Fork Size Key To Losing Weight

Dieters wanting to control the amount of food they consume while eating out now have a new way to do just that – use bigger forks.

A recent study shows that diners using large forks eat less than people using smaller forks.

University of Utah researchers studied how bite sizes impacted the overall amount of food consumed.

To do this, researchers conducted a two-day field study at a US-based Italian restaurant.

Two sets of forks were placed at different tables to toy with bite size: a bigger fork that held 20% more food than the one normally used & a smaller fork that held 20% less food than the regular fork.

Diners using larger forks ate less food than people using the smaller forks.

Researchers discovered fork size enabled diners observe how far they were toward completing their meal.

With smaller forks, customers felt they were not making too much progress and therefore put more effort toward satiating their hunger goal – by consuming more.

Researchers concluded that given people’s hectic lives & the increasing trend of dining out, using a larger fork actually helped control over-consumption.

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Eating for Two during Pregnancy Affects Baby’s Health

Pregnant women who eat too much increase the risk of their babies developing eating disorders, low IQ, behavioral problems & mental health conditions like schizophrenia.

Since long, doctors have known that overweight pregnant women are at increased risk of suffering blood clots. However, the long-term effects of overeating during pregnancy on a baby’s health were not fully understood.

But recent research has found proof that overweight women or those who gain excessive weight when pregnant may be harming their kid’s development.

Children of obese mums are inclined to have IQ scores 5 points lower than kids born to normal weight mothers, according to US researchers.

Swedish studies revealed that children of overweight mothers tended to have attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.

Meanwhile, an Australian study has found that a child’s probability of developing an eating disorder went up by 11% for each point their mum’s body mass index went up during pregnancy.

A Japanese study found every additional BMI point added in the early stage of pregnancy raised the offspring’s risk of developing schizophrenia later on by 24%.

Researchers are of the opinion that hormonal & chemical changes could explain the findings.

Obesity in pregnancy raises the risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, blood clots, still-births and miscarriages, while layers of fat could mean serious defects may be overlooked in scans.

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Video Games Make Teens Eat More

Teenage boys tend to have more food after spending an hour video gaming, says a new study.

A Canadian study that involved 22 teens of normal-weight found that the lads had 163 extra calories after playing video games & didn’t compensate for the additional intake by burning up more calories while video gaming or consuming less in the course of the day.

The study was undertaken to show whether video-gaming itself affected eating habits.

Although the additional 163 calories appears trivial, if it’s chronic, it may have a significant effect down the years.

However, the lads’ self-ratings of hunger & levels of appetite hormones weren’t affected by gaming.

Instead there may be a slight ‘mental-stress effect’, and consuming food potentially fulfills the brain’s requirement for a ‘reward’. Mainly we’d crave fatty and sugary food.

Overall, the teens expended more energy when video gaming than when relaxing. However, their food intake made up for the energy expended that day, fetching them an additional 163 calories.

Parents must try to restrict their kids’ screen time, and replace the sedentary hours with outdoor activity.

Experts generally urge children not to spend more than 2 hours before the TV/computer per day.

Eat What You Want Day

May 11th is Eat What You Want Day. So what’s going to be on your menu today? Definitely not bland diet food!

Pamper yourself this one single day and dig into all your favorite food. Once a year you’re permitted to go off your strict diet & have something you truly enjoy. However, watch what you eat as over-indulgence would ruin what would otherwise would have been a perfectly delicious day!

So, all you food connoisseurs indulge your taste buds by faithfully observing Eat What You Want Day. Tomorrow is another day.

Happy No Diet Day!

May 6 is International No Diet Day (INDD) – a guilt-free day to celebrate the diversity of body shapes and sizes and promote healthy lifestyles. The symbol of  The No Diet Day is a blue ribbon.

No Diet Day aims to spread awareness of the futility and dangers of dieting.

Mary Evans Young, director of “Diet Breakers”, a British group created the International No Diet Day in 1992. Being anorexic herself, she worked to make people proud of what they were, and to be happy about the body they’ve been blessed with.

On No Diet Day:

• Practice healthy eating

• Celebrate body-acceptance & diversity

• Stop obsessing about diet/weight

• Read up on the dangers of weight-loss surgery and eating disorders

• Prevent weight discrimination

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