Nine Diet Tips for Eating Less Food

In addition to helping you avoid portion distortion, a number of other techniques can help you eat less throughout the day. Just as a leaky faucet will slowly but surely fill up a clogged sink, a constant trickle of a few extra calories every day piles on the pounds over time. Likewise, eliminating just a small amount of food from your daily fare will have the opposite effect. Below are some low-effort techniques to make that happen. Practice a new one every day for a week, then start adding them together. Eventually, they’ll become part of your normal pattern.

1. Downsize your dishes

Serve your meals on smaller plates (on a salad plate, about 6 inches in diameter, instead of the usual 8- or 10-inch dinner plate) and you’ll find it easier to eat smaller portions. See how the sphere on the left looks larger than the one on the right? Likewise, a portion of food looks larger when served on a smaller plate than when on a larger plate. One study that involved eighty-five nutrition experts illustrates this point nicely. Each person got a small or large empty bowl and a small or large serving spoon. Everyone served their own ice cream and then filled out a brief survey while researchers weighed their ice cream. People given the larger bowls served and ate 31% more ice cream than those who got a smaller bowl. And larger scoops prompted people to serve themselves about 14% more ice cream. But everyone thought they had served themselves the same amount (about a cup) and were equally satisfied with their treat. Try the same technique at home and you’ll never miss that extra amount.

2. Leave one-eighth of your meals behind throughout the day.

Remember how you divided your plate in quarters for the slow eating section? Just divide one of those quarters in half again to estimate one-eighth of your meal.

Don’t worry about precision—removing a few large bites is a close-enough approximation. This technique works with all types of meals and snacks. If you want to enjoy pizza or a hamburger with your family, just cut a small portion out and don’t eat it.

Likewise, carve a wedge out of your muffin or bagel. Place the extra food on a side salad plate before you start eating. It may seem like a strange habit at
first, but it’s very effective. Once you become skilled with this technique, you can adapt to serve yourself less in the first place.

3. Out of sight, out of mind

This is a subtle way to cut calories by making it easier to resist temptation. Make efforts not to stock your pantry with delectable high calorie treats that beckon to you late at night.

The success of this strategy depends on the family food shopper to make smart decisions at the grocery store. Leave that box of cookies or pint of ice cream on the store shelf. If it’s not in front of you at home, you won’t miss it. Follow this line of thinking in other aspects of your life by purposefully omitting food you don’t need.

For instance: Serve each plate in the kitchen instead of family style to lessen the temptation for taking second helpings. Stand away from the hors d’oeuvres or buffet table at a party.

4. Distract your appetite

Try eating a small snack, like a banana or a small handful of nuts, about a half-hour before your main meal of the day. Before going to a dinner party, social event, or holiday gathering, follow the same principle and “pre-eat” a sensible snack or mini-meal.

That way, you won’t be too hungry by the time you arrive at the event and will be less tempted by high-calorie party foods. The same goes for a trip to the grocery store: Shop after a meal or snack to avoid buying too much food.

5. Fill up with soup, salad, or fruit

Starting your meal with a broth-based soup, a green salad, or a piece of fruit can help you eat less. This strategy is based on the concept of energy density, which refers to the relative number of calories in a given amount of food.

Low-energy density foods contain lots of air, water, or fiber and tend to be low in calories. High-energy-density foods, such as meat, cheese, and fat, tend to be calorie-rich. Fatty foods tend to be very energy-dense, which is why a low-fat diet can help you lose weight; it’s not because you’re eating less fat but because you’re likely eating fewer calories.

By eating more low-energy-density foods like fruits and vegetables, you can eat a bigger volume of food, which helps you feel more full and satisfied than if you were to eat the same amount of calories from a high-energy-density food.

6. Share your restaurant fare

Most restaurant entrees contain far more food than a normal serving. For example, many dish up 4 to 6 cups of pasta or 16-ounce steaks.

Share an entree, or ask the waitstaff to put half of your entree in a doggie bag at the very beginning of your meal so that you won’t be tempted to pick at it. When dining at restaurants that pride themselves on large portions, try ordering just a side salad with an appetizer as your entree. Before dinner, discuss your eating plan with your dining companions.Perhaps you’ll encourage others to follow your lead.

7. Curb your choices at each meal

The wider the variety of foods available to you during a meal, the more food you’ll eat. No doubt you’ve experienced this at buffets and pot-lucks. Numerous studies uphold this observation, like the one that found people ate more from a variety pack of jellybeans than from a single-flavor pack of the sweets.

If you have just a few foods available at a meal, you’ll eat those foods until you’re full. You’re less likely to over-eat because eating more of the same thing isn’t as pleasurable as eating something new—a phenomenon researchers have dubbed sensory-specific satiety. It’s one of the reasons why single-food diets work well (but only for a short time, because that sort of rigid control will eventually lead to disinhibition).

Sensory-specific satiety also explains why people often seem to have room for dessert, even if they’re full. A second baked potato holds little appeal, but chocolate mousse is an entirely different story. Mind you, I’m definitely not saying you shouldn’t eat a varied diet—quite the opposite.

I encourage people to try new fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and seasonings to keep their diet tasty, fun, and interesting. Just curb the number of choices you have within a single meal so that you won’t overeat.

8. Use a meal replacement

This tip is closely related to tip 7. Meal replacements such as Slim Fast, Boost, and Glucerna, which come as shakes or bars, make it easy to limit your choices and therefore trim the amount of food you eat. They’re also very convenient and reasonably priced. What’s more, meal replacements have been proven effective in aiding weight loss in a number of studies.

But check the Nutrition Facts panel and you’ll notice that most meal replacements contain around 220 calories—far less than the recommended 450.

To help keep your hunger at bay, make sure you eat a small snack with your shake or bar, such as a piece of fruit or a small salad, along with a handful of pretzels or crackers.

9. Have breakfast for dinner

Here’s another suggestion along the lines of the previous two tips. Eating a bowl of cereal for dinner is one of my personal favorites because it’s so easy and tasty.

In fact, Kellogg’s and Post both promote eating two cereal-based meals a day as a proven weight-loss strategy. It’s a great option for certain situations.

For example, you had a very busy day and didn’t have time to go shopping, or you had an evening meeting and didn’t have time to prepare a full meal. Careful planning can help you avoid these time crunches.

But you might find that you enjoy the simplicity and taste of having breakfast for dinner several times a week. Take a detour on your way home from work to bypass the lure of fast-food restaurants. In short, shield yourself from unnecessary cues and opportunities to eat.