Unless you have a sandwich for every meal, plates, forks and spoons are typically part of everyday eating. They may look like completely innocent pieces of plastic or metal, but crockery has hidden powers. It has the power to make you overeat.

When discussing the topic of ‘bigger being better,’ fork size isn’t usually mentioned. But the size of these three-pronged eating accessories may be standing between you and your dream body. According to research found at the University of Utah compiled in July 2011, restaurant customers who ate with bigger forks consumed fewer calories than customers with little prongs.

The researchers think customers go to restaurants with a set goal in mind: to ease hunger and enjoy food. Big forks give the impression that customers are achieving their ‘goal.’ Customers with small forks feel like their utensil is failing them, so they start shoveling and overeat in the process.

It’s time to take back control from Mr. Fork and his utensil friends. There are ways to make smart choices so that inadvertent overeating can be avoided. For forks, it’s a case of going big or going home.

But don’t generalize to just what’s in your hand: Plates and bowls play a part, too. People eat more when they have a massive plate in front of them, according research done by the Journal of Consumer Research in November 2011. Authors Koert Van Ittersum and Brian Wansink showed that plates play optical illusions with the brain; we feel inclined to fill a plate without taking into account its size.

‘You fool your mind into thinking you are eating more when the plate is smaller. Bigger plates tend to make us think we need to fill it to get what we need,’ said Ruth Sullivan, a registered dietician at Syracuse University Food Services.

While you watch out for wide plates, don’t be fooled by the hidden depths of a soup bowl. Just because it can hold a liter of New England Clam Chowder doesn’t mean you have to fill it to the brim. My roommate Amy Kee, a junior physical education major, is emotionally attached to her massive cereal bowl. It’s deeper than an ocean trench and probably the reason she’s eating too many Lucky Charms.

‘I just want to fill the bowl,’ she said.

But all is not lost. Plate color is something to consider, and not just to match the kitchen tiles.

In the research conducted by the Journal of Consumer Research, authors Ittersum and Wansink revealed that the color blue turns off hunger instincts. Eating off a blue plate may curb hunger. Blue is unappealing to eat because rarely any naturally occurring food is blue. And no, Peeps don’t count.

When you try to limit how much you eat, don’t match your food to your plate. Eating spaghetti Bolognese off a red plate is a recipe for tight jeans. And don’t forget the color of your furniture. High color contrast between a plate and the table means more food in your stomach.

And children are just weird. Kids will eat more when their plate has rainbow-colored items on it, research in Acta Paediatrica found. I knew the Hello Kitty plate I bought in Tops was ruining my life.

But before deciding to redecorate the whole house in a quest for appetite suppression, spring clean the friendship closet first. Sullivan warns that we mirror what, and how much, our friends are eating.

Research is yet to be carried out on the love child of forks and spoons: the spork. Having taken CHE 117: ‘General Chemistry,’ and understanding the scientific process, I will hypothesize that the simultaneous spearing and scooping capacity of the spork could spell diet disaster for hungry stomachs.

Iona Holloway is a magazine journalism and psychology dual major. Her column appears every Wednesday. As a disclaimer, her blue M&M addiction is proof that candy cravings are immune to the ‘hunger hates blue’ rule. She can be reached at ijhollow@syr.edu. 

Published on April 3, 2012 at 12:00 pm