Controlling Our Intakes

“There is a difference between eating and drinking for strength and from mere gluttony.”—Henry David Thoreau

Henry Ford is one of the greats of all time. 

He was a visionary entrepreneur who pioneered the mass production of automobiles among many other useful developments. He was a definition of worldly success by many standards.

In his mid-seventies, he was asked about the secret of his great success. And he gave very simple answer, which some of us may find quite difficult to practice.

Meanwhile, only one of his three core-value answers is what I need for the purpose of this article but I will mention the three so that we can learn his full personal secrets for our own use but I will stay focused on the first.

Here are his answers: 

Number One: “I never overeat.”

Number Two: “I never worry too much.”

Number Three: “Whatever I do, I do my best, and I know whatever happens to me, it is for my best. I trust in the Lord.”

Now let’s get back to the theme of this write-up: controlling our intakes, which happens to be the number one secret of Ford’s uncommon functionality. 

From the words of Henry Ford above, this seemingly ordinary idea is the number one principle behind the greatness of the phenomenal industrialist.

Please consider the sentence again: “I NEVER overeat.” And he said this after seventy decades on earth. 

Take note that this was not coming from a Prophet or a saint or a nutrition expert. This was coming from a multimillionaire in the age of sensuality and hedonism, as Benjamin Franklin wrote, long before Ford’s time: 

“In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.”

Now, how many of us can honestly make the same claim?

I know I can’t. 

But if you can truthfully make that claim, then maybe you don’t to read the remainder of this article. 

However, if you need more discipline with regards to what you take in, the essence of this article is to prod myself and yourself to always eat for purpose rather than for pleasure. 

A remarkable woman, Helen Keller—like Ford— understood that the real joy of life is not about satiety but about purpose and meaning. She said: “True happiness is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”

Greatness is built upon principles and morality. As Henry Ford demonstrated, it is clear that the foundation of great success is often made up of some basic moral principles that many people do overlook as ‘no big deal.’ 

So, if we want success—whether spiritual, intellectual or material kind— our daily choices must be guided by sound principles and good system of practical ideals, like controlling the portion of whatever we put in our mouth.

Our Turn

If you get the import of Henry Ford’s ideal and you want to control how much you take in, one proven way to changing your eating behaviour is by making a slight change in your culinary cues: the size of your plate. 

When it comes to eating moderately, the medium rather than the food itself could be the determining factor. No matter how ordinary this idea may sound to you, don’t dismiss its power to strengthen self-control.

Imagine a buffet arrangement where you can go into a room filled with many delicacies, and serve yourself with no one looking over your shoulder to judge the amount of food you are putting in your plate. 

Each person enters, suit himself and goes out alone to reserved arena to enjoy the meal. Under this setting, my guess is that most people will pick large plates and fill the plates accordingly.  

Even though you might sense that the quantity of the food you are serving is probably more than enough but, the size of the plate will still make you think it is really not too much. And, that is the beginning of eating far more than your body needs.

This has actually been proven by two scientists from Georgia Institute of Technology and Cornell University: Koert van Ittersum and Brian Wansink respectively. They discovered that a shift from twelve–inch plates to ten–inch plates resulted in disproportionate reduction of twenty-two percent in calories intake. 

You see, it doesn't matter what you're eating, your mind can tempt you to eat based on the size of your plate and the quantity of food it contains. Therefore, choosing a smaller plate will help reduce the amount of food you eat and allow you to feel satisfied at the same time. 

Another proof of this is found in the book, ‘The Spirit of Kaizen’ written by Robert Maurer, PhD. He writes: “One of the strongest determinants of fullness is purely psychological.  It’s whether you finish everything that is given to you. To feel full with less food, put your meal on a smaller plate.”

In conclusion, if we want to get accustomed to controlling our intakes, we don’t need to rely on our willpower; we should just allow the small plate help control the portion we take, every time.