Healthy Eating Tip: Use Smaller Plates and Salad Forks

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Healthy Eating Tip: Use Smaller Plates and Salad Forks

March 31, 2009

Looks can be deceiving. Your double serving of pasta might look like it's a normal size when served on a big plate, but you're probably eating more calories than you intended. When you're dishing out dinner at home, reach for the smaller plates rather than your big entree plates for food that gives you portion control trouble. Less food in front of you means there's less of a chance you'll overeat.

In the same light, think about switching out your big fork for one that's smaller. Taking tinier bites will slow down the whole eating process and increase your satisfaction. So even though you're eating less than your dining partners, you won't be finished before everyone else and tempted to head back for another helping.

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13 Comments

fizzymartini 4 years 7 weeks

I've been trying this for months but it just doesn't work. My brain just KNOWS it's not as much, and I end up filling the smaller bowl/plate for seconds, anyway...

Modus Vivendi 4 years 7 weeks

I totally do this. I grab a regular fork for my boyfriend and a small one for me.

Spectra 4 years 7 weeks

Incidentally, all of my plates are inherited from my aunt and they're all the small-sized ones. I just never bought new plates and I got used to eating off the smaller-sized ones. It really does make your food look huge.

Spectra 4 years 7 weeks

Susannah Q-I get that comment from my in-laws when I eat at their house all the time. They are a farm family and they have huge appetites and also have huge plates for their food! I put my normal portion sizes on the plate and it looks really small...when they comment, I usually say something like "Yeah, the food's good but I guess I just can't eat as much as Matt (my husband) because I'm not a big guy like he is!"

imariec 4 years 7 weeks

i've always eaten w/the salad fork. dinner forks just gather too much food and my mouth gets too full. the little plates i've stared over the past year or two. i realized it's the visual illusion of having a full plate, and i eat less.

ilanac13 4 years 7 weeks

my fiance makes dinner every night since he's home and i'm the one that works, and lately i've been asking him to put my soup in a mug instead of a bowl, and asking him to use the little plates rather than the big ones for my food since he likes to make a lot of stuff and it's always too much for me to eat, but i feel bad saying no since he's worked so hard.

4 years 7 weeks

I eat on a salad plate at home. But just yesterday I had lunch with my friend, and we had food from the salad/hot bar, and they only had dinner sized plates. She looked at my plate and said "Is that all you're eating??" Which annoys me, because it really was enough food for me, but on the dinner plate, I guess it looked a bit meager. On a salad plate, it would look like plenty. Actually, this leads me to a question - what do you say to friends who make comments like this? As if it's not okay that I watch what I eat? I'm definitely not anorexic, I just don't fill a dinner plate with food as some people do... ( Sorry this is long!)

4 years 7 weeks

I only eat off of salad plates, it really does help! Whenever all the salad plates are in the dishwasher and I have to use a bigger plate, my food looks all spread out and weird. My husband likes the bigger plates though...so I guess I can't get rid of them!

kscincotta 4 years 7 weeks

I actually realized this week that when I eat ice cream out of my large ice cream bowls, I eat way too much. Smaller bowls to the rescue!

laellavita 4 years 7 weeks

when i got my apartment, i only bought salad plates and salad forks. that's the size regular plates used to be in the 1950's anyway, our appetites and our eyes increased the size of the "normal" plates by a lot!