The Surprising Thing That Makes You Eat More

Most restaurant portions are getting laughably huge, so it’s always exciting when multiple sizes are offered. But watch out: You may eat more than you want to just because of how your portion is labeled. When an order of food is called “regular,” people consume more calories than when the same portion is called “double-sized,” according to a new study from Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab.

Researchers gave two groups of participants two different portion sizes of spaghetti: 1-cup and 2-cup servings. In one group, they labeled the sizes “half-size” (1 cup) and “regular” (2 cups), while the other group saw “regular” (1 cup) and “double-sized” (2 cups) labels. When participants thought they were eating a “double-sized” portion, they consumed an average of 140 fewer calories than the people who thought their 2-cup portion was the norm.

While it’s comforting to know that labels like “double” usually deter people from clearing their plates, the fact is that many restaurants’ “regular” sizes are actually pretty excessive. And if you assume that’s the norm, you may be taking in way more calories than you need. “Without some sort of cue about how big the portions you’re eating are, you just assume this is a normal size and you eat it,” says study coauthor David Just, PhD, associate professor at Cornell University. “And alternatively, if it’s labeled the mega-portion, you have some cue that you shouldn’t be eating all this.”

Unfortunately, not all restaurants list various sizes of the same item on a menu. So Just suggests thinking about portion control before the enormous plate of pasta hits the table. “You can request a half portion,” he says. “Often they don’t have it on the menu but are willing to do it if you ask.” And if they don’t offer that option, you can always ask them to put half of the entrée directly into a to-go box for you to take home. “The real trick is to have some forethought,” says Just. Because you know once that laptop-sized “personal” pizza is in front of you, you may not be able to resist eating the whole thing.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

More from Women’s Health:
Lose More Weight
The Low-Calorie Way to Satisfy Cravings
The Easy Way to Eat Less 

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The Surprising Nutrient You Need While Pregnant

From fighting caffeine cravings to stomaching prenatal vitamins, moms-to-be take great care to make sure everything they put in their mouths helps to keep their growing babies healthy. Unfortunately, despite their efforts, most expectant mothers aren’t getting enough iodine, a mineral that impacts neurological development, according to new research.

The study, conducted by researchers from The University of Adelaide, followed nearly 200 Australian women throughout their pregnancy and six months after giving birth. Although eating bread fortified with iodized salt (a common practice in both the U.S. and Australia) increased levels of the nutrient, most women still had a mild deficiency, says lead study author Vicki Clifton, PhD, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at The University of Adelaide’s Robinson Institute. Only women who also took a supplement throughout their pregnancy met the World Health Organization’s recommended intake of 220 micrograms of iodine.

Why is the nutrient so important? Iodine deficiency during pregnancy can lead to high blood pressure for mom and can also negatively impact baby’s physical and mental development. While eating iodine-rich foods (like seafood, yogurt, and fortified bread) can boost your intake, the easiest way to get the right amount is by taking an iodine supplement for expectant mothers, says Clifton.

That said, getting too much iodine is also dangerous; it can lead to hypothyroidism in both mom and the little one she’s expecting. So before popping any pills, ask your gyno for a urine test to see if you’re deficient. If your levels are good, there’s no need for a supplement—just keep your diet consistent throughout your pregnancy to ensure you continue getting enough of the nutrient.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

More from Women’s Health:
What You Need to Know About Home Births
How Your Second Pregnancy Is Different from Your First
3 Steps to Have a Healthy Pregnancy

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The Surprising Danger of Skipping Breakfast

You know that breakfast has plenty of benefits: It boosts your energy, curbs your midday cravings, and helps keep you at a healthy weight. But if you’re still skipping the first meal of the day, there’s another perk you’re passing up: Missing even one breakfast each week increases your risk of type 2 diabetes by 20 percent, according to a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers from the Harvard University School of Public Health analyzed the eating habits and health outcomes of 46,289 women over the course of six years. At the end of the study, they found that women who skipped breakfast here and there had a 20 percent higher risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes than those who ate it on a daily basis. The risk is even higher for full-time working women who missed their morning meal sometimes: 54 percent. The importance of a daily breakfast held up after the researchers adjusted the results to account for the effects of age, BMI, carbohydrate consumption, cigarette smoking, alcohol intake, physical activity, and working status.

Another study of more than 3,000 men and women published in Diabetes Care found that eating breakfast frequently also lowers the risk of obesity and high blood pressure. That same University of Minnesota study revealed that only 35 percent of participants actually ate a meal every morning, though.

Why is eating breakfast so important to your health? Turns out, it’s all in the timing. “When you go to bed, your insulin level is flat—not too low, not too high,” says lead study author Rania Mekary, PhD, research associate at the Harvard University School of Public Health in the department of nutrition. When you don’t ‘break the fast’ in the morning, your insulin level drops—so when you have lunch later in the day, it’s more likely to spike, then crash again.

Over time, this constant flux in insulin levels can cause your body to build up an insulin resistance, which can lead to type 2 diabetes. Fortunately, you can cut your risk significantly by sticking to a daily breakfast schedule. You should aim to eat within an hour or two of waking up, says Mekary—and coffee or tea alone won’t cut it.

While even unhealthy breakfasts were better for lowering diabetes risk than no breakfast at all, researchers found the best outcomes resulted from daily breakfasts that were low in sugar and high in nutrients like fiber and protein.

Need some morning meal motivation? Try one (or more) of these tasty, healthful recipes:

Oats-Almond Mixed Berry Crisp

Photo: Kana Okada

Fruit and Spice-Cut Oatmeal

Photo: Mitch Mandel

Minted Honey-Lime Fruit Salad

Photo: Mitch Mandel

Double Tomato and Turkey Bacon Omelette

Photo: Mitch Mandel

Soy Milk Berry Smoothie

Photo: Kurt Wilson

photo (top): Lifesize/Thinkstock

More from Women’s Health:
10 Healthy Breakfast Recipes
Tasty Breakfast Treats
Oatmeal Recipes That Will Change Your Life Before 8 am

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The Surprising Thing That Makes You a Better Driver

You know that talking on a Bluetooth headset, texting, and touching up your mascara mid-commute are all off-limits, but there is one thing you don’t have to fret about doing behind the wheel: cranking up the radio. Listening to music while driving doesn’t pose a dangerous distraction, according to a new study. On the contrary, participants in the study often drove even better and focused more intently on the road when the radio was playing in the background.

Researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands actually suspected that listening to the radio would make driving more hazardous, so they tested the effects of music on experienced drivers by conducting two studies: The first placed fifteen participants into driving simulators while they watched a video of someone else driving and listened to the radio (but didn’t actually “drive” themselves). At the end of a 40-minute session, researchers asked participants to recall what they had heard on the radio. They found that, overall, participants remembered little of what they’d heard, indicating that they focused much more on the road than they did on the music and often tuned it out.

The second study tested the same people while they actually drove in the simulators. Participants got to choose the type of music they listened to and drove through both low- and high-risk traffic situations. As a control, researchers also had these participants drive through the exact same traffic simulations without background music.

By comparing the drivers’ ability to focus on the road in both situations, researchers found that participants who listened to music while driving in high-risk situations effectively tuned it out to focus more carefully on driving safely. And interestingly, participants who listened to music while driving in low-risk situations actually focused even more intently on the road and drove better than they did when they didn’t have the radio on.

Study author Linda Steg, PhD, professor of environmental psychology at the University of Groningen, says that because low-complexity driving situations—think long, winding roads—can be very boring, music helps improve your performance by sharpening your focus and keeping you alert.

So should you be blasting Beyoncé every time you turn on your engine? While researchers found nothing to suggest that high-tempo music would cause problems, cranking up the volume might not be the smartest strategy in stressful driving situations, says Steg.

“People almost automatically turn it off when the situation becomes too complex,” she says, based on anecdotal observations. Participants in the study didn’t have this option, but they were able to mentally block out the music anyway.

Not all noise is created equal, though. Steg cautions against listening to talk radio while driving—and of course “listening” to a cell phone call isn’t the same as listening to music. Since these require more attention than music does, you’re less likely to devote your full attention to the road—and more likely to get into an accident. Ditto changing the station or CD while on the move.

photo: iStockphoto/Thinkstock

More from Women’s Health:
“Should I Worry About Driving When I’m Tired?”
Should I Worry About Driving with a Hands-Free Cell Phone?
Should I Worry About… Driving After a Drink?

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