Are Good Old Fashion Family Values Making Us Fatter?

Like many Americans, I was taught growing up to eat everything on my plate. Food left behind was treated almost like a crime, so from a young age, I learned to clear my plate of everything. Sometimes this meant eating, even if I was full, or not even considering the status of my stomach and just packing it in. Not necessarily a good thing…

This has gotten me thinking recently: is the idea of clearing your plate really a good thing? It’s true that there are starving people in the world and needless waste is a terrible thing, but is stuffing yourself silly just to have a clean plate any better? Sure, it depends on portion sizes, of course. If you don’t have much food on your plate, then clearing it without feeling sick is easy, but what about those of us who tend to overeat and thus force ourselves to eat more than we need and/or want? In that scenario, surely we are doing more harm, than good?

Now, I didn’t start thinking about this out of the blue, but rather, was prompted to think about this, after watching British food programmes like “Supersize vs. Superskinny”, “You Are What You Eat”, “Secret Eaters”, and “My Big Fat Diet Show.” A pattern I was noticing with overweight individuals in the UK and in the USA (this was highlighted in “Supersize vs. Superskinny”) is the fundamentally engrained concept of clearing one’s plate. Hey, I’m a big girl too, and you know what, I was taught this same idea. I’m equally guilty of this and I am overweight. 

I don’t want to generalize because I cannot speak for other parts of the country and I cannot speak for other people, but it seems like in America, bigger and more food is considered better. Furthermore, there is just so much fast food and unhealthy consumer products out there and overeating is easier than ever. These mentioned facts about food in America, coupled with this indoctrinated dogma of clearing one’s plate, are a recipe for disaster! (Forgive the pun). 

I know that what I am saying isn’t original and heck, you might be reading this saying, “is she only figuring this out, now?” My answer is, I always knew that overeating was a significant cause for obesity in the USA, but I never really thought about it in conjunction with what I was taught as a kid….not until it was pointed out to me by these shows. I mean seriously, 9 out of the 10 obese individuals said that their bad eating habits began as children when they were forced to clear their plates, however, their plates kept growing, forcing them to eat more.

So now I am wondering: what should we teach future generations? I don’t condone wasting food, but then again, I don’t support forcing someone to eat beyond capacity. So either food portions need to decrease or we need to tweak what we teach; we need to stop conditioning people to clear their plates and focus more on whether they are full or not! I think the easier option is to create smaller (and healthier) portions. What do you guys think?

Of course, the obesity crisis is much more complex that what I have said in this post. There is nutrition, junk food, exercise, and much much more to consider, but I guess I wanted to look at a slice of the obesity crisis, but from a more psychological point of view.