If that all sounds a little futuristic, however, there are other ways to fool yourself into eating better, and less. For example, placing meals on smaller plates and bowls; various studies have found that halving the plate size leads to an average reduction of 30 per cent in the amount of food consumed.
According to NHS weight loss advice, by using smaller plates and bowls, we may be able to gradually get used to eating smaller portions without going hungry. “It takes about 20 minutes for the stomach to tell the brain it’s full, so eat slowly and stop eating before you feel full,” says the guidance.
Eating from heavier rather than lighter bowls can also help you feel more satisfied, according to Betina Piqueras-Fiszman and Charles Spence, authors of The Perfect Meal: The Multisensory Science of Food and Dining. Minimising the colour contrast between your crockery and your table coverings, using smaller cutlery and drinking from tall slender glasses rather than curved, fluted or short, wide vessels have all been found to decrease the amount of food or drink consumed.
In one study, Oliver Genschow and colleagues at the Universities of Basel and Mannheim offered participants snacks on red, white or blue plates and drinks in red or blue cups. Those who ate and drank from red kitchenware consumed less. One explanation given for this is that we associate red with danger or stopping.
Clinical psychologist Linda Blair says cues like these are key: “We respond to what we knew before and what we did before as being the right thing, so if you want to change you have to not eat in the same place. Set a different place at your table so you don’t have the cue of ‘where’s my big helping of spaghetti?’” she says. “You have to not give yourself the option of what you had before. Where you used to keep your crisps, that’s where you put the fruit bowl.”
She also suggests making each meal look pretty – for instance, by placing flowers on the table or using nice napkins, because this sends your brain the message that “you deserve to be treated well, and well means healthy” – and it may also prevent you from feeling as if you’re depriving yourself.
“‘Well’ is not a bag of crisps,” says Blair. “If the surroundings are really lovely, you don’t order chips, you order grilled fish because that’s classy. It’s about capitalising on habits and cues instead of being a slave to them. You’re fooling yourself in some ways but it’s motivating.”
Rob Hobson, a registered nutritionist, recommends mindful eating: putting your knife and fork down between mouthfuls; sitting down to eat; not eating in front of the television. These habits can slow down the eating process, giving your body time to feel full, and preventing mindless excess consumption. “People who eat mindfully manage to eat less throughout the day,” he says.
One last trick recommended by experts is to sprinkle a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon on to dishes, too, as its natural sweetness can trick your tastebuds into satiety and relieve the urge to eat something sugary. Research also suggests that cinnamon has a role to play in stabilising blood sugar and making us less likely to crave high energy foods too, making every gram of cinnamon a win-win additive for anyone worried about their weight.
