Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
[Don’t forget to call in with your thoughts on a Holiday Book for the Book Club Podcast, and vote on a title! (Look to the right for details.)]
On your mark, get set… go! The holiday eating season has officially begun, and coincidentally, I just finished reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D. This hybrid of a book is both a wonderful study of the psychology of eating as well as a self-help book offering reasonable suggestions for changing our own behavior in the face of this information, resulting in more healthful eating habits and weight loss with little effort. What a great book.
Firstly, I can never get enough of reading about psychological experiments and case studies. Loved Opening Skinner’s Box, and anything by Oliver Sacks, loved the theories behind Why We Shop, A Perfect Mess, Blink—that sort of thing. Eat it right up. I found Wansink’s eating studies especially fascinating, since I love food and eating as well. He presents numerous studies where, by changing various factors such as bowl size or package labeling, they can measure how much food is eaten and make conclusions about how factors we may not even be aware of affect how much we eat.
Wansink then applies the information from these experiments to our own lives. The main idea behind the title of the book is that if we often mindlessly eat more than we should, then with a few changes, we can likewise mindlessly eat less and more healthily. If we were to cut our calorie intake by 100-200 calories a day using some simple “mindless” changes, we wouldn’t even notice. And by the end of the year we would be 10-20 pounds lighter than we would otherwise.
As I read, I found myself nodding, already in agreement with Wansink’s arguments. But even if I hadn’t been, I would have been convinced. Each chapter begins with the tale of an experiment or two to find how a particular factor affects the type of food and the amount people eat. Conclusions are drawn, then applied to everyday eating behavior. Each chapter ends with a concrete “reengineering strategy” that we can follow to make eating less and more healthily easy and unnoticeable. I think this combination of science and actionable suggestions is a great idea. Readers like me who are interested in psychology can enjoy the book as much as a person interested only in losing a few pounds.
While many of the studies seem obvious or common-sensical, it is still good to know that there is scientific evidence behind theories as simple as: if you hold a larger bowl, you will put more ice cream in it. Your brain will also not be able to tell the difference—after all, it thinks you just ate a bowl of ice cream. Armed with this simple information, you can actually do something to cut your calories without any sense of deprivation: use smaller bowls.
I have already enthusiastically promoted this “great book I’m reading” to many friends. It was such a fun read, and Wansink’s suggestions are, I believe, the only intelligent way to modify our eating habits for the better. Intellectual stimulation and self-help together—what better food for the brain and body?
Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
On your mark, get set… go! The holiday eating season has officially begun, and coincidentally, I just finished reading Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D. This hybrid of a book is both a wonderful study of the psychology of eating as well as a self-help book offering reasonable suggestions for changing our own behavior in the face of this information, resulting in more healthful eating habits and weight loss with little effort. What a great book.Firstly, I can never get enough of reading about psychological experiments and case studies. Loved Opening Skinner’s Box, and anything by Oliver Sacks, loved the theories behind Why We Shop, A Perfect Mess, Blink—that sort of thing. Eat it right up. I found Wansink’s eating studies especially fascinating, since I love food and eating as well. He presents numerous studies where, by changing various factors such as bowl size or package labeling, they can measure how much food is eaten and make conclusions about how factors we may not even be aware of affect how much we eat.
Wansink then applies the information from these experiments to our own lives. The main idea behind the title of the book is that if we often mindlessly eat more than we should, then with a few changes, we can likewise mindlessly eat less and more healthily. If we were to cut our calorie intake by 100-200 calories a day using some simple “mindless” changes, we wouldn’t even notice. And by the end of the year we would be 10-20 pounds lighter than we would otherwise.
As I read, I found myself nodding, already in agreement with Wansink’s arguments. But even if I hadn’t been, I would have been convinced. Each chapter begins with the tale of an experiment or two to find how a particular factor affects the type of food and the amount people eat. Conclusions are drawn, then applied to everyday eating behavior. Each chapter ends with a concrete “reengineering strategy” that we can follow to make eating less and more healthily easy and unnoticeable. I think this combination of science and actionable suggestions is a great idea. Readers like me who are interested in psychology can enjoy the book as much as a person interested only in losing a few pounds.
While many of the studies seem obvious or common-sensical, it is still good to know that there is scientific evidence behind theories as simple as: if you hold a larger bowl, you will put more ice cream in it. Your brain will also not be able to tell the difference—after all, it thinks you just ate a bowl of ice cream. Armed with this simple information, you can actually do something to cut your calories without any sense of deprivation: use smaller bowls.
I have already enthusiastically promoted this “great book I’m reading” to many friends. It was such a fun read, and Wansink’s suggestions are, I believe, the only intelligent way to modify our eating habits for the better. Intellectual stimulation and self-help together—what better food for the brain and body?
Mindless Eating by Brian Wansink, Ph.D.
posted by Renee at 5:06 PM
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