Want to avoid obesity? Having less food is not the solution

Lifestyle shibboleths old and new are being shattered with alarming regularity or being turned on their heads, at the very least. Butter and ghee are back on tables after a prolonged exile by the cholesterol police, opposition to eggs is cracking too. Even wines are teetering, as opinion makers — scientific and otherwise — are in two minds about their health implications.

Sugar, however, appears to be the only element whose ‘bad’ image is ballooning, drawing attention to its infamous consequence: obesity. Nevertheless, a new study that identifies another shibboleth as an accessory to the crime of obesity will be difficult for many to swallow: that the time-tested parental admonition to children to clear their plates may lead them to pile on the pounds later in life. More waste for small waist does not seem a practical or environmentally ethical mantra.

Not wasting food is undoubtedly an admirable collective virtue, and is obviously predicated on judicious apportioning of victuals on plates. And the notion that smaller plates lead to less eating is a no-brainer. The role of food trends that push for large plates merely sprinkled with morsels rather than loaded with things edible definitely remain a grey area, as they raise expectations and appetites — and the likelihood of waist-full midnight top-ups.