Thursday, March 24, 2016

Weight Loss, More on Bugs,

I have often been told by weight management authorities to use a smaller plate for my meals. This finally explains why.

Answer: The Delboeuf Illusion
The Delboeuf Illusion, named after the Belgian mathematician Joseph Delboeuf who created it
in the late 1880s, is a simple illusion wherein there are two identically sized filled-in circles placed side-by-side, but one of the circles is surrounded by another circle (ring). Despite the identical size of the two filled-in circles, people consistently rank the circle-within-the-circle as being smaller because the presence of the outer circle (ring) creates a perceptual error.
So how can an optical illusion that creates a perceptual error in size help anyone lose weight? It turns out that the same mechanism that leads us to believe the circles are not equal in size can also apply to serving sizes on plates. In a series of experiments, researchers from Georgia Tech and Cornell University demonstrated that study participants consistently took up to 13 percent more food than they intended when using larger plates. The smaller the plate, the more likely the participants were to not only portion out less food than the people with the larger plates, but to undershoot their portion goals by 12 percent.
The take-away? Serve your meals on smaller plates. The smaller the plate, the bigger the food looks and the less likely you are to over serve (and over eat).
I stole this from How to Geek. They often come up with some interesting  trivia in their emails and this was certainly one.

I have been telling the realtors here that we are getting bugs from across the hall. This morning the pest control people came and worked on the hall carpets for about an hour. Not sure what they were doing. Matt said they had all kinds of buckets of stuff and they were obviously using a machine as well. However, it means somebody finally listened to me. Oh, by the way, I was NOT bitten last night. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it will continue. Neighbour lady said she hadn't been bitten for 10 days. I was very envious.

I guess I am either getting tired or extremely lazy, but I bought some of my local store's Decadent Molten Chocolate Cakes for Easter. We have had them before and they are delicious. I am pretty sure there are 4 in a box. They were on special, two boxes for $8 so, yes, I bought two. Well I am all for a bargain after all!! They keep fine in the freezer.  Actually I was a tad annoyed with the bakery dept. at Zehrs (our local store) because I phoned them to check they still had them. Thought they might have been a Christmas item. In the first place the girl I spoke to in the bakery didn't seem to know what I was talking about then she asked someone else in their department and they didn't know either. Yet, when I went to the store, there they were.  Matt used to make these, but he doesn't do much cooking any more and as I will be dealing with a roast of lamb and the trimmings, I took the easy way out.
However, on the assumption you may not be feeling as lazy, here is the recipe Matt uses. It is really very easy. These have a lot of different names, Lava Cake is one often used. Actually, if you eat these cold, they are also delicious.

Warm Chocolate Cake (Volcanoes)

6 oz Bittersweet Chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
3 egg whites
1/3 cup all purpose (plain) flour

1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). In heavy pot on low heat, melt chocolate and butter together. Cool slightly.

2. Beat together sugar and egg yolks with electric mixer until thick and creamy, about 4 mins.

3. Pour in chocolate mixture and beat together for 5 mins.

4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, about three mins. Fold into mixture along with flour.

5. Pour into 6 nonstick buttered moulds or non-stick muffin tins (we use cocottes or ramekins). Bake for 5 to 7 mins or until edges are just cooked and centre is still liquid. Cool for 5 mins in cooking dish. Carefully remove to serving dishes. Serve with lightly whipped cream

Freeze, uncooked, overnight or up to 2 weeks if you wish

Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Take ramekins out of freezer and remove plastic wrap. Bake volcanoes for 18 minutes - no longer! Cool on rack for 5 minutes. The outsides will be crusty and the centers will be gooey - sort of like your average volcano.

Servings: 6

Source: Food & Drink

Have a great day
 

20 comments:

  1. I had heard from some weight loss people before that the "average" size of a plate 50 years ago was what we consider a salad plate these days. We have gotten bigger plates and we expect them to be full. A doctor I typed for had a great weight loss program. Take a plate, divide it into fours. Two fourths of it is salad. One fourth is protein, the other fourth is carbohydrates. That seemed doable.

    I hope one day you will be like your neighbor and not have bites for many days in a row.

    betty

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    1. Well I was in England at that time and I don't remember the plates being any smaller there Betty. I have seen that divided plate idea. In fact, I found losing weight easy by writing down what I ate every day.

      Me too Betty. Me too.

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  2. Hi Jo - those smaller plates make sense when serving up meals. Glad the bugs haven't bitten overnight - and hope they cleared the landing area ...

    Enjoy preparing for your meals at the weekend - and enjoy those chocolate volcanoes! Cheers Hilary

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    1. It's one of the things Weight Watchers touted Hilary. I never saw the reason why. I hope so too. Trouble is I still itch and have trouble identifying the date of the bite.

      I hope to do so Hilary. Are you cooking at Easter or going somewhere for a meal/s?

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  3. Fingers crossed you don't have any more of those horrible bugs!!! I use a smaller plate for my food than Russell....who loads his dinner plate up and then some. I've tried to get a handle on his portions but he's used to demolishing a ton of food at one sitting. So when he's home, I try to make food that's OK to take heaping portions of, like soups loaded with veggies. Or I make him a giant salad that's 90% lettuce.

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    1. Thanks JoJo. I figured out yesterday was exactly 2 months from when it all started. Difficult to plan eating for someone else especially if they are not interested in dieting. Trouble is he's not always eating at home.

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  4. Glad you weren't bitten!
    Makes sense that we would think we have more on a smaller plate.

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    1. Me too Alex. Still itching though.

      It does make sense I agree.

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  5. Hope the bugs are gone. Yechh! As for plates, my holiday guests tend to pile it on as high as it goes no matter the plate size. I did notice that the salad plates for my new china are larger than traditional salad plates. It is what I usually use now for my meals. Dinner plates are like platters.

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    1. I would like to think so Denise, but if I can keep them out of our beds that is a good start.

      I sold my china so I just have Corelle these days with no salad plates just dinner plates and bread plates.

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  6. Winning the battle finally! Kudos!
    Don't even want to talk food or plate size, my stomach hurts! Blah!

    OMG, talk about death by chocolate! :)

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    1. I hope Yolanda. Trouble is the bites I have still itch, they go quiet for a day or so then pop up again so I am not always sure if they are new or old ones. Sorry your stomach hurts.

      What a way to die though.

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  7. it's about time they do the halls! I have heard about the smaller plates and agree that bigger plates means more food on the plate. The lava cake looks yummy

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    1. I do so agree Birgit. I had imagined the bugs trotting up and down the hall and popping under a door every so often. Actually the plate size makes little difference to me personally as I allocate how much of what I/we are going to eat and that's it.

      They are yummy. You should check with your local Zehrs.

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  8. Finally they listened to you! Of course they'd be lurking in the hall carpets. Little monsters. Enjoy those lava cakes. Why make them when you can buy them so cheaply?

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    1. Yup they did Pinky. That's why I bought them, my excuse anyway.

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  9. Woohoo for not getting bit last night. Now here is to many more nights like that ahead. Also, I've had that happen to me when I've called stores before too. Sometimes, they don't know their butts from their eyelids.

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    1. I have a new bite this morning, but just one and I'm not sure when I got it.

      Odd, because our store is usually better than that Ivy.

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  10. After over-indulging in India (and Fuerteventura) we're both dieting/eating sensibly for a couple of weeks ... no wine either unless we dine out with friends. But on the basis I'll be entertaining people in Fuerte next month I'll save the lava cake recipe to use then. I served your recipe for squidgy chocolate pear pudding to them previously and that went down well!

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    1. LOL, you shouldn't have pigged out on all those curries etc. Sue. I bet it was good though. I still haven't read your blog from India, I will get round to it though. Just life has been so all consuming lately. Those lava cakes are absolutely wonderful. Be careful not to overcook though as you will loose the liquid in the middle. Still taste good but not the intention.

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