Portion distortion

Dieters often try to trick themselves into thinking they’ve eaten more by putting their food in smaller bowls. New research shows this tactic may work.

“People often believe our stomachs tell us when we’re full,” says Brian Wansink, a nutrition and marketing expert at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “But we can be tremendously influenced by the cues around us.”

In the study, 54 adults sat down to a free lunch, which they thought was to test a new flavor of soup. But half of these participants were unwittingly eating from special “bottomless” bowls. Each bowl was fitted with tubing connected to a vat of soup in the next room. As people ate, more soup was inconspicuously pumped into their bowl.

People who ate from the “bottomless” bowls consumed 73% more -- an average of 113 more calories -- than those who ate from regular bowls.

Both groups estimated they had eaten the same amount and reported the same level of fullness.

“The study illustrates the big gap between what our body tells us and what we do,” says Wansink, the lead researcher. “If we dish it out, we’re going to eat it.”

He recommends thinking about serving size when pouring bowls of cereal or glasses of soda, especially for children, and portioning out snacks into small plastic bags.