Kitchen Tip to Avoid Over-Eating

Find out why the modern kitchen layout might be contributing to some unhealthy eating habits. Learn a simple trick to help discourage your family members, and yourself, from overeating.

Could the modern kitchen layout be contributing to unhealthy eating habits? Half a century ago, the average American kitchen measured about 80 square feet and the kitchen was mostly closed off. Food was served in the dining room and the kitchen light was turned off after the dishes were cleaned.

Compare that to today, with the 225-square-foot kitchen serving as a place for the whole family to hang out. Central islands, identified as among the most requested features for a newly built kitchen in an American Institute of Architects survey, open up the temptation to serve buffet-style dinner, and that’s “a disaster waiting to happen,” Dawn Jackson Blatner, a registered dietitian and spokeswoman for the American Dietetic Association, told the Washington Post.

Blatner suggests people stop eating “family style,” where they keep the food out on the kitchen island and invite family members to help themselves. Instead, she recommends putting one serving on a plate, taking it out of the kitchen and eating it in the dining room. That’s because if food is in our sight, it will most likely end up in our mouth.