Microwave popcorn is delicious & I do NOT burn not one corn in my popcorn. Food is very much related to T.V and movies; I LOVE movies and I watch movies on the movie channels (everyday repsectfully) and always want a “snack” like chips and salsa or chips and dips, fruit (grapes, oranges, apples,ect). Eating helps aid your attention to the movie in my book.
tltaylor · March 10, 2009 at 9:56 am
If this kind of thing interests you I would definitely recommend that you read two great books written by Michael Pollan; “Omnivores Dilemma” and “In Defense of Food”. Pollan believes that we should “Eat food. Not too much. And mostly plants”. His books describe the way the American food market is set up to push us to eat more prepackaged processed foods and how today’s diet fads are causing people to gain more weight than if we were to go back to eating the foods our great-great grandmother would have made for us– “fatty” bacon and eggs included. Anyways, two great books, fast reads, highly recommended.
shakiamitchell · March 10, 2009 at 10:57 am
Wow 250 food related decisions in a day!!! that’s amazing. This seems like it would be a really interesting presentation hopefully I’ll be able to attend and learn some other cool facts about diet. I also have even caufght myself eating more when served large portions than normally. Interesting how your brain can allow you to do these things.
elliekrump · March 10, 2009 at 11:57 pm
I have never heard of Brian Wansink or of his work before, but it sounds quite fascinating! Eating habits have always been of interest to me, and it is something that I feel that everyone should be concerned about, especially living here in the U.S. where both the extreme availability and discounted price of unhealthy food alternatives is much greater than that of more health-conscious food choices. Wansink’s bottomless soup bowl experiment is especially intriguing to me, as I myself know that I am subject to careless eating habits, such as eating when I am bored or emotional. I am so glad to hear that research is being conducted on this relevant and important subject…..I can’t wait to attend Wansink’s presentation and be further enLIGHTened! 🙂
Asnyder · March 12, 2009 at 9:20 am
I am a victim of mindless eating. I have a very strong sweet tooth and I will just eat even though i am not hungry. I always eat something sweet after dinner almost like it is a habit. Luckily, i am also in the habit of going to the gym everyday so i maintain my weight but i am sure if i just cut out the sweets just a few nights i would be a little thinner and i would save a lot of money!
kpeters · March 12, 2009 at 9:00 pm
250 food-related decisions per day? My goodness, quite obsessive. One would think that we would have better things to think about and do with all the stress from school and everything. But it doesn’t entirely surprise me. Food seems to be the means of social gatherings. Whenever people want to hang out, it seems-more often than not-that the time will involve food. Sad, but true.
Comments are closed.