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Mindless Eating
Why We Eat More Than We Think

by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.



      Do you think a large dinner plate makes you eat more food? Do you think you would drink more from a wide, short glass than a slender, tall glass? Do you decide how much you will eat before you begin a meal? While we make more than 200 subconscious food choices daily, we see just an inkling of the influence of settings, colors, and emotions on eating. Author Brian Wansink, Ph.D. shares the psychological reasons behind our eating habits in Mindless Eating.

Wansink and his food psychology lab conduct tests to find the hidden influences on our eating habits. Most of us can relate to mindless eating when we inhale chicken wings and beer at a football party or munch on a tub of popcorn at the movies. In one bar experiment, half the tables were bussed regularly, while chicken wing bones piled up at the other tables. Partygoers at the bussed tables ate more than the people who had the visual of what they had eaten.

Size matters and Wansink finds that large size containers fool us into eating more. In one movie theatre test, people ate more popcorn from a large bucket even though the patrons had eaten lunch and the popcorn was stale. Other studies show that people eat more from a large serving dish, though they underestimate how much they actually consume. Large containers from warehouse stores make us feel financially savvy, yet we eat more from these jumbo sizes. We cannot visually judge a proper portion size in these larger containers. How are all these experiments important?

Dr. Wansink studies human psychology, food, and marketing at his lab, The Cornell Food and Brand Lab. His studies prove we underestimate how much we eat or how external situations trigger us to eat. His work helps you combat the  psychological and marketing targets for food choices at restaurants, grocery stores, and at home. The tips will help you flip the unknown triggers to effortless healthy eating. For dieters, pros and cons of popular diets are listed in the back of the book. Wansink serves solid information with generous portions of humor. Everyone who wants to help themselves and their families eat better will benefit from this book. Before you head to the grocery store or look for a diet book, buy Mindless Eating. After all, don’t you want to know what your subconscious is up to?

The Book

Bantam Dell/ A division of Random House, Inc.
October 2006
Hardcover
0-553-80434-0
Non-fiction, Health Psychology
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Excerpt
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The Reviewer

Jennifer Akers
Reviewed 2006
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© 2006 MyShelf.com