Seasoned dieters know plenty of the tricks for keeping their eating in check.  Beyond the usual strategies - eating right, getting plenty of exercise and maybe keeping a food diary – they might use more subtle tactics for keeping portions down.   They’ll use smaller plates or taller glasses, for instance, to give the illusion that they’re getting more food and drink than they really are.  They’ll make sure to put tempting foods out of sight – and keep healthy ones in plain view.  What they may not realize is that there are other influences in the environment – much less obvious ones – that could still throw their eating off course.Candles, music and the one you love may be a recipe for overeating.  Subtle cues in your surroundings can affect how much  food you eat.

When you sit down to eat, there’s a lot more going on than just you interacting with the food on your plate. You’re actually receiving all sorts of stimuli from your environment – what you’d call the ambiance, the mood or the “vibe” – that can have a real impact on how much you eat.

• Eating alone vs. eating with others. Most people eat less when they’re by themselves than they do when they’re with other people. The more people at the table, the more you’re likely to eat.  With one other person, you’re likely to pack away about a third more calories – but if you’re with a gang of seven or more, you’ll eat about 75% more than if you went solo.  One reason is that meals with others usually last longer than meals eaten alone.  So - as long as there’s food around – the longer you sit, the more likely you are to keep eating.

• How you feel about your companion(s). If your dining companion makes you uncomfortable – let’s say you’re having a job interview over lunch – you’re probably going to eat a lot less than if you were out with your closest pal.  Not only do we eat more when we’re in the company of friends, but we tend to model their eating behaviors, too.  If we’re out with a bunch of hearty eaters, we’re very likely to follow suit.

• Mood lighting. This one’s tricky, because lighting can work both in your favor and against it.  On the one hand, the brighter the room, the more aware you are of what you’re eating – which would seem to suggest that bright lights might help you eat less.  But bright, harsh lighting can also be unpleasant, which might lead you to eat more quickly. Eating quickly doesn’t necessarily mean that you eat less.  When you’re shoveling it in, your stomach doesn’t get a chance to tell your brain that it’s full – and that can lead to overeating.  On the other hand, when the lighting is soft and warm, you tend to feel more relaxed – meaning you’re more likely to stick around the table longer … and keep eating.

• Music to your ears…and your stomach. Just as bright lights can quicken your eating pace, studies say that playing loud, fast music does too.  However, soft jazz might not be much better as you may not eat as quickly, but your meal is likely to last longer.  If you’re home, that might mean a second helping… and if you’re out, it could lead to dessert or another drink.  Any music, it seems – in fact, just a generally noisy environment – tends to encourage eating.

• Color me hungry. The effects of room color on eating behavior is a bit scanty, but it has been shown that bright room colors tend to get people amped up – which means they eat more, and more quickly. That would suggest that soft, muted room tones would slow you down.  Which isn’t a bad thing – unless it leads you to linger a little longer at the table.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Everyone has his or her own pattern of  “regularity” – it might be every day, or it might be three times a week

I’ve seen literally hundreds of clients in my career, and while I can’t claim to remember every single one, there are a few I’m not likely to soon forget.

• Mr. M was a short, slightly built, elderly gentleman who came to my office each week wearing the same plaid sport coat, bowtie and hat.  He complained that his bowels weren’t working properly. And to prove his point, he’d pull from his pocket a spreadsheet – with full details of everything he’d ‘expelled’ the previous week.
• Mrs. R had similar concerns… but instead of a spreadsheet, she brought me pictures.  Truth be told, this was just fine with me, because what these clients were trying to tell me was that they had questions about whether or not they were ‘normal’ – and they were looking to me to provide some answers.

When I ask clients about their bowel function, most of them will tell me everything is fine.  But plenty of themdo say that they’re ‘irregular’ or they’re ‘constipated’.  So it’s worth asking what really defines ‘regularity’ or ‘constipation’.  Is twice a day too much?  Is twice a week too infrequent?

Here’s the lowdown.  The majority of people think that anything other than a daily bowel movement is just plain wrong.  If they go every other day – even if it’s a ‘smooth move’ – they’ll say they’re constipated.   The thing is, constipation isn’t just about how often you go (or not) – it also has to do with how difficult it is for you to get the job done.

If you’re healthy, constipation is usually suspected if you’ve gone three days or more without a bowel movement.  By that time, enough water has been absorbed from the waste material in your gut that it’s likely to be hard and compact – and, therefore, difficult to pass.  But three or more days isn’t a hard and fast rule for defining constipation – you could have difficulty going after only two days, too. On the other hand, there are those who routinely ‘go’ only twice a week – with no difficulty whatsoever – and, rather than calling them constipated, we’d say they’re ‘regular’.

That’s because the range of ‘regularity’ among healthy people is huge – anywhere from three movements a day to three a week.  Even though some people’s bowels move like clockwork, most people don’t go at the same time every day, or even with the same frequency day in and day out.   That makes sense if you think about it – you don’t eat exactly the same foods every day, or at the same time.  Things like diet, exercise, hydration, stress, travel and medications can all affect how quickly or slowly waste material travels through your system.

Even though there’s a wide range of what we call ‘regularity’, the strategies for promoting healthy bowel function are really the same for everyone.  Include plenty of high fiber fruits, veggies and whole grains in your diet, drink plenty of fluids, and get regular exercise.

And when nature calls, be sure to listen.  People often put off visits to the restroom – they’ll say they’re too busy and can’t take the time just then.  Yes, the urge often passes if you ignore it – but the longer you wait, the less likely it is that you’ll have a ‘smooth move’.

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife. Herbalife markets products for digestive health and digestive cleansing.