I don’t know what it is about our society, but most of us have been taught (and are teaching our children) to “clean our plate”. As it turns out this might actually be really bad advice. One of the more surprising things I learned from Michael Pollan’s book is 
that other (much healthier) cultures simply stop eating when they receive an internal cue that they are starting to feel full (about eighty percent full, to be more specific). On the other hand, according to Pollan, we Americans eat until we “receive some visual [or external] cue from the environment that it’s time to stop: the bowl or package is empty, the plate is clean, or the TV show is over.” Wow, what a novel idea to instead stop eating the moment you no longer feel hungry!
My husband and I have been trying to carry out this advice ever since we read the book a few months ago and, I must report that for some reason this is very HARD to do! Imagine you are eating and enjoying a delicious meal. There are two bites left, but you start to feel full…what do you do? I start to have a little battle in my head trying to force myself to just leave the last two little delicious bites alone. Is it enough food for me to save? I don’t want to waste it. Shouldn’t I just finish it even though I know my stomach is starting to feel full? I have only succeeded in not overeating (beyond 80% full) about half of the time that this has happened.
I have mentioned before that when you start to eat real food you fill up faster. When you eat processed foods that are mostly high in calories/energy and low in nutrients you need to eat more to get to that feeling of being full. So not only is it important to listen to your internal cues when you start to fill up, but it is also important to adjust your portion sizes accordingly (especially if you are eating real food). I have found that serving myself the appropriate amount helps tremendously to ensure that I also eat the right amount.
So the next time you serve yourself a meal, try starting with a half a sandwich or burger, or even just a kid plate amount of food. You can always go back for seconds! While it is unfortunately true that buying real food can cost more than the processed stuff, it certainly helps your wallet if you only buy and eat the right amount of it.
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I like this blog a lot. It is dealing with every day issues we all face.
I find a good cue is when you begin to eat slower–then you are full. My mother kept us thin by serving smaller portions. Then we actually finished our plates and my mother didn’t feel she was being wasteful by throwing out the left over food on our plates.
Your mom was ahead of the times!
I agree that it’s so hard to push the plate away when eating a yummy meal, and I hate to feel wasteful. I heard or read a comment recently that I’ve tried to keep in mind and have found it somewhat helpful: the next bite(s) will taste the same as the first, so is it worth the added calories and potentially feeling miserable to clean the plate?
That is so true…and the times where I have saved even a few small bites of something good I was glad to have another taste of it the next day!
Oh, I despise the “clean your plate club”! I think it definitely teaches our kids to over eat and to avoid their body’s cues that they are done. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard parents say, “Well if you don’t finish your dinner you can’t have dessert.” So, what does a kid do…stuff themselves just to have something else that’s not always so nutritious.
Oh, boy. Do I hear you. My HB and I both always clean our plates. Bad habit. Plus, after this many years I just can’t stop until it’s all gone.
However, with our kids, I always let them stop when they say they are done. Provided they’ve given it a good try, eaten at least some of the veggies, and aren’t going to ask for dessert in two minutes.
If I feel like they really just didn’t like what I served (I don’t make two meals, so they may just barely touch a stir fry) I will give them a big bowl of yoghurt and fruit. I’ve just switched back to plain yoghurt. The sugar in the other is just insane.
[...] let’s put the low-fat craze behind us and move forward by embracing the right portions of real food and real food only. No more faked low-fat products where according to Pollan, [...]
Totally agree!! The phrase that was beat into our heads when I was a kid was “Just get a little bit, you can always get seconds if you’re still hungry”.
I try not to worry about those “last two bites” because I know that they are perfect for some other use. Usually, I add it to my lunch bento. Normally a couple bites or spoons of leftovers are perfect for bento meals. No waste, and no reason to over eat when I know I can munch on it the next day (and thereby prolong the enjoyment).
I really needed to here this! I’m the worst at cleaning my plate. Starting today, I’m going to do better. Thanks for the post and for all the comments. . . very inspiring.