Cue to eat!

There are lots of ways in which we are cued to eat more, even when we are not hungry and even when we want to limit our intake.

Have you been at a friend's house where they fill your glass up as soon as it is empty? Because I am usually the driver, I have cottoned on to this, and never let my glass get empty after I have glugged down the first one. I know I am okay with 2 glasses, so the second one is not finally gulped until just before I leave.

The same goes for plates. In some restaurants, your plate is cleared away when you have finished and you are presented with a clean plate. The empty plate is a trigger to fill it up with more food, and you soon forget how much you had already eaten. The worst places for this is the eat-all-you-can buffet. All those bones and scraps bearing witness to your having already eaten a full meal, are wheeked away and you are presented with a clean plate which is a silent invitation to eat more.

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