Lucy, Michelle, and Karen's Tour of Stern

On Monday evening, we were able to get a 45-minute behind the scenes tour of Stern. It was interesting to see the dining staff tries to incorporate food that wasn't consumed during the meals into upcoming meals. (ie. old bread -> bread pudding, extra roasted potatoes -> soups, extra meat -> chili)

Other interesting facts:

It turns out Stern doesn't really give that much food to SPOON because they just try to use whatever is still good in future meals.

Fascinating to see other side of tray conveyor...despite it's mechanized feel, there are people on the other side simultaneously picking up trays as more are loaded. These kitchen staff scrape any dirty plates and start the large-scale rinsing process.

Lots of prepped food is covered in plastic wrap- potential for more sustainable reusable containers

If you have any questions about our tour just ask!

My Thoughts on the Postings So Far

Folks,

First off, thanks for the postings and the wide range of research that you have turned up. I hope that this research has stimulated some different and challenging ideas for Friday. I've learned some new things from the blog, including:

1) Freshman weight gain is real, but it averages 4-5 pounds, not fifteen.
2) Overeating is not generally caused by hunger alone.
3) The causes of overeating seem to be both environmental and behavioral. It is highly influenced by the social environment.
4) Environmental contributors; fine china, being served the food instead of self selection, buffets that are free, and eating alone all contributed to eating less; stressful environments, playing music, eating with friends, buffet style serving, the all-you-can-eat format, and the increased portion sizes since the 80's can cause overeating.

Portion control comes up again and again as a positive intervention.

Students lack of actionable nutrition information seems to be a problem that a well designed information campaign can be part of solving. But no one wants to read a lot of labels or be lectured to at every meal... is there a way to convey information with a personality or thru humor that would not be annoying?

I also want to direct your attention to a survey of over 100 Stern students done by the team of Jack, David, and Tiffany that demonstrates which meals are the most popular (dinner) and least (breakfast) - indicating where you might focus your attention. Another interesting fact: 52% sneak in without swiping at least once a week. How can this negative behavior be used as a positive?

Another interesting fact: 50% of the wasted food is caused by the kitchen staff (Howe Hall Cafeteria Study...) so only looking at your fellow students isn't going to solve the whole problem. Who has been behind the scenes to see this for themselves?

Discussions with different groups has also revealed that the difference in tray availability in Stern and Wilbur is the primary reason why tray-less compliance is higher. No one has reported whether this is also reverse-correlated to convenience and satisfaction.

"Wayfinding" (getting thru an unfamiliar space without training), and the way food is grouped, as well as the physical layout of the two cafeterias seems to have a big influence on both nutrition and waste. Coming up with some layout rules might be a good intervention?

I'd suggest everyone re-read the blog and then see if you can brainstorming design interventions/solutions that use this data in a clever way. I'm eager to see what you come up with for FRiday.

Relevance

http://me222.wordpress.com/2009/06/11/dp3-final-post-food-waste/

A Stanford Design Student of yesteryear:

More than 40 percent of all food produced in America is not eaten, according to research by former University of Arizona anthropologist Timothy Jones. That amounts to more than 29 million tons of food waste each year, or enough to fill the Rose Bowl every three days. Nationwide, food scraps make up 17 percent of what we send to landfills. Although a large majority of this comes from expired and unsold food in stores and restaurants as well as unharvested food, I feel like we as consumers play a significant role as well...

...I fought this problem on two fronts: eating out, and eating in my room. When eating out, I obviously would try and pick my food wisely so that I would actually like it. But more importantly, if I ever had any “good food waste” left on my plate, I’d take it back to my dorm to eat as leftovers. Granted this guaranteed me some weird looks sometimes, I actually saved A LOT of food.

I also tried to maximize my meals at houses and dining halls because the food was already prepared, and any food I didn’t eat would probably be thrown out in a few days anyways. ~~what have we here? A misinformed designer?!

...I spent only $503 this quarter compared to $1035 from last quarter,

Good Times in ME222

Team: Cory, Robin, Bryce

Retirement homes strike back

Residents who determined the quantity of each menu item they wanted were more likely to eat what they had selected...residents served food on china and by trained wait staff also discarded less service waste at breakfast and lunch than residents receiving tray service...Systems that included china service; some form of wait-staff service; an element of menu-item selection; and pleasant, comfortable surroundings generated less SFW.

Not the zenith of relevance, but still interesting:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B758G-48CDYKC-7M&_user=145269&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1099984162&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=0da2a8ee667814c13af3c39ce2c1ecc2

Team!!!: Robin, Cory, Bryce

Going Trayless and Brainless

http://www.dailyprincetonian.com/2009/04/03/23257/

Criticism on Princeton's "trayless" dining techniques. It's not as effective as some may think.

Jack, David, and Tiffany

Overeating at Buffets

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article3720047.ece

Basically an article discussing why we overeat at buffet-style dining halls. People feel like they need to get their money's worth to beat the system. They also feel like they need to try all the dishes because they've paid for it, even if that only means taking one bite. This results in lots of waste. One other reason is that there's no obvious end to a meal.

Physiological, environmental, and subjective determinants of food intake in humans: a meal pattern analysis.

The spontaneous food intake of 31 adult humans was investigated with diary self-reports of ingestive behaviors and subjective hunger over 7 consecutive days. Meals were identified, using five different definitions, and their composition of total calories, carbohydrate, fat, and protein was estimated from a computer file of the nutritive value of foods. These data were analyzed by intercorrelating meal sizes with intermeal intervals, estimated stomach contents and self-reported hunger with univariate and multiple correlation techniques. Human feeding was found to be regulated on the basis of preprandial factors; the premeal interval, estimated premeal stomach content, and self-reported hunger significantly correlating with the meal size. These correlations were significant regardless of whether the meal was evaluated as spontaneous or constrained by external factors, but were stronger when the meals occurred without other people being present. The postprandial relationship between the meal size and the duration of the postmeal interval, which is present in nonhuman species, was only present in humans when meals that were eaten alone were considered separately. This suggests that the species differences may be due to the social context of observation. The intake of carbohydrate, fat, and protein was found to have a suppressive effect on subsequent intake and subjective hunger through their contributions to total food energy ingested. Protein, however, was found to suppress subsequent intake and subjective hunger independent of its contribution to total calories, suggesting that the macronutrients have differing satiating properties.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3237851?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_SingleItemSupl.Pubmed_Discovery_RA&linkpos=3&log$=relatedarticles&logdbfrom=pubmed

Team Robin, Cory, Bryce

When Choice is Demotivating: Can One Desire Too Much of a Good Thing?

Current psychological theory and research affirm the positive affective and motivational consequences of having personal choice. These findings have led to the popular notion that more choice is better, that the human ability to desire and manage choice is unlimited. Findings from three studies starkly challenge the implicit assumption that having more choice is necessarily more intrinsically motivating than having fewer options. These three experiments which were conducted in field and laboratory settings show that people are more likely to purchase exotic jams or gourmet chocolates, and undertake optional class essay assignments, when offered a limited array of 6 choices rather than an extensive array of 24 or 30 choices. Moreover, participants actually reported greater subsequent satisfaction with their selections and wrote better essays when their original set of options had been restricted rather than expanded. Implications for future research are discussed.

Having unlimited options, then, can lead people to be more dissatisfied with the choices they make. Although such a finding may seem counter-intuitive to social psychologists schooled in research on the benefits of choice, to many of today’s humorists, this phenomenon seems already well known. Consider, for example, this portrayal by Bill Watterson, of one particularly exasperated grocery shopper:

Look at this peanut butter! There must be three sizes of five brands of four consistencies! Who demands this much choice? I know! I’ll quit my job and devote my life to choosing peanut butter! Is "chunky " chunky enough or do I need EXTRA chunky? I’ll compare ingredients! I’ll compare brands! I’ll compare sizes and prices! Maybe I’ll drive around and see what other stores have! So much selection, and so little time! (Watterson, 1996, p. 107).

For the whole research article: http://www.columbia.edu/%7Ess957/whenchoice.html

Team Robin, Cory, Bryce

The interactions of fluid and food intake in the spontaneous feeding and drinking patterns of rats.

Food and fluid intake are to some extent interdependent. In order to investigate the effect of food intake on the amount of fluid ingested and the intervals between draughts and the effect of fluid intake on the amount of food ingested and the intervals between meals, the eating, drinking, and core temperature of 15 adult male rats were continuously monitored for 14 days. Bouts of feeding and drinking were identified by three different definitions and the contents of the stomach at the beginning and end of these bouts was estimated with a computer model. The core temperature, estimated prebout stomach contents of food and fluid, and the amount of solid or water ingested during each bout were then used as predictors of the amounts ingested in draughts or meals using both univariate and multiple regression techniques. The bout sizes, core temperature, and postbout estimated stomach contents of food and fluid were used as predictors of the duration of the postdraught or postmeal intervals. The amount eaten in meals was found to be facilitated by both the amount of fluid in the stomach and the amount drunk during the meal, whereas the postmeal interval was not affected by fluid intake. Two different types of draughts were identified; draughts that occurred after brief interdraught intervals and appeared to be responsive to factors associated with fluid balance, and draughts that occurred with interdraught intervals over 15 min and appeared to be primarily determined in size and timing by eating. The results are similar to those found in humans and suggest that food intake is modified by fluid intake, whereas, fluid intake is primarily determined by food intake.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2780871

We're thinking of making water more accessible in order to minimize food intake!

Team Robin, Cory, Bryce

Stern Dining Survey

In a quick survey done over email to residents of Stern:

34.7% of people eat breakfast

98.7% eat lunch

100% eat dinner

26.7% eat late night

21.6% of people eat breakfast in the dining hall

80% eat lunch in the dining hall

95% eat dinner in the dining hall

8.1% of people eat in dining hall 1-5 times a week

32.4% eat in dining hall 5-10 times a week

45.9% eat in dining hall 10-15 times a week

17.6% eat in dining hall 15-20 times a week

48.3% of people don't ever sneak in without swiping

36.2% sneak in without swiping once a week

17.2% sneak in 2 or more times a week

30.8% of people generally use a tray during breakfast

65.4% use a tray during lunch

69.2% use a tray during dinner

Jack, David, and Tiffany

College Students, Diets of

In short the article tries to provide reason for the change in diets of college students. It argues that circumstances such as changing schedules, a limited amount of money, and more access to food brings about the "freshman 15". More importantly, the article points out to what diets college students are lacking.

"Of the three nutrients that provide calories ( carbohydrates , proteins , and fats), carbohydrate (particularly sugar) and fat intake often exceeds recommended levels. College students also tend to have a low intake of dietary fiber ,Irregular class schedules, part-time jobs, and variable homework loads can disrupt normal eating patterns among college students, leading to unhealthy habits that may be hard to break. Despite these difficulties, it is important for students to find time for nutritious and varied foods.which is important for intestinal health. In terms of vitamins , a low vitamin C status has been associated with college students' low intake of fruits and vegetables (with levels of vitamin C being even lower among smokers). In terms of minerals , calcium , iron , and zinc intake are low, while sodium intake is generally higher than recommended."
David, Jack, and Tiffany's Team!
Read more: http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Ca-De/College-Students-Diets-of.html#ixzz0XCY7oIRQ

Eating with friends is proven to encourage overeating

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=agr&AN=IND44235959&site=ehost-live

Friendship may be uniquely relevant and influential to youths' eating behavior. OBJECTIVE: This study examined how overweight and nonoverweight youths adjust their level of eating as a function of their familiarity with their eating partner. DESIGN: Twenty-three overweight and 42 nonoverweight youths had the opportunity to play and eat with a friend (n = 26) or with an unfamiliar peer (n = 39). The dependent variables of interest were the amount of nutrient-dense and energy-dense foods children consumed and their total energy intake. RESULTS: Participants eating with a friend ate substantially more than did participants eating with an unfamiliar peer. Furthermore, overweight youth, but not nonoverweight youth, who ate with an overweight partner (friend or unfamiliar peer) consumed more food than did overweight participants who ate with a nonoverweight eating partner. Matching of intake was greater between friends than between unfamiliar peers. CONCLUSIONS: These results extend previous research by suggesting that the effect of the partners' weight statuses may add to the facilitative effect of familiarity and result in greater energy intake in overweight youth and their friends. Behavioral similarity among overweight youth may increase the difficulty of promoting long-term changes because the youths' social network is likely to reinforce overeating. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00874055.

Team Kristen, Taylor, and Alyson (working on a more creative team name, we promise! :D)

Stress Eating

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200311/stress-and-eating

We have all heard that people tend to eat more when stressed (emotional eating), but this article offers a detailed account of why this is.

Thoughts: Might want to consider the mood of a dining hall (loud music? too hot? too cold? time of day?) when observing what and how much food college students eat. Can the mood or environment of the dining hall be changed to be more relaxing, and less fast paced? Offer food that is naturally proven to relieve stress?

Team Kristen, Taylor, and Alyson

Freshman 15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ1FqLOmLGQ

A Youtube video on the Freshman 15 that may help with observations and POV.

The film even offers a few observations about campus dining in the subtitles.

Also see notes in side panel.

Eating section ends at around 1:59.

Team Kristen, Taylor, and Alyson

Reusable take-out container

http://www.sustainablefoodservice.com/blog/campus-dining-trends/

Created a reusable take-out container that students can use (with a $5 deposit). They simply trade the used container in for a clean one next time they eat.

The More Food Young Adults Are Served, the More They Overeat

The larger the food portions available, the more food students eat.

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/134/10/2546

Young and Nestle suggested that the increase in the portion size of food products evident in the United States during the past 20 years may be responsible for the epidemic of overweight and obesity. They based their conclusion on statistical correlations. The purpose of the present study was to provide experimental evidence to support their proposal. Cornell undergraduate students were given access to a buffet lunch on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and were told this was a test of flavor enhancers. They were instructed to eat as much or as little as they wanted. On the same days of the following week, the subjects were divided into 3 groups. Each group was served either 100%, 125%, or 150% of the amount of food they had consumed the previous week. Whenlarger amounts were served, significantly greater amounts of food were consumed. Each of the 4 foods that comprised the meal(soup, pasta, breadsticks, ice cream) increased significantly in proportion to the portion size. The data clearly support the hypothesis proposed by Young and Nestle and support the powerful role that environment plays in determining energy intake and potential increases in body weight.

Listening to music while eating is related to increases in people's food intake and meal duration

The presence of music is associated with higher food intake.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WB2-4K1G51B-60&_user=145269&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1098064936&_rerunOrigin=scholar.google&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=80cd3ecfba192875d406789bdd214c9b

The relationship of listening to music while eating with food consumption in the natural environment was assessed in 78 college students. They recorded their food intake along with environmental factors such as meal duration, music, including speed and volume, location, number of people present and the time of day in a detailed diet diary for 7 consecutive days. The data show that the presence of music is associated with higher food intake. Within subject comparisons revealed higher food and fluid intake and longer meal duration while listening to music but no significant differences in music speed or volume. The likelihood of listening to music appeared to be associated with the environmental variables of the number of people present and the time of day. The presence of music appears to be one of a set of environmental factors that influences food and fluid intake in the natural world.

Food intake as a product of external temperature

Studies concluded that as temperature increased from 60 degrees Fahrenheit, rats consumed less and less food as displayed in the graph below.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov:80/pmc/articles/PMC2602369/?page=3

Variance in the Freshman 15

This study analyzed the variance in weight gain in Freshman. I don't really know what "variance" is, but contextually it makes sense that this would mean where the weight gain can be attributed to. It says that 20% of the variance can be attributed to buffet style dining halls, 20% to snacking on high fat foods, and the 48% to differences in the number of snacks and meals throughout the day.

The freshman weight gain: a model for the study of the epidemic of obesity

http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v28/n11/abs/0802776a.html

First, this study confirms that the amount of weight gain during freshman year far exceeds the norm. Thus, to avoid this phenominon we need to consider two factors: buffet style dining and high fat snacking. Both of these are within the dining hall's power to manipulate.

false sense of dietary security

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/diet/2002-01-10-college-eating.htm

This article pointed out that some students may "have a false sense of dietary security."

"They may think their diet is healthier than it is. For instance, during their freshman year, about one-third of the students eliminated red meat, but many didn't compensate by eating healthier choices such as legumes, soy products and leafy green vegetables, she says. Instead, they consumed more baked goods and cheese. As a result, they consume about the same amount of saturated fat as red-meat eaters, Economos says."

Campus Dining Trends: Going Trayless

http://blog.etundra.com/restaurant-trends-and-news/college-dining-trends/

article discusses the success of various trayless programs in college across the country as well as suggestions for more energy conscious, efficient dining hall ideas such as (1) hire some local waiters to teach the students and staff how to carry multiple plates without spilling anything… and (2) reusable take-out containers.

(from team: Kristen, Taylor, and Alyson)

ndividual and Environmental Influences on Adolescent Eating Behaviors

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B758G-48MX3CX-B&_user=145269&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=57481534e79c4ac86676677b4dd867b0

Very thorough and long article, below are 2 of many areas explored.

Uses science to prove "knowledge alone does not enable adolescents to adopt healthful eating behaviors."

Also discusses how cost is an important and powerful factor for adolescents when choosing what foods to eat.

The Fixed Price Paradox:

Conflicting Effects of “All-You-Can-Eat” Pricing

http://agnr.umd.edu/departments/AREC/Department/Seminars/2008-2009/AYCE%206-13-08.pdf

Paying more for food makes you want to eat more to "get your money's worth." People actually consume less when food is free.

The Average Amount of Solid Food Waste Produced at the Howe Hall Cafeteria and an Investigation of its Causes

http://environmental.science.dal.ca/Files/Environmental%20Programs/FoodAudit.pdf

This article discussed the results of a study done at Dalhousie University. Notable statistics are listed below.

Half of food waste is due to patrons, and the other half is due to the kitchen staff.

Dinner produced the most waste per person, followed by breakfast, and then lunch.

47% of patrons attribute waste to poor food quality.

33% of patrons attribute waste to taking too much food.

Food Waste is Reduced when Elementary-School Children have Recess Before Lunch

https://fns.state.mn.us/StrategicPlan/PDF/ToolKit/FoodWaste.pdf

This article discusses food waste in elementary school cafeterias. Researchers found that food waste was significantly reduced when recess was before lunch. In explanation of this observation, it is believed that children do not finish their meals due to pressure to go outside with their friends.

3 Articles on Portion Control and Satisfaction

The More Food Young Adults Are Served, the More They Overeat

http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/134/10/2546

Brief study on Cornell undergraduates whose average food intake was recorded. Later, when they were served larger portions, the undergrads ate more. This reinforces the theory that portion sizes, rather than hunger, influence how much we eat.

Bottomless Bowls: Why Visual Cues of Portion Size May Influence Intake

http://www.nature.com/oby/journal/v13/n1/abs/oby200512a.html

Although this article focuses on people age 18 to 46 it demonstrates the same principle in a more striking manner. In this experiment, half of people's soup-bowls were "slowly and imperceptibly refilled as their contents were consumed." Even though this caused people to eat over twice as much soup (averaging 14.7 oz.) , they didn't think they had consumed more than their original 6.1 oz serving. This shows how "people use their eyes to count calories and not their stomachs."

Crave One Add Two

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=27&hid=12&sid=5a981d99-43c8-4206-8c37-8e16b27e7657%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=8878648

Another brief article (not focused on college-age), but suggests that focusing on 3 food items will satisfy one's desire for variety, help prevent over-eating, and leave one satisfied. This complements the findings of the articles above and suggests a solution.

Portion Distortion: Typical Portion Sizes Selected by Young Adults

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B758G-4KV82NX-R&_user=145269&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000012078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=145269&md5=4d3768e2cf47a6e16937771712a6d554

This study examines the portions of foods that young adults (mean age 18, mostly college freshmen) take in a cafeteria-style setting. It found that the portions they chose were larger than in this same study found in 1984 because of outside influences, like larger packaging in grocery stores and increased restaurant servings people have become accustomed to.

In the quote below, I also found it interesting that hunger status rating did not influence the size of the portion.

"Analysis of variance results indicated no significant effect from factors that may have influenced the size of the portion (ie, hunger status rating, preference for the foods, intention to eat the foods, job experience as a food preparer or server, extent of experience with measuring cups and spoons, and year in college). In addition, t tests revealed no significant difference between the typical portion size selected and time of day."

Welcome ME26N

I've started this blog and made all of you authors so that we can share, in as close to real-time as possible, the results of your first phase literature search for DP#5: "Wellness and Waste".

I have asked you to use the library to find the relevant psychological literature that pertains to the questions this design challenge poses, namely: why do people eat too much and why do they take too much and then waste food. Key words that you might try for a search could be: over-eating, obesity, all-you-can eat, portion control, nutrition , diet habits, diet behaviors, eating behaviors, etc... all modified with "college students"

Please post links to the important papers that you have found as you find them. More importantly, please post your summaries of those articles so that everyone can benefit from your search. What you are doing is what designers call a "deep dive". You are very quickly becoming an expert in what practitioners in cognitive and behavioral psychology know about the how and whys of this important subject. You job is to educate your client, Stanford Dining, and yourself so that you can propose well-grounded solutions to the "Wellness and Waste" problem.

Happy hunting.

Bill