Do you eat more when you are dining in large group? I don’t. In fact I feel awkward when I have to dine in large group or communal gathering even though I already know everybody else there.

Somehow I don’t feel like eating much food when I am in social gathering or some sort. However that's not the case with majority of children according to this research. Children who eat in large group consume 30% more than those who eat in small group.

For most of my friends, I see that they tend to eat faster and much more when they are dining with a group.

According the researchers, the cause of this behavior is the stimulant provided by the sight and sound of others who are engaged in the same activity (eating and talking). Somehow it overrides the satiety signal.

According to their observation, those who eat in large group tend to eat 30% more food, eat faster and don’t pay too much attention to what they eat.

So it’s advisable for children who eat too little to dine more with family and friends to encourage more consumption. While for those who eat too much, it’s advisable to avoid food court and fast food restaurant where the ambient may trigger them to eat more. How about you?

Research from Medical News - Web MD.

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Wearing pedometer can help you to lose more weight and improve your physical fitness according to a research.

This small inexpensive device is mainly sold for $15 and can motivate those who are not so physically active to become more active.

The researchers evaluated studies covering 2767 patients who were not physically active. As a result, those who wear pedometer walked over 2100 more steps compared to those who didn’t.

I guess when you are wearing pedometer then you become motivated to walk more steps and see that little number adds up. This is especially true when you have goal such as walking 10,000 steps everyday.

"Much to my surprise, these little devices were shown to increase physical activity by just over 2,000 steps, or about 1 mile of walking per day." (ref: Medical News)

While 2100 more steps or one more mile may not seem to be a significant improvement, it equals to 27% increase of physical activity according to the researchers. It’s amazing how simple idea can beef up your exercise and your health. Go wear one and aim to walk specific number of steps today!

Research Abstract
Image from: Omron HJ-112 Pedometer - Amazon

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It’s amazing how simple idea can actually becomes the solution of our problem. And it’s even more amazing to see the inventors profit so much just by mass producing simple idea to solve our problem. Portion control plays an important role in our dieting, and many people have problem in applying it. A UK based company decided to monetize on that fact and created simple plate with marked area for different food.


According to a study quoted by BBC, diabetics who used this marked diet plate lost more than 1.75% of their body weight compared to 0.05% (who relied on will power alone).

Sounds like a good product, but there’s one catch. It is expensive. Priced at $30, I think that’s way too expensive for plate.

But you can look it from another point of view too, people have spent A LOT OF money on various dieting products and plans that $30 seems to be insignificant. In fact I like the idea of this marked diet plate better than any drugs or expensive diet food.

Via That's Fit.

Update: Another competitor has sold similar plate for cheaper price here.

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Happy Thanksgiving for those who are celebrating. While there's nothing stopping from overindulging yourself, remember that Thanksgiving doesn't last all season. Rome wasn't built in a day, your diet won't be devastated in a day either. But if you end up indulging on the left over for the next 7 days then chance is you will gain a lot of weight.

Enjoy yourself and celebrate it properly. Just remember to get back on track tomorrow. Remember you still have Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year (for those who celebrate it), so there are more feasts coming ahead.

For Thanksgiving link love:

Dinner on calorie budget
Turkey Trivia
Thanksgiving Prayer
5 Easy Ways to Enjoy Thanksgiving
Move Move! on Thanksgiving

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I was tagged by Shern’s Mom to share few health tips and give my thoughts on the existing tips. I was supposed to only bold the tips that I agree with and add few more pointers but I couldn’t help commenting on the existing tips on the tags.

Here are the existing health tips by previous tags particpants (I am supposed to copy the whole thing):

Copy the whole thing, skim the list and put a * star beside those that you like. (check out especially the * starred ones.) Share one of your own health tip (tip on how to be more healthy) with others. Try to make your tip short but informative. Tag at least 2 person.

My response is written in italic below each of the points.

1. Be happy - Everyday health and beauty
Huh?

2. Be contented with what God Bless us – chanelwong
I guess if becoming human with no ambition makes you healthy then so be it.

3. Be faithful – Ruth
While I have nothing against being faithful, I just don’t see how it can help your health if you don’t do something about it anyway.

4. Laugh a lot – Chinnee
Laughing is a good practice to reduce stress, just make sure there’s something to laugh about.

5. Take time out for rest and relaxation – Kiasumum *
Kudos.

6. A real work out for sweating - Dora *
Kudos.

7. Don't worry, worryin is like a rockin chair, it gives you somethin to do, but it gets you nowhere. - shern's mom *
Agree. Better wording is, worrying won’t solve any problem so you need to take action thus solving the problem and making your life somehow a little less stressful.

--
Now it’s my turn:

8. Do your household chores. Doing household chores is a great (although not fun) way to burn additional calories and making your house a little more inhabitable.

9. Can’t stop snacking? Next time eat the snack from the plate instead of the bag.

10. Have enough sleep. It’s vital for your body and health in general. In fact people who sleep less than 4 hours at night are 74% more prone to obesity in the long run (ref).

11. Get a dose of early morning sun daily. It warms you up and it’s great for your skin and body.

12. Sushi is godly.

I am tagging Curry Egg and LifeLongSharing for these tags. Copy the entire list, endorse the one that you like and add some pieces of your thought.

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