1. Mindless Eating Mini Experiment
By: Amanda Topping

2. Describe the topic and methods of the mini experiment
I have conducted a mini experiment at Olive Garden
My family and I went to Olive Garden and we all ordered the endless soup and salad
Since I was already familiar with their regular eating habits I wanted to see if the food intake of my family would increase since they knew it was “endless” soup and salad

3. Why is researching this particular topic and research relevant to the general population?
Many people eat small portions of food because they can not afford an excess amount of food. However, even though the food is accessible to people, it should not be eaten in excess. Even in cases of buffets or an endless soup and salad option, portion control is still important because eating too much can cause weight gain and other health problems.

4. Who was studied: men and women between the ages of 18 and 49
18 year old female
48 year old female
49 year old male
22 year old female

5. What was the hypothesis?
If customers are given the option to eat unlimited amounts of food for one low price, then the food intake of the customer will increase.

6. State the studies methods
I recorded the amount of soup and salad my family would eat on a regular night
I observed my family as they ate endless soup and salad
I then recorded the number of bowls they ate of soup and how many servings of salad they had

7. What were the findings of the research?
Subject 1: had one more bowl of soup than would usually eat
Subject 2: had half a bowl more soup and 2 more servings of salad
Subject 3: had 2 extra servings of salad
Subject 4: had one and a half more bowls of soup
Subject 5: ate as much soup and salad as she usually would

8. Were results similar between subjects tested? Why or why not?
Yes results were very similar, though subject five remained constant the other 4 subjects ate slightly more food than they would on an average day. This is due to the fact that the food was readily available to them and they did not have to pay extra for it.

9. Did the findings match the hypothesis? Why or why not?
Yes they did. After watching the videos on mindless eating, I was educated enough to form a logical hypothesis.

10. What observations can you make regarding the Longwood population?
Though the people I observed were not in fact Longwood students, I can make little to no inferences about our campus specifically. However, 3 of my test subjects were college students and two out of three of them ate more when given the option of endless soup and salad. Therefore, I can hypothesize that college students do not care about their physical health as much as they care about the money they are spending.

11. How can these results help to change “Mindless Eating?”
People are not aware of mindless eating but this project brings to light some of the very real consequences of this habit. By conducting this experiment I helped 5 people realize the effects of mindless eating. By bringing this issue into discussion, the problem is already being chiseled away at.