Attention All “Foodies” and Dieters

FYI: There is a very important (and interesting) article in the NYT today.  The piece is entitled “Food for thought” and was written by Jeff Gordinier.  Basically, the article reviews the idea of “mindful eating” a concept that most likely comes from a book written by Brian Wansink, entitled “Mindless eating: why we eat more than we think,” published a while back by Bantam books.  Dr. Wansink is a professor of marketing at Cornell University in Ithica , NY.  As an aside, I am excited that he will be coming to the University of Missouri to lecture at our annual Bond Life Sciences & Society Symposium March 16-18, 2012 (the conference is called “Food Sense”).  Anyway, the NYT article  discusses in considerable detail the concept of thoughtful eating as a way to both enjoy eating more and perhaps, to eat healthier.  Don’t be put off by the rather Buddhist bent to the discussion.  Trust me, it’s good stuff and we would all benefit from reading the article and putting the advice to work for ourselves.

If you find the NYT article interesting, I strongly recommend that you consider tracking down a copy of Professor Wansink’s book (it’s only about $3.00 new on Amazon) and learn something about the psychology of how we eat, particularly why we all eat so much (mostly too much!).  Professor Wansink is the one who did all those fascinating studies about the effects of the size of the container (e.g., glass or plate) and how much we consume.

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