11/04/2021
Re-thinking PORTION SIZE: eating a little bit of something you love is more pleasurable than eating loads of it.
According to Pierre Chandon, the overall enjoyment we get from eating something is not the SUM of the enjoyment that you take from each bite, but the AVERAGE. Sometimes, even just the last bite determines how much we enjoy something.
Think about it: the first bite you take of a food you love is heavenly. The next bite is a little less so, and on and on. The final bite can sometimes taste bland or leave you feeling stuffed, and not in a good way.
I totally get this. When I start eating something I love, it’s fab. After a couple of bites, unless I’m eating very mindfully, I’m not really thinking about it anymore. If I’d just had a couple of bites, the pleasure I would have taken, on average, from eating that food would be very high. If I’d just kept on eating, for the sake of it, the average pleasure I would have taken from it would have decreased over time.
What an interesting, and very simple, idea to bear in mind when selecting what to eat!