Big Forking Deal

A recent study shows that the size of the utensil you use to eat might have a bearing on how much you eat.

In the study, diners were given forks either 20% smaller or bigger than a standard fork to eat their meal.  The plates were weighed before being taken to the diners and again when they were finished.

After controlling for factors such as lunch versus dinner, whether alcohol was consumed, and initial plate weight, people with small forks left less on their plates (4.4 ounces) than people with big forks (7.9 ounces). And the larger the portion size, the greater the gap.

Basically, researchers figure, if you have a small fork, your brain is telling you that you aren't making as much progress on the dish as you think you should be.  So you start chowing down even more.  The opposite goes for the larger fork--you feel like you're eating more and leave more on the plate. 

So what's this mean?  I don't know.  Use a huge fork when you eat and you'll lose weight?  I doubt it.  Eventually I think you're brain would catch on, don't you? 

Read a little more about the study here.