5 Surprising Reasons You Eat More When Dining Out
Many of us think that making healthy choices when dining out is a case of mind over matter. If you tell yourself you’re only going to eat half of that personal pizza, you’ll only eat half, right?
Not necessarily, says Julie Downs, Ph.D., an associate research professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University: “It turns out that people are spectacularly bad at knowing when they’ve had enough.”
You might be surprised at how much external forces—such as the size of your meal, what’s on the menu, and even the people you’re eating with—can affect what you order and the amount of it you end up eating. Here are five things to be aware of that might inadvertently cause you to overindulge when you’re dining out:
1. Going Out With Friends
Sharing a meal with your buddies can be a great way to blow off steam, but according to research done in the past three decades, dining out in groups could cause you to consume more food than you would otherwise; a phenomenon researchers have dubbed the “social facilitation” effect.
Scientists aren’t exactly sure why people eat more in the presence of others. It typically happens when you’re dining with friends or relatives; eating with people whom you don’t know well appears to make some people self-conscious, so they eat less. Some researchers believe that socializing distracts you from realizing that you’re satisfied.
Another theory is that people view meals they eat with others differently than they do meals they eat alone. Dining out feels more celebratory, and that can lead you to order more food than you’d normally eat—cocktails, appetizers, and some dessert. And in a restaurant, you’re more likely to treat yourself because there are so many tempting options, while at home, you’re limited to what you have in your fridge.
The fix: When the food arrives at your table, take a minute to focus on it before digging in. Notice what’s on your plate as well as the portion size and consider what you really want to eat (versus what you might reach for just because it’s there) and whether it’s the amount you’d normally eat. It’s okay to indulge occasionally, but if you frequently go out for group lunches or dinners, try to plan ahead by perusing a menu beforehand to come up with a meal game plan.
2. Falling Into Marketing Traps
Remember when Subway pitched itself as a sandwich shop that could help you lose weight? While the chain does indeed have healthier options, those ads were very effective at giving all the dishes on the chain’s menu a healthy reputation, says Downs. “People tend to think of Subway as healthy relative to other fast food chains, so they end up ordering incredibly high-calorie and high-sodium meals, all while thinking they’re making a healthy choice.” But it’s just as easy to overdo or make less healthy choices at a restaurant that has a “health halo” as it is at any establishment. Indeed, a study led by the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute found that teens took in 1,000 calories and 2,000 milligrams of sodium at both Subway and McDonald's. Another study from Harvard Medical School found that customers more often underestimated the number of calories they consumed at Subway compared to other restaurants.
The fix: Don’t make assumptions. Ask questions about how your meal is prepared and pay attention to the nutritional information (if available). Healthy-sounding dishes may not always be your best pick. For example, the Frontega Chicken Panini at Panera Bread has 210 more calories (750 vs. 540) than their Roasted Turkey & Avocado BLT. The chicken option also has 2,050 mg of sodium—the daily recommended maximum is 2,300 mg—compared to 940 mg in the BLT.
3. Eating Gargantuan Portions
When food is in front of you, you’re probably going to eat it, says Downs.
Take this classic study from the early 2000s, where a team of researchers led by Brian Wansink from Cornell University invited a group of college students to a tomato soup lunch with a twist: Half of the subjects’ bowls were covertly rigged to be “self-refilling.” No matter how much soup they ate, their bowls remained full.
Those with the never-ending soup bowls ate much more than their normal-bowled dining companions—73 percent more, which was 113 calories-worth—in the 20 minutes they were given to dine. They also believed that they’d eaten about 140 calories fewer than they actually had .
Why? Because it was there, says Downs, who was not involved with this study. On average, she says, the majority of people aim to eat everything on their plate, even if they don’t intend to.
This could be because people may have come to believe that the portion sizes served at restaurants are a normal and acceptable amount of food, the researchers say. We also tend to use our eyes rather than our stomachs to determine if we’re sated. When lacking visual cues—such as the decreasing volume of soup in your bowl as you slurp—you might get lulled into eating more than you realize.
The fix: Order smaller meals to begin with. Instead of the unlimited buffet or the entrée-sized fettuccini, try an appetizer and a salad, or a small plate and a soup. Some restaurants offer half orders or appetizer sizes of main courses. When you do get an entrée, ask your waiter to box half your meal before she brings it out to you. Or better yet, share it with a friend.
4. Ordering Off the 'Light' Menu
Many restaurants have a separate section on the menu, or an entire menu, that offers “ligher” choices to appeal to diners that want a healthier meal. But a study from Babson College found that the mere presence of healthy dishes on a menu actually caused people to select a less nutritious meal.
Here’s why: “When there are healthy dishes available, people do think about ordering them. And just the fact that they’ve considered those options leads them to feel kind of virtuous—but then they get the french fries,” says Downs. Or, she notes, people may order the salad, but then they’ll overcompensate for their healthier choice by getting dessert.
The fix: Order ahead. In one study, Downs and her colleagues found that choosing a meal beforehand—placing your lunch order just after you’ve eaten breakfast, say—will help you eat fewer calories at that next meal. According to Downs, people may be less swayed by high-calorie options if they’re not hungry when they decide what to have. If it’s not practical to order ahead, plan ahead. Many establishments provide detailed nutritional information on their websites and apps. If you go into a restaurant pre-armed with some healthy options, you’re less likely to be swayed by the junk.
5. Thinking What’s Healthy for the Average Joe Is Healthy for You
When you sit down at a restaurant and see that a dinner entrée is labeled as having 800 calories, it’s hard to know if that’s high or low for you. Most people are familiar with the information on the Nutrition Facts Label on packaged foods, which is based on a 2,000-calorie diet. So they may assume that’s how many calories they need. But, Downs says, that’s not the right level for everyone.
For example, a somewhat active 120-pound, five-foot-four, 30-year-old woman needs 1,750 calories per day to maintain her weight. A somewhat active, 175-pound, six-foot, 55-year-old man should aim for 2,250 calories per day.
The fix: Calculate it out. Figure out how many calories you should eat per day, divide that number by three, and that’s roughly how many calories you should eat per meal. (Of course, some people eat less in the morning and more at night, so adjust that calculation as needed. Don’t forget to allocate some calories toward snacks.) There are online calculators that use your activity level, age, gender, height, and weight to estimate how many calories you need. Know this information before you dine, and if possible, check the menu’s nutritional information online beforehand to find out which meals fall within your range.
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