Size matters…..plate size AND design to be more precise.
The brain is a pretty smart thing. It thinks, does complex equations, remembers tiny details and can be fooled.
Try a little experiment. No special equipment needed and you don’t have to be a scientist. You will need a lab partner. Send your partner out of the room. He or she cannot see what you do next. Get 2 plates, one with a larger rim and one with a smaller one. Plates without rims work too, as long as they are two different sizes. Into each plate, measure exactly the same amount of food. Now comes the fun part. Ask your trusty sidekick to look carefully at each plate and tell you which plate contains more food. What did you discover? I’ll wait while you check your results.
It is likely that your lab partner thought that there was more food in the plate with the larger rim, even though each plate contained exactly the same amount of food. This over/underestimation may not be huge, but simply knowing about it can help you to avoid portion distortion.
So…….use this optical illusion to your advantage. A larger rimmed plate results in smaller quantities on your plate.
Remember, you eat with your eyes too.
http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ijo2013169a.html