Eat, drink and be merry… and keep your men around!
Posted on 19. Aug, 2009 by Ze Frollein in Communications, Health, News, People
Wherever you go, whatever you do, read or watch, there is no place in this country where you aren’t bombarded with news, information and advice on what to eat, what not to eat, when to eat, how to eat and, most importantly, how to shed pounds whilst eating….
If you are one of those people who are quite interested in all this (like me), you will certainly crave the story I came across in the Metro last week entitled “Eat with men to get slim, ladies”
The article highlights the fact that women apparently eat less when dining with male friends – and the more men around, may it be husbands, dates or colleagues, the better for the ladies’ waistlines.
In reverse, when in an all women scenario, as seen many times with Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda in Sex and the City, women turn into omnivores consuming more calories and food including a fair amount of ice cream and chocolate.
So, the lucky formula seems to be woman + (lots of) men = weight loss. But would this also work for the stronger sex? Well, in one word ‘no’. Men’s food selections are neither based on the number nor the gender of their dining companions, according to the study.
Meredith Young, researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, sheds some light on the psychology behind these findings: “The diet industry targets female consumers and product advertisements typically depict very slim models rather than average-sized or overweight female models, she says, so food choices appear to be weighed against how others perceive them. In other words, smaller, healthier portions are seen as more feminine, and women might believe that if they eat less they will be considered more attractive to men.”
Aha, interesting! To all those men out there, now you know why we stick to the salad on a first date instead of that delicious bowl of pasta.
For anyone who’s appetite has been wetted by this post, look out for the full study in an upcoming issue of the appropriately named journal Appetite.
