Clearing your plate syndrome

thedguy

thedguy

rides with Rebecca Black.. in the back
Joined
Jun 18, 2004
Messages
9,006
Location
Orange California
Car(s)
(OO=[][]=OO)
Were you raised to "finish your plate" no matter how full you were? Do you still find yourself following that policy?

My older brother and I were raised in a house like that, but my brother got more of it than I did. The result, he will eat just about anything and has to fight to keep his weight down and will ALWAYS clear his plate no matter how much food was put on it. I on the other hand am more of a picky eater and will stop before I'm full and I generally don't vary in weight much or have to try and keep it down. This seemed to ring true with a few of my more weighty friends... but not all.

I'm curious if this is mostly an American mentality, a "I grew up poor as shit" mentality, or if I'm finding something in nothing.
 
I think when I was really young my parents tried to get me to finish everything. I'm a very, very picky eater and I have a small appetite, so they just stopped trying. Today, I only eat until I don't want it anymore; I rarely eat until I'm full. Most of the time I feel nauseated before I get full (strangely, this generally applies only to the food I've been eating, and I can continue to eat other foods until I'm full).

Edit: I'm very good at knowing how much food I will eat, so I'm not very wasteful at all.
 
Last edited:
I was brought up to clear my plate, but the plate had the right amount of food on it and what there was on there was hard earned. We weren't very well off when I was growing up as mum was a nurse and Granny was only on a state pension. Also bear in mind that I grew up in an era before video games were commonplace, kids TV was only on for an hour or two a day and we had to find our own amusement a lot of the time which meant being outside and expending energy.

That said when my g/f first cooked for me I was staggered about how much food she prepared for just two people but in the last 6 months she's been allowed in her kitchen only 2-3 times whenever I've been here. I cook and eat what I need and I think she is beginning to get the hang of portion control. Not that she's fat, she just had a freezer full of leftovers!
 
Last edited:
I always had the commitment to devour everything on the plate. I'm not sure if that came from my parents however. I was obese until I was 24. The real killer was drinking soft drinks like water.
 
Last edited:
With me, it is the other way around. My mother (still) always tell me, I don't have to eat everything, but it is just too good, I can't stop. Even if I want.

It was never a problem because I didn't gain any weight from eating all day. It was impossible for me to gain weight until about 2 years ago. I ate 2 warm meals a day, at least 3 plates per meals.

But about 2 years ago it changed, may also have to do with that I don't have the same time than before to do sport. Now I have to be a bit more careful. Still empty my plates, but I don't put such huge amounts on it than before.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, sadly yes... While yes I'm a bit fat, I've sort of hit a plateau in that department. I've changed my diet and it's never really done anything as far as increasing or decreasing my weight. So I don't know. Really I should be exercising more. It's hard to keep a good schedule because in my line of work one minute the plan could be to stay in town, the next minute you're off.

But I still have great stamina. I don't get out of breath/ tire easy, nor am I weak. I call myself a brick.
 
Last edited:
I usually clear my whole plate, unless I am at somebody else's house or am at a restaurant or something. It seems everybody else is used to bigger portions than I can handle, I east as much as possible but I get to a point where I just can't digest it.

Any food I don't eat at home usually goes in the fridge for later if it can be re-heated anyway, I always get hungry around midnight so it ends up being my super.
 
I was also brought up that way but mainly with the "You eat up what's on your plate, if you like it or not. In Africa children are starving" dogma.

Today my mother feels bad about it.
 
My old pastor had a massive food fight that ended up him and a couple friends sling shooting fish off the roof of the church. Needless to say some deacon or some such showed up in the middle of it all and ruined it by giving the starving kids in Africa speech.
 
I can't remember if I was ever brought up that way, I don't think it's ever been a problem because I'll eat anything and I only ever fail to clear my plate when I'm ill.

I don't eat out of guilt though, I enjoy food. I don't like to see anything go to waste but I'm not a minesweeper.
 
card carrying member of the "clear your plate, kids in *insert country here* are starving" club.

the way it's affected my eating habits sucks, especially since my metabolism literally nose dived after say...age 12.
 
Talaaya said:
I hate that saying. YOU wanna take this half plate of spaghetti over to Africa? No? Then quit trying to manipulate me with guilt!
Click to expand...
Heh, yeah. That annoys me, too.

I grew up with, "You must take at least one bite of everything," not "clear your plate". In my mother's house, I ate breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and bedtime snack. My grandmother felt I was too thin, and would feed me breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner (supper in her parlance), and bedtime snack. I ate all, except most of the vegetables (one bite of each!) and ran around and played and stayed skinny.

I kept eating whatever I wanted whenever I wanted until my early 20s. I stayed active in college, getting myself around mostly on foot. But with a desk job came less mobility, less activity, and I had to start portion control. I started eating more vegetables, mostly to help with health (my hair is so much better with veggies in my diet), but I found I'd feel more full with fewer calories consumed, and stay full longer, if I ate a good dose of veggies. I start with the thing I like the least, and finish with what I like the most, so I'd eat the veggies first (and slowly). This has kept my weight constant since my RA was brought under control. I've been the same weight - within about 10 pounds - for my entire adult life.
 
I've been thinking about the question more sincerely and I have to say, that I have to distinguish between two cases. When I'm inviting somebody to lunch/dinner, I usually put the stuff on a plate/bowl on the table, and everyone can take as much as he/she wants on his own plate.

And I also somehow expect, that people clear their plate then. Mustn't be to the last crumbs but I HATE it when people pile up a huge amount of food on their plates and after 1/4 or 1/2 of it they say I don't want anything anymore. I think that this behavior is very impolite. Because when there are leftovers, I'd like to keep it in the fridge and eat the other day. But I don't keep stuff, that was on other peoples plate.

It is a different story, when someone gets handed a "loaded" plate where they had no influence at all how full it was.
 
idk said:
And I also somehow expect, that people clear their plate then. Mustn't be to the last crumbs but I HATE it when people pile up a huge amount of food on their plates and after 1/4 or 1/2 of it they say I don't want anything anymore. I think that this behavior is very impolite. Because when there are leftovers, I'd like to keep it in the fridge and eat the other day. But I don't keep stuff, that was on other peoples plate.

It is a different story, when someone gets handed a "loaded" plate where they had no influence at all how full it was.
Click to expand...

My eating happens have pushed many of my family gatherings to go more toward the "lets put food out and let people get it." Seems to be lest wasteful. I hate wasting food. Like people say "there are children who can't afford to eat tonight."
 
My family calls me the garbage disposal.
 
Both sides of me family were brought up with a you'll eat what you're given mentality. Father's family had it ground in to them that tea was ont table at 6 an' if you weren't there it went int dog/pigs. Mother's family however were a bit different in that tea was ready when it was ready. It were me granddad that did all the cooking an' baking an' if the kids didn't like what he made them then it was tough titties you either ate it all or went hungry. Though me mam told me that me Uncle Pete did try an' steal one of me mam's sausages off her plate once when they were little an' she stabbed him int back of the hand with her fork. :| Me granddad did have a go at me sister whe he cooked something she didn't like. He'd give her the whole "There's nowt wrong with it" thing then he'd mention "them starving Biafrans" as he called them.

When I was little though I ate everything I was given but mother didn't try to force more food in to me, she knew what I could handle. That wasn't till later when I didn't put ant weight on for about 4 years and she put me on high calorie/high protein shakes too.

It's different now. I only eat one meal a day but I sort of snack a bit before then, nowt spectacular. But me father is in my house; me an' me mam are positive he can't stand us eating because we're eating food that HE could be eating. We'd be sat down having our tea and he's constantly looking at your plate waiting for you to leave something so he can have it. Even if you have a bag of sweets or a bag of crisps he has to pinch some off you or he gives you this death glare that says "where's mine an' why aren't you getting me a bag? Chop chop now." So anything we do leave on our plates that we can't finish usually goes in me dad unless it's gone cold or whatever, then it goes int bin.

Remember the last Rolo thing? If you love someone you'll give 'em your last Rolo? Me father said that to me mam, if you love me you'll give me your last Rolo but he just wanted the last Rolo so me mam couldn't have it. So she threw it in her gob an' started chewing it. Dad made her spit it out. :blink:

There is a lot of waste in our house but again it's me father's fault, he has a habit of buying several of one thing; opening one, leaving it then opening another one. Me an' me mam make food that is okay for a few days or can be part of the next meal/be made in to something else (tight Northerners) or whatever.
 
Yeah, happened to me too. Didn't matter how late it got, you sat at that table until the plate was cleared.

That combined with having Asthma, and the fact I didn't have very many social opportunities as a child (only child, lived away from school friends, no relatives of similar age) meant that I didn't get to go outside and play much, so I rarely burnt off any of what I ate. I've been overweight basically my entire life. Possibly because they thought they needed to 'build me up' as I was born 6 weeks early in an emergency C section.

Now my parents whinge at me about being fat and not doing enough exercise. Not like they set a great example, both are overweight, and not very active.
 
TV programme here yesterday about the decisions made in the 1970s by Politicians and food company executives that has directly caused the epidemic of obesity.

If a guest when eating the polite thing to do is to leave a small amount on your plate, says that the host has provided more than enough and is generous, too much and you do not like his/her food, none and they have been mean.

A Cobol74 top tip, NB I never get invited out - too grumpy.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top