Brian WansinkReseñas

I read this book a while back and appreciated the insights. I was disappointed to find out that much of his research was flawed.

Pretty cool (and often funny!) studies of how we make decisions regarding food. Helpful suggestions for mindless healthier eating and weight control.

Interesting content written in a bloated and boring manner.

We see what we expect to see.

This book saddens me because it makes me realize how easily manipulated by packaging, marketing, and words. But the book is a delight to read.

Brian writes with a clever wit and a silly sense of humor. He's informative while still entertaining.

Stories of note ... the lemon Jello that tastes like cherry Jell-O, the never empty soup bowl, Dakota wine, and the fact that Campbell's soup buying advertising time when it's cold and rainy (so that's why soup is such a "comfort" food). We all could use a more mindful eating.

I do wish that I do live closer to some of these tasting kitchens.

This is not a diet it book. It is about why we eat what we eat. i found it interesting and informative. It talks about the tricks that food companies use to sell you their products and some tips you can use to fight them.

A great overview of the brain's ability to mindlessly consume food much to our detriment. Wansink also offers a hack for many of the mindless ways that we overeat. Although many of his studies have since been retracted, this book still offers an interesting (and at times humorous) peek into the human mind. A peek that can apply beyond food to technology, politics, etc. Easy and enjoyable read, but just the tip of the obesity iceberg.

A little too much overlap between this and his previous book. Otherwise, good.

I remember being interested at the time, but in retrospect, it's very forgettable.½

This book has a lot of really interesting information! There are parts where I laughed out loud because it was so funny. Wansink is an engaging and thorough writer who give a different perspective on why diets fail.

Why we eat more than we think

This is not a diet book, but rather a practical guide to better eating. The bulk of the book is comprised of interesting science and studies that explain how we eat mindlessly (much of it obvious things like plate size, but much of it good reminders about unconscious habits). The studies are coupled with practical, doable ideas on how to make subtle changes that will last. Good stuff!

Interesting writing style, plenty of research, useful insights and practical strategies for change.

3.5 stars

This book explains why so many of us eat mindlessly, without thinking about how much we are eating, resulting in weight gain. Portion sizes are a big one, including packaging and plate size. But, there are plenty more reasons than that. The author describes plenty of studies that explain this and includes tips on how to cut back.

I thought this was very interesting, though much of it makes sense when you think about it. The nice part of this book is that he has the studies to prove these things. I would love to be able to do some of the things he suggests. I actually wish I owned the book, so I could refer back to it later. I didn’t even go into the book looking for ways to lose weight, just to read some interesting information! I listened to the audio, read by the author, and he did a fine job.½

An outstanding book discussing experiments on why we eat the way we eat, especially why we eat as much as we eat. Very entertaining.

Nice. There's an experiment or ten to back up every claim the author makes about what we eat, where and when we eat it, and how much we eat of it -- and of course, why. Some of it's pretty common sense, but the point is to make you stop and think about food behaviors that we would know about -- IF we stopped and thought about them, which we almost never do. And there are a few surprising facts in here too, as well as plenty of food for thought. Worth a read.

Easy to read, and full of surprising studies and insights, including our consistent inability to correctly estimate how much we really consume in a day. Personally, I would have loved more tips on avoiding mindless snacking, but the central theme of the book - to cut out the calories we won't even notice - seems like genuinely sound advice.
Well worth your time.

This is NOT a diet book, and the advice it gives really isn't anything new.  What is fascinating about this book is reading about all the scientific studies author Brian Wansink and his Cornell University Food and Brand Lab have done on the psychology of our eating habits (and how marketing affects them).

For example:  they did a “bottomless soup bowl” test. When a bowl was secretly refilled with tomato soup — using a tube hidden beneath a table — people ate far more of the soup than usual. That is because people use the amount left in the bowl as a measure of how much they have already eaten.

In another experiment, they found that office workers sitting near clear (see-through) dishes filled with Hershey’s Kisses ate 71 percent — or 77 calories — more a day than those sitting near white (opaque) dishes of the candy. Over a year, that would be more than five pounds of extra weight. Also, they found people ate less from dishes located even as little as six feet away as opposed to candy dishes on or in their desks.

In the first nine chapters of the book, Wasnick concludes summaries of his research with a number of related "reengineering" strategies to help eating move from mindless to mindful.  For example, simply using smaller plates - 9.5 to 10 inches in diameter, rather than 12 inches - results in less overserving and consumption of food.  Even the color of the dishes can make a difference - higher contrast between the plate and the food results in you noticing the size of the serving more.

The tenth and final chapter has Wasnick's plan for mindful eating.  Most diets don't work (in the long rung) because the body recognizes ti's being deprived when you drop your daily intake down to 1500 calories or less.  But, a daily reduction of 100 to 200 calories isn't noticed by the metabolism, and the weight will come off, albeit very slowly.  He calls this 100-200 calories the "mindless margin."

Next, he says to focus on reengineering small behaviors that will move you from mindless overeating to mindless better eating. Common "diet danger zones" include:

* Meal Stuffing (eat fast, cleaning the plate, second helpings)
* Snack Grazing (eat whatever’s available, often out of nervous habit)
* Party Binging (easy to lose track)
* Restaurant Indulging (ditto)
* Desk/Dashboard Dining (convenience, eat fast, multi-tasking)

Food trade-offs ("I can eat X if I do/don’t do/eat/don’t eat Y") and food policies, like many of those described at the ends of the previous chapters, can help you eat some of what you want without a belabored decision.

Finally, he recommends picking just three behavioral changes to start with (for example, drink at least 64 ounces of water daily, chew gum when you want to snack, eat fruit when you want something sweet) and track them on a simple calendar, as it typically takes about 28 days to develop a habit.

Wasnick concludes the book with the statement, "The best diet is the one you don't know you're on," and that's certainly true.  I will be trying some of the recommendations in this book!

© Amanda Pape - 2013

[This book was borrowed from and returned to my university library. This review also appears on Bookin' It.] ½

This is not boring, dry, or painful. Dr. Wansink is funny, insightful, and just a little bit scary. Scary because I now look around at everyone wondering if they are carrying a clipboard and writing notes on everything I buy at the supermarket. Then I remember that the studies Dr. Wansink does are based on eating...not buying. Then I start to become suspicious of the drive-thru clerk or the cheerful cashier at the cafeteria.

Apart from my sudden suspicions about why people are staring at me, this book makes me take a look at how I eat, how I perceive food, and how companies try to make me buy/eat their products.

Some of what the good doctor writes, I know. Use smaller plates. Focus on the food. Typical axioms of weight loss. Some, I didn't know. Think 20 percent. See what you eat. Commonsense if you can stop and think about your food, your hunger, and your goals.

The statistics and the studies used to support the book are fascinating. It makes me want to be involved in the studies and the labs. There is a lot of information that one can pull from Mindless Eating. One thing I love is that the book doesn't focus on the food you eat, but HOW and WHY you eat it.

This was interesting, and answered a lot of my questions about tomato soup, the "Cinnabon Effect," and the Burger King Bill of Rights.

This was interesting, and answered a lot of my questions about tomato soup, the "Cinnabon Effect," and the Burger King Bill of Rights.

This was a really interesting book, not as much a diet as a anthropological look at humans and how we are so easily fooled into gorging ourselves and how many businesses take advantage of this.

very light but still interesting book about the psychology behind our food/eating habits.

A great book more about eating behavior than the food we eat. And backed by clinical studies! Fascinating read.

I think this is a great book for anyone trying to eat better and lose weight. The author gives all kinds of examples from his research that are just fascinating, really illuminate why it is so hard to "go on a diet." He's funny, too; for example, when recommending "real ethnic restaurants" he notes that "McDonald's is not a Scottish restaurant." This kind of gentle, humorous commentary fills the book. He asks us to try, not to eat right, but to eat better. His weight-loss strategy is centered around what he calls the "Mindless Margin;" by cutting 100-200 calories a day you will be 10-20 lbs lighter after a year. Not as fast as we want to lose, but sustainable without feeling deprived. My only criticism is because I listened to the audiobook version -- there are a lot of tables and it's difficult to catch that when the reader has to try to narrate the contents of a table or graph. But I think this is so valuable I'm going to buy a written or ebook version so I can have his suggestions and strategies in black and white in front of me.

I loved this one. I’m not a fan of self-help books or diet books, but give me something where research has been done on how the human brain works and I’m sold. This particular book gives us study after study showing how and why we eat the way we do. I loved seeing all the examples of the author’s theories in action; stale popcorn at the movies, bottomless soup bowls, full dishes of Buffalo wings,

The mindless margin was a particularly helpful bit. Apparently our bodies won’t notice if we eat about 200 calories more or less, so aim for less and your body will never know! There are the obvious hints about using smaller plates, leaving the serving dishes in the kitchen to make yourself think a bit harder about that second helping, and keeping food out of your line of sight, etc. But most of their info comes across as fresh and interesting.

BOTTOM LINE: Helpful tips with easy real-life application. A must for anyone attempting to change their eating habits or anyone interested in seeing how our brains work.