Three items with take-away points for your weekend perusal.
Have a great weekend,
Larry
1) It’s Friday night - will you split the bill among friends if you eat out?
Here is a paper showing that people tend to consume more when they split the bill (and dilute the cost of consuming more by sharing it with others).
Take-away: Avoid splitting the bill. At meals where someone else is picking up the tab, order as if it was hitting your pocketbook.
2) It’s the weekend - will you spend some time making a nice meal?
Here is an article that posits that microwave meals and easy-to or no-prepare foods are less satisfying to us than meals that we have put time and effort into creating. If true, less satsfaction might lead to excess consumption of these easily accessible, microwavable foods.
Take-away: You don’t need to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner or gourmet feast every night, but do take the time to prepare your own food. Start with something that is recognizable as food (a vegetable, a piece of meat, etc.). You will likely appreciate your own efforts and it will taste better than this stuff (I give their commercials that try to dissuade people from preparing their own meals an equally poor review).
3) It’s Saturday or Sunday morning/afternoon - what will you decide to buy at the market or grocery store?
Here is just one example of how consultants and industry will try to get you to buy their product (regardless of their nutritional value for you) and will try to get you to consume more, more, and more. Food is a big business and they have more resources than you do.
Take-away: Know what you want before you go shopping and leave with those items only - if you decide at home that you want to eat nutritious food, make a list of specific items and stick to that list - you will save time and money. Consider what features are most important to you: brand, characteristics, or price. The importance of these factors might vary from product to product, but if you feel that product characteristics (e.g., nutritional content, organic, etc.) are more important than price for at least some things, make sure to follow through on your convictions when you’re at the market.