Women Tend To Eat As Much As Their Companions

The findings of a very interesting study were recently published in the world’s leading mass media. A team of experts of Radboud University in the Netherlands found out that today’s women tend to copy eating habits, portion size, the number of servings, the type of beverage, and other factors related to eating, from their friends and companions who they are sharing their meal with. As the experiments have shown, we tend to eat as much and as fast as those who we are sitting at the table with. Therefore, a new effective weight loss technique was developed: eating with a greedy companion or with a person who eats very little.

The study involved observing and recording eating habits and eating pattern of 70 pairs of women, who had no weight problems or eating disorders. At that, one of the women was a participant of the study, and another was a specially instructed actress. Their task was to have meal together, sitting at the same table and having a friendly conversation. Each of two women was served the same type of food and a jug of water. However, there were no limitations on the number of courses, so each every woman was free to eat as little or as much as she wanted at the moment.

It became apparent that all participants started repeating everything their companions-actresses were doing. Surprisingly, it was related not only to the number of courses, but even to the timing and number of their mouthfuls. Thus, it was noticed that in most situations, one women was taking a bite within 5 seconds after another woman has taken a bite. It is interesting that the tendency to repeat the movements and patterns of the companion was peaking in the beginning of the meeting, and later on two women tended to feel more relaxed and get more individual in their approaches to eating.

Specialists suggest that such behavior of women can be explained by their desire to earn some high esteem from their new friends, or strengthen their relationship by copying the eating patterns of each other. ‘The women were adjusting their eating pattern to the others especially at the start of the meal when they wanted to get along with each other and maintain a positive social relationship,’ Roel Hermans, one of the study leaders, said to the mas media. Some further research is needed to find out whether such behavior of women is conscious or unconscious, but even now we can effectively use the findings of the experts from the Netherlands for our own benefit!

Author Info: Hi! My name is Carla and I am a 5th year medical student at HYMS. I am interested in alternative medicine and I have done months researching the topic of herbal medicine. Besides, I like interviewing people and learning more about their experiences with one or another type of herbal treatments. I am willing to contribute to this site with my knowledge, and I would be happy to help you out to the best of my ability with any specific questions or problems related to alternative medicine.

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