Clean plates affect calorie totals

ITHACA, N.Y., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- To avoid mindless snacking during the Super Bowl, football fans would do better to fill a plate, eat, and then stop, advises a U.S. expert.

The Super Bowl ranks No. 1 in terms of home parties, and it ranks No. 2 in food consumption, according to researcher Collin Payne of the Cornell University Food and Brand Lab.

In a Champaign, Ill., sports bar, 53 Super Bowl partiers were treated to an all-you-can-eat chicken wings buffet. The party was actually a study, during which waitresses bussed the chicken bones from half of the tables and let them pile up on the other half.

Sports fans eating off of clean plates ate 43 percent more chicken wings than those whose bones stayed on their plates.

"These leftovers served as boney reminders of how much they had eaten," says Brian Wansink, author of "Mindless Eating." "This kept them from mindlessly eating more."

"In general, it is important to have some idea of how much you have eaten. Serve yourself onto a plate, and then stop when the plate is empty. This is the best strategy for unintended overeating at your Super Bowl party," says Wansink. "Dish it out, eat it slowly, and stop."