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I’ve been carrying the same apple around for two days. I toss it around. I spin it in my hand. I put it in my pocket. I do everything but eat it.
“Cut it up,” my cousin Nick has been telling me all morning. “Cut it up.”
I’m not sure why I haven’t eaten the apple. Already today I’ve had some smoked salmon, an ounce of cheese, and — I’m ashamed to admit — a couple small chocolates. But I can’t bring myself to eat the apple.
“Cut it up,” Nick says.
“Why?” I finally asked him.
“One summer when I was a boy, I worked in the kitchen at Drift Creek Camp,” he told me. “I swept the floor and did dishes and all sorts of stuff. One of the things they had me do was cut up the vegetables — carrots and celery and that sort of thing.”
I tossed the apple into the air and caught it again. “One day when I was cutting vegetables, the cook came along. ‘Cut the stuff smaller,’ she said to me. ‘The smaller you cut stuff, the more kids will eat it.’ So I learned to cut food up. I won’t eat a whole carrot, but I’ll eat carrot sticks. Little slices are even better.”
I lifted my apple to scrutinize it. “Cut it up,” Nick said.
I got out of my chair, walked to the kitchen, and cut up the apple. I sprinkled a little cajun salt on it. Wouldn’t you know it? I ate the slices within five minutes. It was delicious.
And so I’ve learned my first “food hack”: If you’re intimidated by something you’re supposed to eat — even something as innocuous as an apple — cut it up. Divide it into bite-sized portions so that it’s easier to consume. Yes, it’s just a psychological trick, but often that’s what it takes to get us to do the right thing.
Mac
20 responses so far ↓
1 Eden // Jan 8, 2008 at 11:37 am
Yeah, that helps me with carrots and celery. The only problem with a sliced apple is that it will turn brown if you don’t eat it fast.
Oh, and you should get those chocolates out of your house!
2 Krista // Jan 8, 2008 at 11:38 am
I couldn’t agree more! Dh and I are doing Fat Smash. I send food to work for him and have noticed that if I just toss a piece of fruit into the bag, it comes home. If I cut it, it is gone.
For him, it is a time issue. He is a restaurant manager so he is always on the go. As strange as it sounds, he doesn’t have time to commit to cutting or peeling and then eating an orange. If it is already cut, he can grab a few pieces whenever he can.
3 Melissa // Jan 8, 2008 at 11:54 am
This is so so so true! It’s also the reason why kids get lunch boxes with their favorite _____ on it. Some kids get super cute bento too: http://flickr.com/photos/cuteobento/
What kid wouldn’t want to eat that lunch!
Actually, you might want to take a closer look at some bento sites for inspiration (justbento.com and lunchinabox.com are my favorites).
4 Susan // Jan 8, 2008 at 11:57 am
I love it! Such a simple, yet effective idea.
Sometimes I’ll cut up an apple or pear and share it with my husband. That helps if I’m not in the mood for eating the entire fruit. Plus, it keeps me from eating junk!
5 metroknow // Jan 8, 2008 at 12:28 pm
I was just thinking about this yesterday - you guys have inspired me to do something about my physical condition too, so I’m looking for hacks.
I said to my wife, “I think I’ll make a bowl of fruit salad in the morning - its so much easier to snack on fruit if its in fruit salad for some reason.”
I guess I’m not the only one.
6 Rolltimer // Jan 8, 2008 at 12:48 pm
Maybe this is the key to other things besides food. I tend to procrastinate, essentially spinning, tossing, rearranging, doing anything and everything but completing the project. Cut it into smaller tasks and get it done.
7 Brigid // Jan 8, 2008 at 2:44 pm
The only way I’ll eat an apple is to cut it up. If I just start biting into it, I’m afraid of hitting the core so I don’t go very deep. What can I say - I have some weird food-phobias.
My favorite is cottage cheese (Breakstone’s only - all other taste weird), sprinkled with cinamon and then mix in the chopped apple. It’s a great meal with a good mix of protein and carbs.
Someone mentioned bento boxes and I wanted to share a cool gadget I recently purchased. It’s called Mr. Bento and it’s a series of stackable containers in a thermos. It comes with a handy drawstring bag and a spork (the only metal spork I’ve ever seen). It allows me to pack soup, salad and two other side dishes (usually the cottage cheese and either tuna salad or leftovers).
At first, I thought the containers were too small, but when I tried it out, the portions are just right which also helps with portion control.
I bought it from Amazon.com. It was $35 but it looks like the price has gone up recently. You may also want to check out eBay. It’s full name is Zojirushi Mr. Bento Stainless-Steel Lined Lunch Jar.
8 Toby // Jan 8, 2008 at 2:45 pm
*wondering what on earth cajun salt is and thinking I need some*
9 TosaJen // Jan 8, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Another good idea to think about! My kids are good fruit and veggie eaters, but sometimes my 3-yo will eat 1/3 of an organic pear before she throws it away. (Ack! $$$) I’ve taken to insisting on cutting it up for sharing between the kids or with me, and then cutting more as needed.
I always feel like I need my own apple, but when I slice 2 “average sized” (= enormous, if you’ve ever been to an orchard), all 4 of us feel satisfied. Hmmm — portion control issues?
10 Rachel // Jan 8, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Next time you are in the grocery store look in the cooking and gadget stuff isle. Somewhere in there, there will be an apple slicer. It looks like a wagon wheel with little handles on the side.
You just stick it on top of the apple, press down real hard, and volia! Perfectly cored and cut apple. It’s the ONLY way you can get me to pack them on a regular basis.
BTW - if you do find one, try to get one that is METAL and as much of one piece as possible. If the metal seems flimsy on the wheel part, it will break after about a month. Find a good one and it will last forever!
11 Marcia // Jan 8, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I have used the same technique with grapefruit. I buy them and they sit in the bag, and the skin drys out and I still don’t eat them. Now I cut them in wedges (as you would an orange) and I can enjoy the grapefruit during my coffee break.
12 Dave // Jan 8, 2008 at 10:01 pm
*Dark* chocolate is one of the superfoods, J.D. , as it’s a great source of cocoa flavanols. I buy a bag of Dove dark chocolate every so often, then I eat 2 bite-size squares a night for my dessert. It’s not much chocolate, but it’s enough to satisfy my sweet tooth for the day.
13 Blubba // Jan 8, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Wow, what a simple but great idea. I will definitely start doing that.
14 Yabby // Jan 9, 2008 at 2:30 am
Great idea, adn I’ll definately be trying this. I’ve actually been doing the ahck the other way around - if I have a block of chocolate, I find it hard to break off a pieve to eat one or two little bits (strictly as treats), but if it’s already broken up, or a smaller bar, then I’m more likely to delve into it.
I second the round apple slicer. I got mine from Ikea.
15 J.D. // Jan 9, 2008 at 8:26 am
For example, if you want to exercise, but never seem to get out the door, just get up and go for a quick 15-minute walk around the neighborhood. This is the equivalent of “slicing the apple”. You’re breaking the task into smaller pieces so that it doesn’t seem intimidating.
16 Rachel // Jan 9, 2008 at 9:20 am
Something else good I just discovered this morning with my apple:
Cut it up, put it in a zip baggie, sprinkle with 2 packets of splenda and some cinnamon = apple pie slices! Yum!
17 Brent // Jan 9, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Since October I have lost 28 lbs. I often cut up apple slices to bring to work for a snack. Another thing I do id cut up a piece of whole wheat pita bread into a bunch of small pieces and bring some hummus do dip them in.
18 Kiran // Jan 10, 2008 at 4:52 am
I’m trying to lose some weight and instead of eating candy at my desk I picked up some fruit. But I’ve been letting them go bad rather than eat them. Today, I sliced an orange that had been on my desk for a almost a week, and I actually ate the whole thing. And enjoyed it. Go figure!
19 English Major // Jan 15, 2008 at 8:25 am
This is TOTALLY true. I don’t eat apples at work for this reason, but there’s nothing I like better than a plate full of crisp, tart apple slices with an ounce or two of cheese when I get home from work.
20 Some Tips to Eat More Fruit » Lazy Man and Health // Jan 17, 2008 at 6:01 am
[…] at Get Fit Slowly has published his first food hack. The hack is to cut up food, it makes it easier to graze. In his case, it worked to get him to eat […]
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