Categorical Eating

You've heard of the "clean plate club." Some of us grow up with moralizing parents who instill an eating ethic of wasting no food. But there's more to this than just cultural programming. The "clean plate" syndrome, at least in part, has to do with how our minds work, with our minds' reliance on the notion of a category.

Let me explain: when we want something, we want a something rather than a certain amount of that something. When we want a banana, we want its taste (substance), rather than its size or shape (form). At the same time, it's hard for our minds to envision the banana substance abstracted from its form. So, when the mind wants banana substance, it ends up wanting it in the form of a banana. Thus, the thought "I want banana (substance)" unconsciously morphs into the thought "I want a (one whole) banana."

As a result, a desire for a taste, mediated by category-driven perception, predetermines the serving size. We see things in units - and we end up eating them in units - forgetting that these naturally-occurring units have nothing to do with our physiological needs. In sum, the mind perceives and consumes in categories. And since a category is a unitary concept, eating half a banana leaves us with a sense of being unfinished, with a lack of closure. Therefore, we clean our plates to unconsciously prevent a sense of lacking closure. It would be too odd to think that you had a banana when you know you only had half of it. A half of a banana isn't a banana, after all. So, our decision to stop eating, instead of relying on fullness, becomes a matter of whether we are done eating a particular category of food (like a banana).

To help you guide your decision to stop eating by a consideration of substance, not form, experiment with re-thinking your portion size decisions. Instead of thinking to yourself that you want an apple (which means a whole apple, a unit of apple fruit), rephrase your desire in terms of the flavor you want. More specifically, try to say to yourself that what you want is not an apple per se, but a taste of an apple. This way, when having experienced the taste of the apple, you would feel finished, even if you are not finished with the rest of the apple.

 

 

Follow Pavel Somov, Ph.D. on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eatingthemoment

Comments

[Cactusman]

I can see where this is a useful concept to keep in mind, but I also think that the ideas here are better used on foods that are more fattening or unhealthy than fruits. Go eat a whole banana, or an entire apple, but DON'T go eat a whole dozen donuts or a whole bag of chips.

Try practicing feeling that a half-bag (about 4.5 oz) of chips, or a third of a bag (3 oz) is a unit, and that you can get two or three units out of each bag. Try thinking of one donut as a unit, not three or four.

And for heaven's sake, take them out of the bag or box with the other units, because you are much more likely to eat more than one serving if they are right in front of you. Nowadays I take a bowl and pour about half of a 9-oz bag of chips into it, and fold up the remainder of the bag and put it away. That way I usually end up eating only about 700 calories worth of chips, rather than 1400, which is so easy to do when you are idly munching as you cruise through articles like this one at Huffington Post! :-)

[Arithrianos]

I just want to say this is a cause for a lot of suffering, we are mistaken in catagorizing what we want, we confuse the "substance" for the supposed carrier of the substance. Wealth is an easy example, we mistake material "goods", which are burdens and suffering, for the feeling of wealth, as if you need permission to feel wealthy. Peace is another, one can be peace in the midst of conflict and chaos, all you need is to not confuse the experience for the outward form. Very good point though, never thought about it like that.

[jhNY]

I was and am a member of 'the clean plate club'. Trick is-- make small portions and eat what you've made. Throwing food away is a result of poor planning, as is making too much and eating same.