Lose Weight over the holidays in Asheville NC

I know it's tempting to just give in to the holiday eating impulse. You know the routine:

"I'll just accept that I'm going to gain weight, and wait until next year to get serious.".

With the New Year almost upon us, we're entering the final stretch of the holiday season.

Because I know it's hard, I'd like to share a trick (backed by research) that should help you resist this urge and go into the New Year strong.

I'm actually hesitant to share it because the trick seems too simple to work, but believe me it does.

First, I'll let you in on a little known fact: 75 % of our calories come from food that we eat in bowls, plates, and cups.

Seems obvious. So why should you care?

According to Dr. Brian Wansink, an expert on eating behavior, we can control HOW MUCH we eat by manipulating the sizes and dimensions of these containers.

So the trick is to manipulate the sizes of the bowls, plates and cups you use during the rest of the holiday season.

Let's start with cups.

Dr. Wansink demonstrated in his food lab that people drink an average of 19 % MORE if their beverage is in a short, wide glass as opposed to a tall narrow glass.

The reason is due to the way we visually process information, the tall, narrow glass appears bigger.

When you're consuming any beverage that contains calories, opt for a tall, narrow glass and you'll drink less.

If you don't have any tall, narrow glasses, pick some up as soon as possible ... the narrower the better.

A 20 % reduction of liquid calories adds up quickly. I know it seems simple, but it's extremely powerful.

Bowls and Plates and Spoons.

This is where it really gets good.

In Dr. Wansink's lab, they performed an experiment on how sizes of scoops and bowls can affect ice cream portions.

Adults who were given 17-ounce bowls to serve themselves ice cream ended up eating 31 % LESS than those given 34-ounce bowls ... that's A LOT fewer calories.

When they added a bigger ice cream scoop to the experiment, people given bigger bowls AND bigger scoops ended up serving themselves a WHOPPING 57 % more ice cream than the group given smaller bowls and smaller scoops.

That's a HUGE difference!

No wonder those ever-popular "self-serve" frozen yogurt shops offer large, wide paper cups. They know customers will serve themselves big portions and, since they charge by the ounce, their profits will go up.

Imagine eating LESS THAN HALF your normal holiday food this season simply by changing the size of your bowls, cups and serving utensils.

Dr. Wansink has replicated these results with a wide variety of popular "comfort foods," including cereal, pie, chips, and chicken wings.

The "take away" is that if you reduce the size of your bowls, plates, spoons, serving utensils, and cups, you will eat FAR LESS of even the most tempting foods.

This takes zero willpower, just go to the store and go small!

And if you're a guest, choose a salad plate instead of a regular plate when serving yourself. Most people also have both big and small spoons, so choose the small spoon!

I hope you take this tip to heart, even if it seems too simple to work. I promise you that it does.

And have a healthy holiday!

Dr. Mathew Stockstad, M.Div, DC, PA

To contact our Asheville NC Chiropractic office call 828-299-4555 or click here Asheville NC Chiropractor to schedule an online appointment.