If "getting thinner" or "Eating Less" is part of your new year's resolution for 2016, you might want to read this.
A study, published in the Association for Consumer Research, has found that people who eat with their forks tend to crave and want to eat less food than those who use their spoons.
Dining with your fork not only means eating in a much slower pace but also taking in smaller bites, as a result, scientists say that it could also lower your total caloric intake compared to eating with a spoon.
Portland State University Marketing Professor Courtney Szocs, who co-authors the study, have said that even though consumers opts to eat healthier alternatives, they still end up eating more or a lot because they use a spoon.
When it comes to dessert, your fork is still your best eating buddy. If you want to say "trim", better gobble your sweets in smaller portions and in a slower pace, giving it more chewing time.
In a series of experiments conducted for the research, respondents were given a bite sized sample of a food, like a small serving of chocolate cake along with either a spoon or a fork. The participants will decide which utensil to use. They were then asked about their perception on how many calories they thought they have consumed, and if they wanted to eat more.
Dr Dipayan Biswas, a marketing professor at the University of South Florida, the study's lead author, said: "In most cases when we eating at home, a friend's place or a restaurant we might reach for the fork or the spoon based on what's given to us or based on what's most convenient." She added that "the findings of our research show whether you eat the same food with a spoon or a fork has strong implications for how much food you eat."
She advised people who wants to lose weight to choose the fork when eating, "In most cases it might be a wise decision to eat the food with a fork, chances are you'll eat less."
