Plate Size Does Not Affect Perception of Food Portion Size.

Plate size does not affect perception of food portion size.

J Hum Nutr Diet. 2013 May 6;
Penaforte FR, Japur CC, Diez-Garcia RW, Hernandez JC, Palmma-Linares I, Chiarello PG

BACKGROUND: Evidences have suggested that larger utensils may provoke ‘size-contrast illusions’, influencing the perceived volume and food consumption. OBJECTIVE: To analyse the influence of plate size on the visual estimate of food portion size. METHODS: Two 400 g portions of pasta with tomato sauce were presented on two plates of different diameters (24.0 and 9.0 cm). Each participant visually estimated on an individual basis the quantities of the pasta portions (g) present on each plate. In addition, each subject classified the size of the portions on each plate as ‘small’, ‘medium’ and ‘large’. The mean estimates of the amount of pasta on each plate were compared by the nonparametric Mann-Whitney. The differences in the frequencies of portion classifications between plates were evaluated by the chi-squared test. RESULTS: Forty-eight students (average 25.8 ± 8.9 years) participated in the study. There was no difference in the median amount of pasta estimated for the large and small plates (150 g; range 50-500 and 115 g; range 40-500 g, respectively). The classification of the portion size as ‘large’ was reported by a significantly greater number of persons when they evaluated the amount of pasta arranged on the large plate compared to the small plate (47.9 versus 22.9%, respectively; P = 0.018). CONCLUSION: The size of the plate did not influence the estimate of food portions, even though it did influence the classification of portion size. HubMed – eating

 

Daily Patterns of Anxiety in Anorexia Nervosa: Associations With Eating Disorder Behaviors in the Natural Environment.

J Abnorm Psychol. 2013 May 6;
Lavender JM, De Young KP, Wonderlich SA, Crosby RD, Engel SG, Mitchell JE, Crow SJ, Peterson CB, Le Grange D

The role of anxiety has been emphasized in etiological/maintenance models of anorexia nervosa. This study identified daily patterns of anxiety in anorexia nervosa and examined the likelihood of the occurrence of eating disorder behaviors in each trajectory, the daily temporal distribution of eating disorder behaviors in each trajectory, and the extent to which the tendency to exhibit particular anxiety trajectories was associated with baseline diagnostic and trait-level personality variables. Women with full or subthreshold anorexia nervosa (N = 118) completed a 2-week ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol during which they reported on a variety of behavioral and affective variables, including anxiety and eating disorder behaviors. Using latent growth mixture modeling to classify EMA days (N = 1,526) based on anxiety ratings, we identified 7 distinct daily anxiety trajectories. Overall differences between trajectories were found for rates of binge eating, self-induced vomiting, body checking, skipping meals, and dietary restriction. Furthermore, distinct daily temporal distributions of eating disorder behaviors were found across the trajectories, with peaks in the probability of behaviors frequently coinciding with high levels of anxiety. Finally, traits of personality pathology (affective lability, self-harm, social avoidance, and oppositionality) and the presence of a co-occurring mood disorder were found to be associated with the tendency to experience particular daily anxiety trajectories (e.g., stable high anxiety). Findings support the presence of within-person variability in daily anxiety patterns in anorexia nervosa and also provide evidence for an association between these anxiety patterns and eating disorder behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved). HubMed – eating

 

The Psychometric Properties of the Readiness and Motivation Questionnaire: A Symptom-Specific Measure of Readiness for Change in the Eating Disorders.

Psychol Assess. 2013 May 6;
Geller J, Brown KE, Srikameswaran S, Piper W, Dunn EC

Readiness for change, as assessed by the Readiness and Motivation Interview (RMI), predicts a number of clinical outcome variables in eating disorders including enrollment in intensive treatment, symptom change, dropout, and relapse. Although clinically useful, the training and administration of the RMI is time consuming. The purpose of this research was to (a) develop a self-report, symptom-specific version of the RMI, the Readiness and Motivation Questionnaire (RMQ), that can be used to assess readiness for change across all eating disorder diagnoses and (b) establish its psychometric properties. The RMQ provides stage of change, internality, and confidence scores for each of 4 eating disorder symptom domains (restriction, bingeing, and cognitive and compensatory behaviors). Individuals (N = 244) with current eating disorder diagnoses completed the RMQ and measures of convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity. Similar to the RMI scores, readiness scores on the RMQ differed according to symptom domain. Regarding criterion validity, RMQ scores were significantly associated with ratings of anticipated difficulty of recovery activities and completion of recovery activities. The RMQ contributed significant unique variance to anticipated difficulty of recovery activities, beyond those accounted for by the RMI and a questionnaire measure of global readiness. The RMQ is thus an acceptable alternative to the RMI, providing global and domain-specific readiness information when time or cost prohibits use of an interview. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved). HubMed – eating

 


 

Eating Disorders Awareness Week: Facts – National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (US): 2/25-3/4 I’m sorry you’re so close to my face in this video. I’ll try not to do it again.